The Digital Press

College towns have preserved walkable, pre-war urban neighborhoods that suburban sprawl erased elsewhere, but face tensions between universities and local residents over housing and development. Ryan Allen discusses the challenges of academic careers, the shifting global education landscape, and how better urbanism and housing policies could improve town-gown relations.

Why it matters: College towns maintain historic walkable urbanism and serve as models for integrating education and community development.

The stakes: Overproduction of PhDs leads to precarious academic employment; students and locals clash over housing shortages and neighborhood changes.

The big picture: Urbanist movements are fragmented but share a goal to combat stagnation and sprawl; solutions vary widely by locale.

Commenters say: Readers note college towns' unique economic and social dynamics but caution about transient populations' impact and vocal minorities blocking housing reforms.