Geddes Institute PhD Seminar Series Thursday 27 October, 2005

1
Geddes Institute PhD Seminar SeriesThursday 27
October, 2005

• The Social Re-construction of
  University Real Estate

Deborah Peel d.peel_at_dundee.ac.uk The Geddes
Institute, University of Dundee
2
Quality Varsity Estate

• An institutions estate is one of its most
  valuable assets. On average, 12 percent of its
  income will be used on the estate.
• The look and feel of the estate has a major
  bearing on the perceptions of the institution as
  a whole, by staff, students, and commercial and
  local stakeholders.
• (Higher Education Funding Council for England,
  2000 p 5).

3
Overview

• Following (Giddens, 1998), the presentation
  traces the social re-construction of the role of
  varsity real estate during the
• social democratic,
• neo-liberal, and
• Third Way periods.
• Examine the evolving importance of university
  real estate strategies in a climate of
  discontinuous change.
• Identify emerging issues for the research.

4
Social Constructionism

• Gramsci (1971) struggles over meaning are as
  important as practical struggles
• Social constructionism is concerned with how
  meaning is negotiated and constructed by
• culture,
• history, and
• context.

5
Varsity Real EstateA Political Economy
Perspective

• Social Democratic Era (1945-1979)
• Thesis of market failure, state intervention and
  public expenditure
• Higher education - Expansion of student numbers
• Passive attitude to varsity real estate
• Neo-liberal Era (1979-1997)
• Antithesis of government failure, market emphasis
  and property, rethinking public sector
• Higher education restructuring - assimilation
  of polytechnics
• Growing awareness of the importance of varsity
  real estate 1992 real estate strategies
• Third Way Era (1997-)
• Synthesis of previous thinking, public-private
  partnerships, modernisation of public services
  and the use and management of resources
• Higher education Social justice and widening
  participation
• Active attitude to varsity real estate - 1999
  Estate Management Statistics centralised and
  authoritative picture of the size,
  characteristics and associated costs of operation
  of university estates

6
Influences on Estate Strategy Development
7
Master-planning and Star Architecture
8
Campus Planning
Key
1 1. Belmont Halls of Residence
2 2. Heathfield Halls of Residence
3 3. Teaching Block
4 4. Queen Mother Research Centre
5 5. Centre for Interdisciplinary Research
9
City Planning
10
Emerging Issues

• As a predominantly public sector activity,
  varsity real estate is constrained by the
  particular political economic context.
• Contemporary Third Way thinking is highly
  influential with respect to the language and
  activities of the higher education sector.
• The centralising demands of the funding councils
  for universities requires real estate data to be
  collated and presented in similar ways.
• The profile of varsity real estate is now central
  to university corporate management and strategic
  thinking.
• Local contexts and market situations, however,
  suggest that Scottish universities are responding
  in different ways.

11
Re-thinking Town and Gown

• The University is a protagonist in local
  governance and the promotion of the local and
  regional economy.
• An acknowledgement that town and gown mutually
  benefit from partnership
• retention of researchers, graduates and faculty
• physical development of the varsity fabric
• growth and commercialisation of varsity
  activities
• provision of street-level activities and
  partnership projects
• pursuit of clusters (biotechnology and medical),
• promotion of city image and inward investment
• interaction of commercial, leisure,
  entertainment, tourism, and
• provision of cultural and community facilities.

12
Implications for the Conceptualisation of the
Research

• Social constructionism offers a theoretical and
  contextual framework for interrogating contested
  ideas such as the role of the university in a
  modern (knowledge) economy
• Following Hannigan (1995) this highlights the
  significance of paying attention to
• Evidence base of the problem
• Use of the media
• Dramatisation
• Popularisers
• Economic incentives to initiate behaviour
• Institutional sponsor to legitimise change