THIS OLD
COLLEGE TOWN
HOUSE


Here's how one college town family changed a 1940s cape cod into a home with modern spaces without losing any of the original character:

College town cape meets the 21st century

Other old college town house links:

BLOGS

GreenGeezer

Revivalized

Little White Bungalow

Foxcroft

Four-Square Renewal

Bungalow in Boone

Building a Better Crackhouse

65 Gothic

NEWS & SITES

This old house will be going strong
Neartown jewel was brought back to stunning life. And therein lies a lesson.
Chronicle - 26 Jan 2008
... HOUSTON, TX - It was on the list to be condemned five years ago, and would have been but for the vision of its owner ...
Downtown Living Tour
Madison, WI 10/07
House of the Month: Video walk-through of this cozy abode in bike- and walk-friendly downtown.
Small House Society
based in Iowa City
Houses For Sale For $1
...NORFOLK, MA - (Within five miles of the college town of Franklin, MA.) The following houses in Norfolk, MA although currently assessed for hundreds of thousands of dollars are available for purchase for the sum of $1.00 each... You can purchase the houses for $1 each but it is your responsibility to move them, in their entirety or by disassembling and reassembly, from their current location to a lot of your choice....
Rehab on Historic Home
Turns a Tidy Profit
Real Estate Journal ...LEXINGTON, VA - Ms. Cash said a restored historic property fetches more than recent construction for rent or resale. She said she and her husband plan to hold this home long term, possibly retiring there later...
A Cottage Reborn CottageLiving - Aug 2006 ...CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Amy Gardner's once worn-out cottage in Charlottesville, Virginia, is now dressed in true comfort...
Six months of remodeling will turn a 'horrible' home into an exquisite ranch in West Lafayette, IN It "looked horrible" and it "smelled pretty bad" says Greg, 54, a sales representative for a yearbook company. "It had had a hard life."
The Ultimate Before and After: From Frat House to Family HomeSee how this Augusta, Georgia, couple transformed an old frat house into a fabulous family home.
Historic Home Available for Free in NC Mountains
Ponder House at Mars Hill College
A Classic Revitalized
Outside Charlottesville, VA, Artist Abby Kasonik took her love of paint from the canvas to the walls of her 1933 Virginia cottage
URBAN OUTFITTERS
Country Home takes on a loft in DesMoines, IA Restored cottage
in Cirencester, UK
Bungalow Drama
CottageLiving features a Charlottesville, VA bungalow - back from the brink.|
Making a Cozy Comeback
Madison, WI
Bungalow meets Brady Bunch
Madison, WI
Eccentric Chic
Madison, WI
Man reconstructing 1885 home using materials from the original in Muskegon, MI
Midway Plantation, Raleigh, NC
Farmhouse for sale to willing movers in Keene, NH
Samuel Guy House moves to Natchitoches, LA
Neighborhood Preservation in Durham, NC
The Dicks-Elliott House, Lynchburg, VA
Clemson couple renovates Queen Anne cottage
Mark van Roojen's Old House Page, Lincoln, NE
Restoration brings 1859 house to life inYpsilanti, MI
Renovating? Be prepared
Checkbook, sense of humor needed for extensive project, Lexington, KY

Send CollegeTownLife an e-mail with a link suggestion for featuring a home in your college town.

In deference to Kunstler's writing:

"Notice that there are no magazines in America called Neighborhood Living, or Towns Beautiful. What would we show?"
- Home From Nowhere

I thought about titling CollegeTownLife:

Campus Neighborhood Living
or
College Towns Beautiful

the first sounded like a home decorating magazine; the second was too turn-of-the-last-century.
- Editor

Double dose of good green news
Harvard, Cambridge celebrate Blackstone, Switch House projects
Harvard Gazette - 21 Jun 2007
... CAMBRIDGE, MA - Harvard and City of Cambridge officials on Tuesday (June 19) used the penultimate day of spring to celebrate a double dose of sunny news.

