TownGown World : Town and Gown University Communities 

CLOSING THE GAP:  NEW PARTNERSHIPS FOR GREAT NEAR-CAMPUS NEIGHBOURHOODS IN LONDON, ONTARIO
TownGown World Article
By John M. Fleming – Manager of Implementation Planning, City of London, Ontario
May, 2008 CAN

The City of London has been a leader in addressing many Town and Gown issues in Ontario and Canada.  London is blessed with the University of Western Ontario and a number of affiliated colleges as well as Fanshawe College – collectively these institutions account for a student body of approximately 45,000 within a municipality with a total population of 350,000.  In response to student housing issues which have been clearly resident in London for decades, the City has, in the past, established Floor Area Ratio regulations that are implemented on a sliding scale based on lot size, gross floor area caps and innovative by-law enforcement techniques.  London was the first municipality to successfully incorporate maximum bedroom regulations for residential units.  The City, University and Colleges have also developed an innovative Housing Mediation Service which still stands as a cutting edge model in Ontario for effective communication and facilitation of Town and Gown issues. 

Meanwhile, student housing issues persist.  Following London’s hosting of the 2007 Town and Gown Symposium, the City has developed a new comprehensive draft strategy for addressing Town and Gown issues.  The draft strategy, entitled “Closing the Gap:  New Partnerships for Great Neighbourhoods Surrounding Our University and Colleges”, contains 10 strategic initiatives that are intended to help near-campus neighbourhoods move towards a collective vision that has been articulated through the consultation process. 

John Fleming, Manager of Implementation Planning for the City of London Planning Division,  who led the process and wrote the document, describes the approach that London has taken in formulating this most recent strategy and how it differs from the approach taken previously.  He outlines the 10 strategic directions and provides insight on their underlying intent.  GO TO ARTICLE

Rental Housing Permits, Inspections and Persons-in-Charge
TownGown World Article
By: Tom Kirtz, Assistant Manager for Community Services
Borough of State College
April, 2008 USA

In 1968, State College Borough joined with three neighboring municipalities to establish a rental housing inspection and permitting program. The municipalities adopted the Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) Basic Housing Code and initiated an inspection/permitting program. The purpose of the program was to protect the health, safety and welfare of tenants and provide for the maintenance of rental properties. Owner-occupied homes were excluded from the Housing Code requirements. Permits were required in order to identify the location of rental property and track the owners. A permit fee was established to support the program.
Over the next couple of decades, the program remained basically the same. However, one of the continuing problems in obtaining compliance with the Code was trying to contact and get the cooperation absentee rental property owners. To address this issue, the Code was amended in 1991 to require a local person-in-charge who must live within 25 miles of the Borough. Property owners may act as their own person-in-charge if they live within the 25 mile limit.

The person-in-charge requirement has been helpful in many cases but has not completely resolved the absentee landlord issue. This is particularly evident when significant repairs are needed in a rental unit and the absentee owner does not respond to either the person-in-charge's request for funds for the repairs nor the inspector's order to make the repairs. In these cases, a District Justice citation is filed against the rental property owner and this normally prods the owner to respond.

Additional information about this program is available by contacting Tom Kurtz at tkurtz@statecollegepa.us.The current ordinance is available under Borough Codes on the Borough's website at www.statecollegepa.us <http://www.statecollegepa.us/> .

University signs on to a pact to reduce its impact
Feb, 2008  USA

It could be the end of years of bitterness between New York University and its Village neighbors.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and New York University President John Sexton on Jan. 30 signed what they characterized as “historic town-gown principles” that set guidelines for the future expansion of N.Y.U. for the next 25 years and take into account neighborhood concerns about the scale of development.The planning principles are the result of more than a year of meetings between N.Y.U., local elected officials and community associations in Stringer’s Community Task Force on N.Y.U. development.

“Everyone came to the table with an agenda but also with an open mind,” said Stringer. “That allowed us to hammer out a set of principles that will serve the university’s need to expand to meet its academic needs and local residents’ desire for real input into development that directly affects their lives and their neighborhood,” he said at the Jan. 30 ceremony in the N.Y.U. School of Law across the street from the southeast corner of Washington Square Park.“I believe that today we are turning a corner toward a new and harmonious relationship between N.Y.U. and its neighborhood,” said Sexton. “This is a step to correct some of the errors of the past on both sides. Trust has begun to develop.” ( Full Story)

Plans for 20 new university towns
Campuses are to be set up over the next six years at a cost of £150m, with many located in areas suffering high levels of unemployment
Mar 2008, UK

Up to 20 new university towns will be created across Britain under plans for a huge expansion of further education. Towns will be invited to enter a 'university challenge', bidding for the right to have a new campus or college in their area, Universities Secretary John Denham will announce tomorrow. The new campuses could be linked to existing universities or could be entirely new bodies.
The move is as much about regenerating towns with high areas of unemployment as it is about giving more adults the chance of gaining a degree. Denham said last night: 'I want to give communities the chance to show they can make the most of the power of higher education, help unlock the talent of their local people and help make them better off.'

