**1. Introduction**

This chapter presents the results of an entry into the 2015 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Campus RainWorks Challenge, Masterplan Category, employing the new Michigan Sate University (MSU) Medical Campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a case study. The plan employs

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

metrics to demonstrate the effects that the low-impact development can have upon urban sustainability issues. The metrics include the following: reduction in stormwater volume, increase in stormwater quality, increase in songbird habitat suitability, increase in vegetation biodiversity, reduction in water requirements by woody vegetation, increase in latent soil productivity, increase in vegetation adaptation to climate change, increase in visual quality, improvementinmicroclimatediversity,reductioninlandscapemaintenanceandenergyinputs, and walkability.

The plan blends green infrastructure, healthy urban environments, neighborhood entertain‐ ment opportunities, and sustainability together addressing fundamental issues. In the development of the project several best management practices (BMPs), tools are presented to improve water quality and the challenges brought by global climate changes. Some of the tools that are employed in the design include green roof, rain tanks and cisterns, permeable pavement, bioretention or rain gardens, dry and wet swale, and constructed wetlands. The project involved students, faculty, and administrators who influenced and directed the final product. The title for this project is "Vault of Heaven," an ancient Hebrew term for the sky, where the rainwater lands on the earth.
