A University of Texas master plan could change the face of the campus by increasing density, improving walkways and creating a mobility zone along Waller Creek.

The 2012 master plan, which also proposes the creation of a medical school that was detailed in the May issue of Community Impact Newspaper, was approved by the UT board of regents in May. The plan will be implemented in three phases over 20–30 years.

"The new master plan lays out a framework of strong ideas that will shape how we invest intelligently, and with consistency, when opportunities arise," UT President Bill Powers says in the master plan executive summary. "With this document as our guide, we are in position to accommodate growth and enhance our existing campus, as well as extend, if needed, our outstanding utility and facilities infrastructure to new academic and research ventures."

The master plan is based on a foundation of eight ideas, which include facilitating safer and more efficient mobility and accommodating future growth, said Pat Clubb, UT vice president for university operations. The plan views the campus in three parts—the core, central and east sections—and proposes how the campus can accommodate future growth within those sections.

The 2012 master plan follows a university master plan that was implemented in 1996. The previous plan replaced multiple parking lots in the middle of campus with peripheral parking garages around the campus, increased bicycle access and improved the pedestrian character of the campus.

"We've accomplished those things. Now we've got to go to the next step," said Larry Speck, a UT architecture professor and developer of the 1996 and 2012 master plans.

The university is still structurally catching up to the significant enrollment growth that happened in the '70s and '80s, Speck said. UT undergraduate enrollment grew from 16,477 in 1960 to 36,599 in 1980, according to the UT office of institutional research.

"This is a master plan. We are not doing this tomorrow," Speck said. "We are preparing to do this in a logical, reasonable way."