Extending in every direction!

If the notion of learning spaces is already extending in every direction in this blog - beyond the campus, across virtual and physical spaces, linking learning with civic engagement - then here is yet another additional area; universities as sites of urban and cultural regeneration. The RIBA and CABE together run a project called Building Futures one element of which is called 'future scenarios in higher education' looking at the relationship between university campus development and increasing student numbers with the wider environments in which this is taking place. The site includes a position paper, written by Eeva Burglund called "Universities and their cities - some observations for a framing of debate.".  All these developments suggest that it is no longer possible to assume that either the university or 'learning' are simple or bounded spaces; they cannot be isolated from wider contexts and processes.