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Although often underrecognized, social infrastructures are a crucial ordering element in cities, as they are places or associations that shape the way people interact. We studied The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in three different diagrammatic approaches. An urban approach considered the relation between the institutions and their host cities, emphasizing the social infrastructure provision. A second analysis considered institutional activities, emphasizing how typological arrangements in which they occur. The third study focused on the UFSC campus and framed its social infrastructure through a systemic approach, focusing on the interactions between distinct community services and their distribution on campus. In addition to the diagrammatic emphasis allowing the interactions between the university and society to be clearly visualized, the results highlight a systemic disposition that reinforces the university as an urban entity and a crucial municipal and regional social support