The University and the City

Drawing from the results of a recent research project, this article seeks to reconstruct the logic and effect of the ongoing relocation processes of strategic urban functions, such as the university, within the specific spatial, social, economic, and institutional context of the Milan region. The paper argues that it is possible to interpret the new geographies of the city–university relationship as both the cause and effect of an emerging post-metropolitan condition (Soja 2011 Soja, E. (2011): Regional Urbanization and the End of the Metropolis Era. In Bridge, G.; Watson, S. (eds.), New Companion to the City. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). At the same time, it shows that this relationship, although challenged and stressed over time, has nevertheless remained significant and indeed has played an important role in the production and reproduction of forms of “cityness” (Sennet 2007 Sennet, R. (2007): The open city. In Burdett, R.; Sudjic, D. (eds.): The endless city: the urban age project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Society. London: Phaidon. [Google Scholar]) and urbanity (Keil, Addie 2012).