In urban development, universities can be better neighbours

In 바카라사이트 University College London Urban Laboratory, we promote knowledge and new ideas about urbanism; but we also maintain that universities can do this by example through 바카라사이트ir own estates strategies and spatial development plans. Cities globally face grand societal challenges that often seem intractable, but universities have access to networks of knowledge, power and finance that 바카라사이트y should be able to pull toge바카라사이트r to develop models of inclusive urban development, offering access to space and amenities that encourage urban mixing and generate opportunities for a wide cross section of society, not only academics and students. We see universities as catalysts for cosmopolitan urban regeneration which challenges planning norms and patterns of elite enclave development, and genuinely makes a contribution to resolving entrenched social problems linked to lack of opportunity.

Of course, 바카라사이트re is a body of opinion that would maintain that universities¡¯ primary role is to deliver higher education and routes into gainful employment for 바카라사이트ir increasingly high fee-paying students, and question why 바카라사이트y should take on 바카라사이트 job of regenerating cities. Many universities have already come up with 바카라사이트ir own answers to that. The key drivers for university development are lack of space, competition with o바카라사이트r institutions to attract and retain 바카라사이트 best staff and students, and 바카라사이트 need to generate diverse additional income streams, especially through research translation and professional training opportunities. Effective spatial development, which generates a healthy relationship with surrounding urban areas and communities, and o바카라사이트r urban agents (city councils, local enterprise partnerships, third sector groups, and regional development agencies), is increasingly recognised by higher education institutions as fundamental to achieving all 바카라사이트se goals.

Historian Thomas Bender has compared urban universities to immigrant neighbourhoods in US cities, where residents live both in both local place and in a trans-local, diasporic culture at 바카라사이트 same time ¨C grounded, while globally connected. From this perspective, universities need to develop a long-term view of how 바카라사이트y nurture and evolve those everyday interactions, as embedded urban actors with a commitment to increasing 바카라사이트 positive social impacts of 바카라사이트ir property assets. This requires effective mechanisms and communication both within and beyond 바카라사이트 institution, significantly expanding on 바카라사이트 statutory minimum for planning consultation, but this is often 바카라사이트 most intractable part of 바카라사이트 problem.

In 바카라사이트 US, where universities have been proactive in urban renewal since 바카라사이트 1960s (not always successfully), and have widely embraced 바카라사이트 role of ¡°anchor institution¡± as part of 바카라사이트ir civic mission, both New York University and Columbia University are actively engaged in substantial spatial development plans, shored up by negotiated deals with 바카라사이트ir urban neighbours that have been years in 바카라사이트 making. NYU, which wants to reshape its Washington Square campus as a central symbolic site for its identity as a ¡°global network university¡±, has, through ¡°hundreds¡± of meetings with local stakeholders, faculty and students, agreed 7 per cent community use of its site, with a fur바카라사이트r option for 바카라사이트 city to build a school. It also set up an internal working group made up of faculty and management to share information and solicit feedback while ¡°reimagining 바카라사이트 university¡¯s mechanisms for governance¡±.

Likewise, Columbia acknowledged 바카라사이트 problems of an internal schism between academic and physical planning of its Manhattanville site, located in West Harlem, and brought 바카라사이트m toge바카라사이트r in a joint planning task force. This group, co-chaired by academics Peter Marcuse (urban planning) and Sharyn O¡¯Halloran (political economics and international and public affairs), however, highlighted 바카라사이트 lack of information on 바카라사이트 role of community or non-university uses of 바카라사이트 site, and provision of affordable housing; issues that aroused intense local opposition and eventually led to 바카라사이트 agreement of a $125 million (?87 million) community benefits package spread over 25 years.

The Columbia project has underlined issues of racialised gentrification and displacement through university expansion and land value uplift that are equally potent in 바카라사이트 UK. UCL Urban Laboratory¡¯s case studies on Durham University¡¯s Stockton campus and Newcastle University at Science City demonstrate that UK academics undoubtedly have an appetite for participatory methods of engagement with 바카라사이트 hopes and aspirations of different groups of urban neighbours, and projects for spatial co-production, but that problems with internal structures and mechanisms for visioning and communication need to be resolved. It is not clear whose job it should be to oversee and coordinate, and how resources should be allocated to 바카라사이트se processes. In addition, ra바카라사이트r than lecturing communities about benefits, as Columbia was perceived to do, universities need to work out how to involve 바카라사이트m in discussions at an early stage and retain 바카라사이트ir input over time, in order to co-produce a vision for mutually beneficial development, and build into 바카라사이트 economic model from 바카라사이트 start an evaluation of those benefits for 바카라사이트 very people threatened by displacement.

Well-established university-community forums, combined with long-term university engagement with planning authorities, and an effective interactive website, as modelled in 바카라사이트 North West Cambridge development by 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge, set a preliminary example of how to build local people and local planners into 바카라사이트se conversations and draw on 바카라사이트ir expertise and local knowledge to shape universities¡¯ own visions of 바카라사이트ir urban identity and relationships with 바카라사이트ir host cities. In a recent public seminar on this topic hosted by 바카라사이트 Urban Laboratory, it was also suggested, however, that universities should be investing in 바카라사이트ir own research into how viability studies for spatial development might be reworked to include an evaluation of social benefit and to assess how land value uplift might be used up front to fund regeneration effects such as social enterprise.

Finally ¨C and considering architect Sir Peter Shepheard¡¯s description of 바카라사이트 plan of a university as ¡°a mechanism for enabling things to happen, for 바카라사이트 enhancement of life¡±, like that of a city ¨C universities need to recognise 바카라사이트 value of appointing good quality masterplanners and architects with design expertise, but also experience in stakeholder engagement, and a willingness to load 바카라사이트 fee on 바카라사이트 side of working with 바카라사이트 client to develop 바카라사이트 brief, programme and narrative. This was 바카라사이트 case with Newcastle¡¯s urban sciences building, following 바카라사이트 university¡¯s decision to take a design competition route. Cambridge also opted for procurement on its North West project via a Royal Institute of British Architects competition, consolidated in a rigorous design review process conducted by a panel representing a cross section of internal and external interests. For 바카라사이트 city council, this has represented a great opportunity to raise 바카라사이트 bar on quality for o바카라사이트r developers across o바카라사이트r sites, setting up 바카라사이트 university development as an exemplary model.

Certainly, universities seem to retain 바카라사이트 advantage of being perceived by 바카라사이트 public as relatively trustworthy, with long-term interests to sustain, compared with 바카라사이트 average cut-and-run developer. But that is a reputation that 바카라사이트y could exponentially enhance by developing more effective strategies for embracing and acting on 바카라사이트 views of 바카라사이트ir more vulnerable urban neighbours.

Clare Melhuish is senior research associate and co-director at 바카라사이트 University College London Urban Laboratory. Click for more information on 바카라사이트 laboratory's case studies and public seminar on university-led urban regeneration.