Across the country there is evidence of a trend that should raise the spirits of both academic and civic leaders: More than ever before, cities and universities are joining together in mutually beneficial partnerships to promote regional vitality as well as university development. Here in Greater Boston—where higher education is our undisputed global marker—we are determined to elevate this movement to new heights.

This trend toward university-community collaboration stands in stark contrast to the adversarial town-gown relationships of decades past. Once, a city might have viewed a university chiefly as a tax-exempt enclave or a privileged institution whose development should be resisted and whose resources could be tapped. Once, a university might have sought to flourish in isolation from, and indifferent to, its host community.

These historical patterns are no longer viable. In the current economy—one that is knowledge-based and globally competitive—more and more civic leaders are viewing universities as stable and productive partners that can fuel economic, social, and cultural progress. These leaders have come to understand that, as urban studies theorist Richard Florida has observed, "the presence of a major research university is a basic infrastructure component of the Creative Economy—more important than the canals, railroads, and freeway systems of past epochs—and a huge potential source of competitive advantage."

For their part, academic leaders are much more concerned about local and regional conditions than they were in decades past. They have learned through experience that vital, thriving communities can help attract talented students, faculty, and staff. They now also know that regional vitality can support their work both in education, as more and more students prepare for future careers through cooperative education and internships, and in research, as faculty scholars are increasingly called upon to work with corporations, governments, and nonprofit organizations on applied projects.

Maximizing the benefits of collaboration is requiring changed attitudes and behaviors among universities as well as their local partners. On the academic side, universities are moving beyond merely coexisting with their communities or reaching out to them only when they need something, toward working in concrete ways to support regional vitality in areas ranging from workforce development, to affordable housing, to urban health, public safety, and business growth—and by advocating for their host cities in state and federal policy arenas. Increasingly, academics cannot think about institutional development without also thinking about regional development.

Cities, on their side, are becoming far more interested in finding ways to help their local universities flourish. This is requiring civic leaders to pay heightened attention to the elements of public infrastructure that support academic development and also to mediate the legitimate growth needs of universities with the appropriate concerns of surrounding communities.

Across the country, we find evidence of promising city-university collaboration in places like the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, Yale and New Haven, Marquette and Milwaukee, the University of Southern California and Los Angeles, Case Western Reserve and Cleveland, Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond, and Trinity College and Hartford.

Here in Greater Boston—where university-community partnerships have grown phenomenally in the past decade—two principal efforts are now under way to elevate this collaboration to a new level. In conjunction with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city has launched a pilot program wherein universities and colleges work with city-appointed, community-based task forces to review the development needs of both the campus and the surrounding areas. Task forces have been established thus far for Northeastern University and Harvard University. The goal is to get the schools and the communities working together up front so that the resultant physical master plans can best advance the interests of both parties.

Beyond the challenges of physical planning, the City of Boston has called upon the leaders of the city's colleges and universities to help in developing ways that the city's vibrant academic community can contribute in a more extensive and coordinated way to the progress of the region. We will discuss some of the possibilities we see growing out of this partnership in a follow-up essay.

The hope is that these efforts—and those taken by cities and universities in other regions of the country—will lead to a lasting paradigm for town-gown interactions: one that promotes constructive cooperation based on a fundamental alignment of interests. For the strength and vitality of metropolitan regions confronting the challenges of economic development and social vitality, and for the continuing development of universities facing the constraints of growth in densely populated areas, we need that kind of cooperation—now more than ever.

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