ABSTRACT
Large-scale university expansion projects are carrying strong hopes for the rejuvenation of urban districts across the globe. Notwithstanding the repeated references to tightened budgets, shrinking government funding, and reduced endowments that have accompanied the global recession, one of the most remarked-upon phenomena of the twenty-first-century higher-education landscape is large-scale, high-profile expansion projects. The pattern of large-scale university expansions is a symptom of the factors shaping the industry. Universities are deliberately seeking closer integration with and approximation to urban life. Today, universities are increasingly active within their own communities. The large-scale expansions that they are undertaking frequently transcend the immediate institutional requirements to encompass wider urban amenities and engagement. More and more universities are referencing their desire to respond and contribute to urban life within their mission statements. A glance across the list of large-scale expansions recently completed and currently in progress reveals that many of the projects are being driven by aspirations to consolidate suburban campuses into inner-city buildings.
