Sustainable development is a concept that is already established in our consciousness. It can be assumed that, in relation to the city, it means the implementation of 4 principles (goals) that such a city and its inhabitants should strive to achieve (Szelągowska, Bryx 2015), namely: 1. Aspire to be close to the ecosystem, obtaining spatial order with the least possible interference in this ecosystem. 2. Produce no more waste than the city can assimilate, while consuming no more resources than it can recreate. 3. To promote and consolidate a lifestyle consistent with the above principles, which all residents create by their daily conduct, not just the city authorities. 4. Comply with the principles of honesty and justice. This definition, a little too detailed, aims to highlight two aspects of sustainable development: human proximity to the environment and ethics in human behaviour towards the natural and social environment. The university campus is part of the city, intellectually radiating, forging and disseminating new concepts. By disseminating the idea of a sustainable city, the campus should be an example of implementing these principles in a community constituting an urban enclave. Answering the questions: is this happening? and is it possible at universities that were created before the emergence of the idea of sustainable development ? is the purpose of this article. The author, considering these issues, uses the experience of the campus of the Warsaw School of Economics, designed 100 years ago, constructed in stages and seeking its path of development.