Fall
USP 186
13
San Diego Downtown Campus Proposal
Anthony Monaco
Abstract – The object of this study is to examine the demand for a major university
presence in Downtown San Diego. It has been identified that out of the top thirty-five major
metropolitan cities in America by population, San Diego currently has the only central
business district without a major university satellite campus. The benefits of a central
location have been proven by past research, however the literature lacks a focus on the San
Diego region. This study analyzes the top major metropolitan areas throughout the country,
and identifies six potential case studies that may serve as good comparative studies to San
Diego.
Urban Studies and Planning
University of California San Diego
Introduction
This research project analyzes all satellite campuses, main campuses and
extension campuses that offer upper division or Bachelors and above degree
programs within or adjacent to central business districts of all thirty-five of
America’s most populous cities. The top thirty-six American cities by population
range from eight plus million residents down to approximately five hundred
thousand residents, from New York City to Sacramento (census.gov, 2013).
-Lit review overview
-Research Methods overview
-Spatial Aspect Overview
Literature Review
-What has been researched?
-What studies are most relevant to my question?
-What studies will I expand upon?
-What data is best to apply to San Diego?
-What new factors I will bring into the conversation?
The University of California at San Diego is the most regarded public
research university in the region, and is currently located in one of the most affluent
areas in the country (Breault, 2012).
Research Methods
After an initial geographical review of the major metro areas and their
campus distribution, certain cities had little to no similarities to the city of San Diego
through their distribution of major universities and/or other disqualifying
properties. Five metropolitan areas did show significant relevance to San Diego for
the purposes of this project. All of the top 35 cities by population are listed on the
identifier table, 1.1, below. The table lists the cities in order by population rank, the
university name or satellite campus name and the locational adjacency to the
central business district of each particular city. The identifier table will be updated
to include other qualifying factors to narrow down the most comparative case
studies to San Diego out of the initial cities. The initial comparative cities range from
similar populations to San Diego for instance Houston and San Jose, and include
lesser-populated cities like Portland, Oregon and Sacramento.
1.1 Case Studies Identifier Table
Metro By Population
Rank
University/Satellite
Campus
Adjacency to/Within CBD
New York City
Los Angeles
Chicago
NYU, Columbia, etc.
UCLA Satellite
University of Illinois
Chicago
University of Houston
Downtown Campus
Temple U, Drexel U
Arizona State University
Satellite Campus
UT San Antonio Satellite
Campus
NONE
SMU, Baylor Satellite
San Jose St., USF Satellite
Florida State Satellite,
University of Florida
Satellite
Indiana U Satellite
University of Texas,
University of Texas
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Houston*
Philadelphia
Phoenix
San Antonio
San Diego*
Dallas
San Jose*
Jacksonville
Indianapolis
Austin, TX
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
N/A
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
San Francisco
Columbus, OH
Fort Worth
Charlotte, NC
Detroit
El Paso
Memphis
Boston
Seattle
Denver*
Baltimore
Washington D.C.
Nashville
Louisville, KY
Milwaukie
Portland, OR*
Oklahoma City
Las Vegas
Albuquerque
Tucson
Fresno
Sacramento*
Satellite
UC Berkeley Satellite
Ohio State University,
Miami University
Satellite
TCU Downtown Satellite,
UT Arlington Satellite
UNC Satellite, Wake
Forest
University of Detroit Law
Satellite
UTEP
University of Memphis
UMASS, MIT, etc.
University of
Washington, UW Satellite
UC Denver, CSU Satellite
University of Maryland
Satellite
George Washington
University
Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt
Satellite, UTenn Satellite
University of Louisville
Marquette University,
Milwaukie School of
Engineering
University of Oregon
Downtown Satellite
Campus, Portland State
University
University of Oklahoma
UNLV Satellite
University of New Mexico
University of Arizona
CSU Fresno Satellite
CSU Sacramento, UC
Davis Satellite
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent
Adjacent/Within
Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent
Adjacent/Within
Adjacent/Within
* Denotes potential In-Depth Case Study
Potential Case Study Cities
Denver, Colorado
The University of Colorado at Boulder sits roughly twenty-seven miles from
the central business district of Denver. This distance is almost twice as great as that
of UCSD to Downtown San Diego, however the similarity in nodal-suburban
locations of both UCSD and UC Boulder’s main campus is closely comparative. Forty
years ago from this year, the University of Colorado satellite campus in Denver
became it’s own independent university, but remained as a part of the University of
Colorado system (ucdenver.edu, 2013). Prior to this, the University of Colorado
system recognized the potential for an urban satellite campus and the location was
used as a satellite location for the University of Colorado at Boulder to appeal to the
urban student community residents. UC Denver is particularly proud of the
diversity of its student base with over one-third being first-generation college
students and another one-third being made up of minority and international
students (ucdenver.edu, 2013). The University of Colorado’s organizational
structure, and their main campus’ geographical location make Denver, and the
University of Colorado Denver a good comparative candidate for this study.
Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas has multiple similarities with San Diego, the first being the
population size of the two cities. More relative to the research is the distribution of
the major universities within the city boundaries. The University of Houston and
Rice University share approximately the same distance to Houston’s central
business district. In 1974 the University of Houston opened a downtown campus in
an effort to serve students with family obligations, community college transfer
students, students that work full or part-time and first generation students
(uhd.edu, 2013). The University of Houston Downtown now serves over 14,000
students, offering 44 undergraduate degrees and 6 Master’s degree programs
(uhd.edu, 2013).
San Jose, California
San Jose offers a myriad of relevancies to San Diego including location in the
same state, a CSU campus in the city limits, along with relative demographic
qualifiers. While spatially analyzing the city of San Jose, California, an unexpected
finding led to a new argument for a UCSD urban satellite campus. Not only does San
Jose already have a large public university adjacent to their central business district,
but it also has a satellite campus from the University of San Francisco located within
the central business district. San Francisco and San Jose are 47 miles apart and the
university saw the importance of encroaching in an urban area competing with two
urban campus locations. The University of San Francisco has five campuses in total,
and offers Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at all of the locations (usfca.edu, 2013).
The San Jose suburb of Santa Clara is also notable for this research project as Santa
Clara has a downtown campus itself in Santa Clara University, which is also located
only three miles from the central business district of San Jose.
Sacramento, California
Sacramento offers the most significant and most relevant information of all
of the cities considered for these case studies. The main University of California
campus near Sacramento is UC Davis and it is the same distance, roughly fifteen
miles, from Sacramento’s downtown area as UCSD is to downtown San Diego. UC
Davis has a satellite campus in downtown Sacramento that offers applied research
opportunities, certificate programs, Master’s programs and more to serve
Sacramento’s urban population (exyension.ucdavis.edu). UC Davis added the
Sacramento location with a large California Sate University campus already adjacent
to the city’s central business district. The University of San Francisco also located a
satellite campus in Sacramento’s central business district further illustrating the
demand for urban campus locations even in a city of approximately five hundred
thousand people.
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon will serve as a path model for my proposed university to
follow when choosing locations and program offerings in a central business district.
Portland was the initial inspiration for this research project having a similar
capstone series as UCSD’s Urban Planning and Studies Department, however offered
through the University of Oregon’s Portland Urban Architecture Research Lab. The
University of Oregon offers upper-classmen architecture students to fulfill their
senior thesis year some one hundred miles north in the university’s downtown
satellite campus. In much the same manner, a proposed urban UCSD campus could
offer upper-classmen Urban Studies and Planning students the same option to fulfill
their senior year requirements in an urban campus location. The University of
Oregon also offers other programs at this location including a Media and Visual Arts
program, Business program and Journalism along with others that have urban
program demands and find themselves well suited in the urban environment
(pdx.uoregon.edu, 2013).
Spatial Aspect
-Intro
- Use of GIS and Social Explorer to narrow down case study cities
-Data to consider
- Social Explorer
-Qualifying data
-Benefits
-Mapping demographic data
-GIS
-Proposed maps
-Benefits
-Proximity data analysis
Conclusion
-Question
-Reccomendation
Sources Cited
Print
Breault, Donna Adair, and David M. Pé rez. <i>The red light in the ivory tower:
contexts and implications of entrepreneurial education</i>. New York: P.
Lang, 2012.
Websites
"Population Estimates." City & Towns Totals: Vintage 2012.
http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2012/index.html
(accessed October 21, 2013).
"University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus." History.
http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/WhoWeAre/about/Pages/history.aspx
"About UHD." About UHD. http://www.uhd.edu/about/ (accessed October 23,
2013).
"San Jose Campus - University of San Francisco (USF)." San Jose Campus – University
of San Francisco (USF). http://www.usfca.edu/sanjose/ (accessed October
23, 2013).
"UC Davis Extension - Continuing and Professional Education." UC Davis Extension
Continuing and Professional Education. http://extension.ucdavis.edu/
(accessed October 22, 2013).
"UO Portland." UO Portland. http://pdx.uoregon.edu/ (accessed October 27, 2013).