One item: Thirty-three new affordable housing units renovated from a onetime utility switch house on Blackstone Street, near the Western Avenue Bridge across the Charles River.

And the second item, right across the street: 46 Blackstone South. Just a few years ago it was an underused urban eyesore - a 19th-century cluster of buildings bounded by Blackstone Street, Western Avenue, and Memorial Drive. Now Blackstone South, a consolidation of three buildings into one, is a Harvard-owned office winning awards for environmental design.

The Blackstone renovation, completed last year, has received the highest ("platinum") rating by the U.S. Green Building Council ...

'Sustainability' gains status on US campuses
Arizona State University will launch the nation's first School of Sustainability next month.
The Christian Science Monitor - 19 Dec 2006
... TEMPE, A. – sweeping the academic world is Walden Pond 101: the art of living in a sustainable manner. Think environmental and social responsibility.

One of the best examples of the ivory tower's effort to tread lightly on the land is at Arizona State University. Next month, ASU will inaugurate the nation's first School of Sustainability - whose classes will look at everything from water scarcity to urban air quality problems...

Most Sustainable Campuses
University Business - Nov 2006
...NORTH AMERICA - When it comes to sustainability efforts on a campus, having a vision is certainly a must. But it's the campus community that makes it all happen.

Ruth Abramson, communications manager in the University of British Columbia Sustainability Office, says the institution's achievements in this area "are the result of thousands of UBC students, staff, and faculty actively demonstrating their commitment to sustainability."..

Campus Sustainability Profiles

The Worldwatch Institute maintains another list of campus greening profiles that may be of interest to users of this resource.
Campus Greening

Can hungry college kids save the farm?
Newsday - 24 Sep 2006
...HYDE PARK, NY -- An earthy abundance from local farms comes though the loading docks of the Culinary Institute of America: sprigs of asparagus in the spring, peas and beets in the summer, apples and squash in the fall.

The food _ much of it taken from the dirt the day before _ provides fresh fodder from the Hudson Valley for the riverside school's five restaurants and classroom kitchens. Just as importantly, it drums up business for the farmers.

The culinary institute, which buys directly from about two dozen local farms, is among the many colleges providing healthier choices for their students while throwing a lifeline to farmers getting by on thin margins... Farm To College

Greening of the Campus VI Conference
Planetizen - 20 Sep 2005
...USA - Can a campus community become a "green" model for society as a whole? Educators, students, and professionals meet at an interdisciplinary conference to promote sustainability in education, research, operations and affiliated service organizations.

Greening of the Campus VI Conference, Sept 15-17, 2005, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana

Valley's greenest campus
Low pressure street lamps on the University of California, Merced campus are designed to be energy efficient and reduce light pollution.
Sun-Star - 31 Aug 2005
...MERCED, CA - The country's first new research university of the 21st Century is also likely the greenest.

Planners of the University of California, Merced, campus say it was built and will operate around the concept of sustainable development -- an eco-friendly idea that growth can be maintained without depleting finite resources...

Dorm Deals
Exploiting the College Boom
Forbes - 11 Dec 2006
...USA - Expanding college rolls mean big demand for private apartment complexes to house students. Here's a study guide to cashing in.

The obvious ways to capitalize on the baby boom now revolve around things like pharmaceutical stocks and retirement communities. A less obvious play has to do with the children of the boomers now crowding college campuses: buy apartment buildings in college towns.

The college population from ages 18 to 24 is now 9.5 million, up 20% from a decade ago and possibly destined to peak only in 2010, according to the National Center for Public Policy & Higher Education. Dorms and fraternities take care of many , but 70% live off campus. Once distained by investors loath to be landlords for latter-day Animal Houses, student apartments now are finding their way into the portfolios of wealty investors, private equity forms and real estate investment trusts...

Making nice with the neighbours
University Affairs / Affaires universitaires- Feb 2006
...CANADA - Universities are an enormous asset to their communities, but the presence of all those students can have a disruptive influence on the neighbourhood. Both town and gown are starting to recognize the need to work together to ensure we can all get along...

