Exploring the Impact of Complex Multi-Level Governance Structures on the Societal Contribution of Universities to Knowledge-Based Urban Development

Savis Gohari, Tor Medalen and Rolee Aranya
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Savis Gohari: Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Tor Medalen: Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Rolee Aranya: Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-25

Abstract: The current debate aims to reconceptualize the changing role and missions of the university in today’s knowledge economy and investigate how universities’ knowledge resources can benefit urban development and inform the direction of changes in universities. However, there is a lack of empirical studies exploring how governance networks and the institutional conditions of universities in specific contexts can support, limit and/or incentivize the integration of academic activities into societal development. There is a discussion of the various and paradoxical components of university transformation (institutional and physical), affecting their societal contribution, which conceptualizes a holistic and integrated approach towards governance that previously has not been fully investigated. This paper will examine the co-location case of university campuses in Trondheim to explore the implications of a multilevel governance network for achieving the goals of sustainable and knowledge-based urban development. This paper suggests that engineering effective governance is challenging and that factors related to the culture of the institution and their connecting strategies, government priorities, and temporal factors have a great influence on universities’ contribution to their societies. While investigating governance in this topic requires political, cultural, and periodic review, focusing on the interactions of governance multi-layers, this paper concludes that governments’ control functions or some moderate hierarchical coordination is necessary to avoid the failure of university governance and unbalanced societal contributions.

Keywords: university; knowledge-based urban development; governance; structure; societal contribution; co-location; Trondheim (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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