Developing knowledge cities : Aligning urban, corporate and university strategies

The successful development of knowledge cities increasingly depends on collaboration between urban and regional authorities, knowledge institutions and businesses. Policy makers and business strategists do acknowledge the interrelated objectives of these actors in the knowledge economy and their different roles in a common network. They also identify the physical settings as an important resource to achieve mutual goals. While a shift from awareness to active collaboration is taking place, the rapidly changing context demands a faster pace. Ultimately, alignment of urban, corporate and university strategies is required to develop knowledge cities that can compete internationally. Managing the university campus – as the basis of a knowledge city – is a task of many stakeholders within and outside universities and implies the integration of strategic, financial, functional and physical perspectives. Increasingly higher education institutions (HEI) acknowledge the role of the campus in attracting and retaining students and employees. More and more research – comparative analysis of international case studies - has shown that there is a clear relationship between the presence of a university and the appeal of a city as a location for businesses and institutions. At the same time more and more universities are showing a sense of responsibility to make a contribution to the solution of social and societal problems in their city. In this article we follow four main steps in strategy design for campus development and illustrate these steps with findings from literature, empirical data and case studies.