University of South Carolina Opens World's Largest 'Green' Dorm
Nov 2004
...built for the same cost as a traditional residence hall, debunking the myth that building green costs more...

UBC Starts Down Its Boulevard Of Dreams
Straight - 10 Nov 2004
...VANCOUVER, BC -The University of British Columbia's ambitious long-range plan to remodel its campus along the lines of the world's great college towns took another important turn in late October...

Historic preservation, walkability, affordability... college towns take a positive approach to challenges.

This site presents the most extensive information available on a wide variety of college town issues. Sources are gleaned from newspapers, web sites and reference texts.

Go to College Town Issues>

Young Entrepreneurs Give A+ To College Towns
Planetizen - 30 Nov 2005
...USA - Start-Ups By recent college graduates find what they need in university cities.

"Betting on educational hubs is smart in today's economy...across the US, young entrepreneurs are making their buisiness ideas a reality by tapping the resources and economies available in college towns." ...

Perfect Places To Retire
CBS/The Early Show - 4 Oct 2005
That would be college towns. Reasons cited are plenty of inexpensive entertainment and food and significantly more cultural events. Good health care and low crime rates were also listed as college town attributes.

UK Releases 'Studentification' Study
'Studentification': a guide to opportunities, challenges and practice covers opportunities and challenges of housing growing waves of students in off-campus neighborhoods.

Download a PDF copy of the report here.

See CollegeTownLife's Studentification page

Also available within CollegeTownLife.com on the College Town Issues page:

It's a Good Thing | K-12/University Partnerships | College Town Plans | Keeping the 'Town' in College Town | Studentification | Changes in Small College Towns | Beyond the United States | Affordable Housing/Community Development | Campus Expansion/Historic Preservation | Neighborhood Associations | Quality of Life | Student Housing | | Off-Campus Fires | Economics of Student Rentals | Gross Income X 2 | The Collegiate Way (residential colleges) | College Drinking | Occupancy Limit Ordinances | Licensing Rentals | Downzoning | Zoning News | Court Cases, Journal Articles | Student Political Participation | Student Researchers | Wisconsin College Towns

It Takes a Village — Charles Village — to Make a College Town
Johns Hopkins Magazine - Nov 2006
... BALTIMORE, MD - Some funky shops? A greasy slice? How about a little night life? For Johns Hopkins students, a neighborhood boom might be just what it takes to turn Homewood into home ...

"I tend to think of college towns as walkable, grid-layout neighborhoods near a campus with a mix of building styles and ages," Karrow says. He would expect a college town to have a business district with living space above street level commercial; a majority of locally owned/developed businesses; readily available arts and sports opportunities; a weekly farmer's market; housing options for a mix of economic levels; and families, singles, and students living in relatively close proximity ...

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Read the
College Town News
a weekly digest of news from college towns across the United Sates, and beyond.

Go to College Town News>

UM invites neighbors to see 'green'
School eager to tell community about future eco-friendly building
Sun - 9 May 2008
... ELLICOT CITY, MD - The University of Maryland has invited 900 of its closest neighbors for light refreshments tomorrow to talk about the environmentally friendly building it plans to erect at its research farm in western Ellicott City.

Postcard invitations to the informational session were recently mailed to residents of communities surrounding the school's 922-acre property, where the Central Maryland Research and Education Center has been since 1988 ...

Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism
NYT - 9 May 2008
... TUSCALOOSA, AL— He has made millions as a title insurance executive, landlord and real estate developer in this college town, where the economy, despite trouble nationwide, is still growing nicely. Now, as a United States senator, with the mortgage mess fueling a national economic slowdown, Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress ...

Fund drive to save Davis school jobs tops $1 million
Bee - 9 May 2008
... DAVIS, CA - A campaign to raise money for Davis schools has blown past the million-dollar mark.

