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Using the campus of a Brazilian university as case study, this research aims to identify which aspects of the outdoor spaces are the most significant in attracting people.

This research relies on the application of different post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods, including user tracking, behavioural mapping and questionnaires, on one plateau of the campus.

Three group of aspects (socialization, proximity and infrastructure) were identified as key elements in explaining the impact of the campus physical characteristics on users’ behaviour. The results indicate that having characteristics of at least one group of aspects in those spaces can guarantee their vitality and, if there is presence of attributes of more than one group, liveliness can be increased.

Further studies should be conducted on an entire campus to identify other spatial elements in the three groups.

This research contributes to the planning of future campuses and to solutions to the existed ones, indicating the most relevant spatial characteristics to be considered. Additionally, the combination of different methods may be useful to future research.

Most of the investigations on the university campuses focus on the buildings, and little research has investigated the outdoor spaces, although they play a critical role in learning and academic life, where people establish social, cultural and personal relationships. In addition, studies using several POE allowed a consistent and complete diagnostic about the aspects of the campus, giving recommendations for future projects.