Press
Campuses in Cities: Places Between Engagement and Retreat
Omar Blaik discusses how urban universities can engage with their surroundings in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read more here
Related Projects
Memphis Medical District Collaborative
U3 Advisors was engaged by the Hyde Family Foundations beginning in 2014 to understand the economic and physical impact of eight major anchor institutions in the Memphis Medical District including Baptist College of Health Sciences, Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Methodist/LeBonheur, Regional One Health, Southern College of Optometry, Southwest Tennessee Community College, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/ALSAC, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Together, these anchors employ 16,000 people, educate 8,000 students, have $1.2 billion in collective purchasing, and control 250 acres of property. U3 Advisors found that despite the significant size of these anchors, their potential impact within the Medical District has not been fully realized.
Midtown Detroit Anchor Strategy
U3 Advisors first began working in Detroit in 2009, when a group of local philanthropies engaged U3 to assess if there was an opportunity for Detroit’s anchor institutions — its Eds and Meds — to have a greater economic impact on the city. Together, Detroit’s three largest anchors institutions - Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, and Wayne State University - employ over 30,000 faculty and staff, enroll over 27,000 students, and spend nearly $1.6 billion in goods and services annually. Through a data driven approach, U3 Advisors concluded that there was tremendous potential to capture the anchors’ economic impact within the city, and accordingly created a place-based economic development strategy that defined Midtown as the urban core of the city. Subsequent analysis and visioning resulted in several major initiatives.
Oakville Life Sciences and Technology Innovation District
North Oakville’s “Innovation District” embodies a new kind of urbanity, where people work and live, where places are built for people not cars, where density and mixed use arrangements facilitate collaboration and creativity, and where healthy living and sustainable growth is in the DNA of the District. U3 Studio, a collaboration between U3 Advisors and Corneil Collaborative, is working with Oakville Green to realize the "Innovation District" vision.