Integrating beyond the campus: Ohio's urban public universities and neighborhood revitalisation

Abstract

Most major US Colleges and universities were founded over 75 years ago, and so their main campus locations are often related to past population distributions rather than contemporary ones. Many are located in the cities of 'the Rustbelt' -the old urban-industrial heartland of the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, and the mid-west. During the twentieth century these cities have tended to decline relative to their bureoning suburbs and 'the Sunbelt' -the fast-growing states of the south and west. Most Rusbelt cities peaked in population around 1950 and have declined ever since. They are characterised by aging and deteriorating housing stock, and by relatively high proportions of low-income and ethnic minority residents.