Janet Berry, president of the nonprofit Davis Schools Foundation, said the group has raised nearly $1.2 million since it kicked off its fundraising drive in March.

That's far short of Davis Joint Unified School District's projected $4 million budget deficit for the next school year – a result of proposed cuts in state education funding and declining enrollment in the university town ...

Culver signs bill to help students with textbook costs
Globe Gazette - 9 May 2008
... DES MOINES, IA – Gov. Chet Culver has signed a bill intended to make it easier for students to save money on textbooks.

The bill asks public and private colleges to publicize bar code information for textbooks. Students can use the information to shop around for the best prices.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, is an Iowa State University economics professor and he was a co-author of the bill. He said the bill gives students valuable information without interfering with colleges' ability to decide which books are used ...

Queens College signs dorm deal
Courier - 8 May 2008
... QUEENS, NY - Queens College (QC) will become the third member of the City University of New York (CUNY) to offer on-campus dormitory housing under a deal signed with Capstone Development Corporation recently.

The building will be “green,” according to plan, and qualify for a coveted Silver rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system overseen by the United States Green Building Council, which awards certification ...

Since 1994, the Alabama-based Capstone Development Corporation has specialized in student housing for more than 55 colleges and universities, including City College. Currently it manages over 15,000 beds on 19 campuses, nationwide ...

Tenant landownder group to discuss proposed ordinances with city council
Northern Star - 8 May 2008
... DE KALB, IL - DeKalb is one of the two college towns in the state that do not regularly inspect rental properties.

“In fact, of all the college towns of Illinois, [...] Charlestown and DeKalb are the only towns that do not regularly inspect rental properties,” Biernacki said. “With over one-half of our population residents in rental properties, we feel that it is important that these properties are well-maintenanced and up to code. Currently we don’t have the ability to do that.”

Biernacki said this was not about rights or money but rather better neighborhoods ...

CSU students to meet with City Council to discuss issues
Zone - 8 May 2008
... FORT COLLINS, CO - One issue in particular will be brought up - the city's infamous three-unrelated law.

The law, which restricts more than three unrelated people from living together in the same residence and was put into effect in January 2007, has hit students hard.

Students have attended City Council meetings in recent weeks in order to speak to members asking they amend current zoning restrictions that don't allow for homes to gain "boarding home" status, which would allow for more unrelated people to live together.

ASCSU passed a resolution last month asking council members to re-examine the three-unrelated law next January.

Some council members have previously said they are not against re-examining the law but want to let it play out for a time before making any major changes ...

Oxford, Mississippi To Become "Boomerville" USA? Could Be
CNBC - 7 May 2008
... OXFORD, MS - I'm sitting on a bench in a town which aims to be Boomerville, USA. It's not in Florida. Not in Arizona. It's Oxford, Mississippi. I know, I thought the same thing.

But let me tell you, coming here has been one of the most pleasant surprises of my life. Oxford rocks! This small college town has been described as a "cosmopolitan Mayberry," and I'm here to do a story on efforts by civic leaders to capture the attention of valuable boomer retirees (it'll air May 16th). Their pitch: quality of life plus generous tax incentives. Those over 65 pay no income taxes on retirement income ...

The Green Team...Green-collar workers are a fast-growing force in the brave new world of sustainability
Times - 7 May 2008
... ITHACA, NY - College towns like Ithaca are frequently in the forefront when it comes to progressive ideas, and local sustainability initiatives have been under development here for more than 30 years, gradually picking up speed. Nicholson attributes Ithaca's edge to the new way in which many of the local supporters of this movement, like Sustainable Tompkins and its subsidiary the Green Resource Hub, are approaching the problems at hand ...

Dan Heath gives area business leaders tips for success
Coloradoan - 7 May 2008
... FORT COLLINS, CO - Heath included the audience in his presentation and brought home the concept, encouraging audience members to brainstorm ways to market Fort Collins that go against the traditional thoughts of it being just a college town.

