University as Civic Partner

February 14–16, 2008

Phoenix, Arizona

Cosponsored by the Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory and
the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Overview                                                                                                                          

In the past decade and a half, the “university as urban developer” has become a rich and vital research topic. Thanks to programs like “The City, Land, and the University” at the Lincoln Institute and to books like The University as Urban Developer, Partnerships for Smart Growth: University-Community Collaboration for Better Public Places, and The University and Urban Revival, we have learned much about how universities are moving from enclave to engagement and how a long history of town-gown friction is giving way to a new period of collaboration.

In our era of footloose globalization, when the university remains one of the few truly place-based institutions in many cities, this shift has enormous potential to reinvigorate metropolitan life. The conference will bring together a range of speakers—university presidents, senior administrators, urban designers, city planning directors, real estate developers, policy analysts, sociologists, urban economists, and community leaders—to analyze the increasingly comprehensive city/school collaborations and to identify new challenges for research and practice. One of the central questions will be: how can partnerships strengthen both universities and cities, making them more innovative, creative, dynamic, and equitable?

Conference sessions will focus on place-making, program, and policy. Presentations will feature campuses around the country, ranging from Ivy League schools to public universities in the West. A number of cities will be represented, including Phoenix, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Portland (Oregon), Fort Worth, Baltimore, and Chicago.

The setting for the conference will be the new Downtown Phoenix Campus of Arizona State University. Opened in August 2006 and still under construction, this campus is itself a partnership between the largest public university and the fifth-largest city in the U.S. When completed, the 20-acre campus will house several colleges and 15,000 students.

Schedule and  Agenda                                                                                               

Thursday, February 14: Downtown Campus tour (3 - 5 pm) and Early evening reception

Friday, February 15: 8 am – 6 pm

Saturday, February 16: 8 am – 1 pm

Detailed Conference Agenda

Speakers                                                                                                                           

Representatives from universities and cities, including university presidents, academic administrators, urban designers, city planners, developers, policy analysts, sociologists, urban economists, and civic leaders.