Rethinking the university campus in an industrial city: Newcastle

Many older British university campuses were initially located at the edge of the 19th century city, and have consolidated through the acquisition of neighbouring sites and have been absorbed into an expanded city centre. Newcastle University is a typical example, located mainly on a single campus on the edge of the city centre, but which had become inwardly focused during the middle to late 20th century. However, the last two decades have brought new demands for universities to become more engaged with wider society and this is increasingly being reflected in changes and developments to university campuses. The case study of Newcastle examines how campus renewal evolved, from some initial small scale reactive changes to a re-imagination of the campus. The chapter explores how a university has re-oriented its physical space to be more engaged with its city and to take a more central role in economic development.