“Fifty years after urban theorist Kevin Lynch advocated ‘universal learning’ as critical to forming the ‘Good City,’ Staley and Endicott lay out a roadmap to achieving this vision in our post-pandemic world. They argue that the shift to remote work, migration away from large, high-cost cities, and growing demands for cloud-based learning will usher in a renaissance of small locations, where a new generation of micro-colleges and training academies can attract talent and urban reinvestment. Knowledge Towns will be welcomed by protagonists of town-gown development across the US.”
— Dennis Frenchman, MIT School of Architecture + Planning
“Knowledge Towns is masterful. It is well-researched, persuasive, and prescient, painting an exciting symbiotic role for a reimagined higher education enterprise. It reframes the town-gown construct as an ecosystem of community, local businesses, regional government, and colleges that collectively serves as a ‘knowledge enterprise’ to attract talent, develop human potential, and strategically grow the well-being of their community.”
— Stephen Lehmkuhle, Chancellor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Rochester, author of Campus With Purpose: Building a Mission-Driven Campus
“Staley and Endicott issue a striking call to action for American communities to take advantage of the major demographic changes spurred by the pandemic to reignite stagnant or shrinking economies and build new prosperity. To seize opportunity, communities must work on gaining broadband connectivity, building the innovation capacity of their employers, and becoming knowledge magnets through partnership with education. Knowledge Towns lays out the path.”
— Robert Bell, Cofounder, Intelligent Community Forum
“This book develops powerful arguments and findings in urban regeneration. It reveals the critical role for colleges and universities to play in the new economy. A must-read for investors and policymakers in this critical area for economics and venture investing.”
— John Cummins, Managing Director, AVIVA Capital Partners
“Knowledge Towns lays out a compelling and eminently practical vision of a new symbiosis between higher education and communities of all shapes and sizes. It is an innovation roadmap for revitalizing people, institutions, and our society that should appeal to everyone.”
