The University as Urban Anchor investigates the role of the academy in the city-not just its educational contributions, but also the political, economic, and social development of the urban experience.





Urban higher educational institutions provide a surprisingly significant range of contributions to cities. For instance, U.S. city-based universities are a $400+ billion annual operation, employing approximately 3 million people and enrolling 15 million full and part-time students. In at least two major U.S. cities, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the biggest employer is a university (U Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins). Clearly this is a phenomenon worth close examination.





Part 1 of The University as Urban Anchor provides the theoretical framework and historical development of the city-university collaboration. This comprehensive lens is a unique contribution of the book.





Part 2 includes several domestic cases of urban development that illustrate this partnership, and Part 3 extends this to include global examples.





The University as Urban Anchor concludes with an overview chapter of "lessons learned" and best practices for both cities and universities.