A document being published tomorrow spells out how the government aims to support at least 20 sites, 13 more than originally planned, which will open or have their funding agreed in the next six years, at a total cost of £150m. (Full Story)

Purpose Built Development
The Second Wave ?
Dec 2007 Discussion
University towns are increasingly looking at purpose built developments (PBD's) as the answer to many of the negative impacts that unbalanced communities bring to a near campus neighbourhood. (Go to Discussion on Purpose built Development)

Collaborative Community Planning Does it Exist?
Nov 2007 Discussion
Governments around the world are increasingly focused on education as an economic driver. Academic institutions are being encouraged by their governments to accept an ever great volume of students, and enrolments are booming. Very few educational institutions or the governments that fund them extend this type of planning to include the surrounding residential community, or the host municipality in which they reside. (GO TO ARTICLE)

Many near campus neighbourhoods struggle to maintain a community balance that welcomes students into the community while maintaining the 'critical mass" of permanent residents. A number of methods have been proposed in various countries to give some guidelines for communities. This discussion explores efforts to quantify a “tipping point”, and offers a planning starting point for communities .  (Go To Article)

The 55% Initiative – An Effort to Encourage More NH College Grads to Work, Play and Stay in NH
TownGown World Article
By: Matt Cookson, Associate Vice Chancellor
University System of New Hampshire
Mar 2008, USA

The 55% Initiative sets a goal of convincing 55% of new graduates to “work, play, and stay” here. 

The University System of New Hampshire has been partnering with business, professional and community leaders, policy makers, and higher education to develop this new initiative.  Log on to www.usnh.unh.edu/initiatives/55.shtml to learn more about the 55% Initiative, join a blog discussion. Or follow the links to learn how to send in your company or organization’s logo to show your support.(Go to Article)

UNC and Chapel Hill: Partners for life
TownGown World Article
By Linda Convissor
University of North Carolina
Feb, 2008  USA

Many people call Chapel Hill the quintessential college town.  In 2004, the University recognized its commitment to downtown in a formal way, becoming a founding partner of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.  The Partnership is made up of the Town of Chapel Hill, the University and the business and property owners.  All three groups fund the Partnership and appoint members to sit on the board. (Go To Article)

Measuring the Effectiveness of Neighbourhood Relations Efforts
TownGown World Article
By : Mary Somers, Dec 2007
Dalhousie University, CAN .(Go to Article)

Tackling Studentification
The "10 Point Plan "
By: Richard Tyler
Mar 2008, UK

Tackling studentification as a form of polarisation needs a range of measures, concerned with managing, housing and planning. Together they make a Ten Point Plan. ( Go to Article)

National Award for Smart Growth Achievement: Colleges and Universities/College Towns category.
Feb, 2008 USA

University Town: A new era of living and learning
TownGown World Article
By : Dr. Lily Kong
National University of Singapore
Feb 2008, Singapore

The groundbreaking ceremony for University Town on 31 January 2008 marked a milestone for the National University of Singapore (NUS) as well as for higher education, research and enterprise in Singapore. University Town is a major step for NUS in its quest to offer a wide range of educational opportunities designed to prepare students to compete globally.  It will also help realize NUS’ ambition to build bustling intellectual hubs for world-class research, and seedbeds for entrepreneurial activity.

The main feature of University Town is an integrated learning and living environment embodied in six residential colleges. Together with two graduate residences, University Town will pioneer the concept of learning and living within colleges in Singapore when ready by 2010.  Up to 6,000 students from a diverse mix of different nationalities and cultures will live, learn and play together. (Go to Article)

Time to break the town-and-gown barrier
RICHARD FLORIDA
Globe and Mail
Toronto, Canada
Feb 8, 2008

(Excerpt)"Rather than as an "engine" of development, then, think of the university as an ecosystem or infrastructure for a knowledge-driven, creative economy. The key to the future lies in building stronger bridges between universities and their surrounding communities. The old town-gown boundaries must dissolve until it becomes impossible to see where the university ends and the community begins." (Full Story)

Interim Planning Guidance on Purpose Built Student Housing
Newcastle, UK
Nov 2007

This report deals with planning guidance for purpose built student housing,focusing on "promoting and enabling the the development of a range of good quality purpose built student housing schemes in appropriate, sustainable locations."
An exerpt deals with the Pros and cons of this type of housing, as well as the impact on communities.(Go to exerpt)

Near-Campus Student Housing and the Growth of the Town and Gown Movement in Canada
Dr.Michael Fox 
Jan 2008

Close to 150 Canadian communities are home to one or more colleges or universities,providing an enormous social and economic impact from over 1 million full-time students. Yet a growing number of off-campus incidents concerning student housing and
behavioural issues have caused local residents and public officials to raise concerns about neighbourhood safety and community security. Go to Article)

• National HMO Lobby

• Town and Gown Association of Ontario

The Third Annual Best Practices in Building University/City Relationships Conference
From Campus to Council: Blending the Best of Both Worlds
June 16-19th, 2008
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas. 

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