The civic university and the campus: a neglected asset?

The idea of an urban campus is emblematic of the civic university, especially the old red-brick universities in the UK with their Victorian campuses on the edge of their city centres. Some universities are civic almost by virtue of their location at the heart of their cities, where interaction with local institutions is almost unavoidable. However, the notion of the civic university is often based on an idea of reaching out from the campus, with the campus being the metaphorical ivory, sandstone or red-brick tower. The campus often occupies either a considerable part of the city centre or a large estate on the edge of the city: in either case, a significant area of development which may or may not assist in the process of civic engagement. This paper seeks to develop a conceptual framework for considering how universities seek to use the campus in their engagement, and how the physical nature of the campus interacts with the city centre. Using a framework developed from Jane Jacobs, campus examples from the UK are used to explore the impact of the campus on urban vitality. Implications are discussed, including the effects of the current university financial crisis in the UK.