Most students at university campuses either don’t need to drive, don’t need to own cars. Yet the isolated dormitory, classroom and cafeteria zone form of development, similar to the isolated subdivision, office park and shopping mall model of suburban development, surprisingly hasn’t changed for decades. Until now. Finally.

Thanks to the forward thinkers at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, they not only invested $54 million into an open-to-the-public mixed-use

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While Travel + Leisure busts out their America’s Coolest College Towns list, here’s a look at their possible ‘killer apps’ that provide the core attraction. Also, a look at the ‘killer hardware’ that enables these killer apps to flourish.

Oxford, MS (University of Mississippi) - While the killer app in each of these towns can easily be the university, it’s hard to find a better case than a city that named itself after the England’s university city of Oxford just to attract the state

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How can your city best weather an economic downturn? Based on research, make sure it has a university.

As reported in New Geography’s College Towns: High Marks for Lifestyle, college towns consistently have unemployment rates below their state figures, and nationally as well.  Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State University) stands at 8.9%, below the 11.2% state and 9.4% national rates.  Manhattan, Kansas, (Kansas State University) rates at 4.6%, the second lowest small city rate in the nation, and

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In the previous entry we looked at the importance and logic of Creative Arlington.

The

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Let’s see, at universities and colleges there are thousands of creative, innovative minds in singular locations in the hearts of cities, all of them on various online social networks, primarily Facebook. Meanwhile, cities are constantly looking for ways to retain university graduates, while also looking to attract creatives. At the same time, many of the fastest growing, most resilient companies during this economic crisis are ones based on social networks, from Amazon to Cisco.

So the

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Arizona doesn’t exactly have a reputation for placemaking, but Arizona State University is looking to change that in a grand way with their Next American University plan to accommodate 90,000 students via two new urban campuses, one north of Phoenix, one in its downtown. Then there’s ASU’s take on what university research buildings should be, a microcosm of University of South Carolina’s Innovista research village.

Skysong, aka the ASU-Scottsdale Center for Innovation, is a 37-acre, Posted by Neil Takemoto in • University Towns | (0) Comments | (0) Trackbacks | Link |

Should rural universities even think about going urban?  In our customer-driven economy based on you, that question may be best answered by the students themselves, such as Cleo Szmygiel, a University of Connecticut freshman, “This would make it easier for them to attract students.“

That’s a quote from a NY Times article on how students who want a more urban vibe when going to a university ‘in the middle of nowhere’ are finally getting what they want. Just listen to these University

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Many of us enjoy that college town feel of a pedestrian-oriented urban fabric, indie hang-outs and diversity mixed with enlightened conversation. Which cities do well in this regard, which don’t, and why?

Creative class economist Richard Florida provides some answers with his colleagues in their recently published, The University and the Creative Economy.

As far as statistics and rankings, the study introduces two new ones:
Brain Drain/Gain Index (BDGI) - measuring and ranking cities by the

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Pennsylvania hasn’t exactly been at the top of the list in states that attract knowledge workers. However, Collegia, which works with colleges and communities to attract and retain top student talent, is helping them change that.

Collegia president Todd Hoffman, interviewed at Smart City, puts it in perspective, “Quality of life is more important now than ever.  It’s really the jobs that are migrating to where the students want to be - they seem to have the upper hand in most places.“

One

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So why is the University of South Carolina’s Innovista (profiled yesterday) worthy of proclaiming itself as “the model for the new research campus of the next 100 years”?...

...When’s the last time you’ve seen a research “park” with marketing like this - “Imagine your home is a meandering stroll from your office. Along the way you pass delightful distractions, quaint bistros, art galleries, and unique shops. Just a few more steps and you’re on a tree lined riverfront parkway, or watching a

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