"There is an art of idea construction, if you will," Heath said during his presentation. "Day to day, do you need to make an idea stick every time you open your mouth? I hope not, that would be a lot of work...but every now and then, a situation comes along when you have an idea that is special." ...

Bringing the gown to town
Courier - 7 May 2008
... BALLARAT, AU -
IT WAS a sweet end for about 260 University of Ballarat students, who triumphantly marched up Sturt St yesterday.

They were the university's newest graduates who participated in the now annual parade around Ballarat's city streets.

Adorned in their gowns and proudly holding their degrees, they marched as family members jostled for position to take photographs ...

Munchies After Midnight
Dylan Fiesel turns late-night snack attacks into a growing business venture.
East Bay Express - 7 May 2008
... BERKELEY, CA - Fiesel got the idea for Mrs. Munchies during his last semester of college. He was living in Bloomington, which he describes as a typical college town, about the same size as Berkeley. The big difference was Berkeley's surprising dearth of after-hours snack joints. "Bloomington was notorious for having all these different food restaurants and these late-night delivery things going on," Fiesel said. "My friends in Berkeley would call me drunk; it would be like 1:30 here and they'd be walking down to 7-11 because they couldn't get anything else." ...

6 fraternities suspended in drug probe at San Diego State U.
96 people arrested
AP - 7 May 2008
... SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus.

The probe — prompted by the cocaine overdose death last year of a freshman sorority member — led to the arrests of 96 people, 75 of them San Diego State students. A second drug death occurred during the investigation ...

Clemson parks upgrades as more young families move to college town
News - 6 May 2008
... CLEMSON, SC - Renovation work will modernize and improve facilities at three Clemson city parks this summer as a growing number of young families move to the college town ...

As young families have moved in, Figueroa has seen growth in the city’s youth recreation program, particularly in young children under the age of nine ...

If It Tastes Good, It's in Charlottesville
Thanks to inventive chefs, a commitment to quality and a local focus, this is one college town with all the makings of a food lover's destination
Washington Post - 6 May 2008
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - food here is far better than it should be in a place with about 40,000 year-round residents and 20,000 broke college kids. True, college towns tend to have a disproportionate number of educated, affluent residents, but even by that standard Charlottesville's food scene stands out. In a city best known for Thomas Jefferson's architecture, there's sushi worthy of Nobu in New York (the chef, Bryan Emperor, trained there), rustic but transcendent tapas, plus all the other things a great food town requires: standout bread, real espresso, artisan chocolate and locally brewed beer. The vibrant city farmers market supplies ambitious local chefs and the community, which, thanks to restaurateurs like Richey, is used to food that's a cut above ...

LOOSE ENDS: Reflections on town and gown
Dr. Robert Goheen, 16th president of Princeton University, 'used his position to bring people on both sides of FitzRandolph Gate together in a common pursuit of a vibrant community.’
Packet - 6 May 2008
... PRINCETON, NJ - At Small World, a location that brings town and gown together every day of the year, I took in the sights, sounds and smells of Communiversity. The blues to bluegrass music, the sight of people of all ages (bald babies to bald grandpas), the presence of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, the aroma of fried dough, French fries and onions mixing with freshly ground coffee — all were mesmerizing. I waved to the dozens of acquaintances from town and gown. Both groups seemed equally represented, at least within my circle of friends ...

Rite of spring: Trout fishing lures anglers nationwide
WRAL - 6 May 2008
... MIDDLEBURY, VT - In Vermont, the season begins on the second Saturday of April. Duncan's special spot was on the New Haven River near the college town of Middlebury.

The chilly water was murky from melting snow - "like chocolate milk," he said - and the trout were slow coming to the bait ...

"It's a means of self-exploration and a way of dealing with crisis and pain," said Matt Dickerson, a Middlebury professor who has taught a course on fishing in literature. "It's a way of wondering what the meaning of the universe is, of being aware of something other than yourself and this world of technology." ...

Gettysburg OKs new zoning, for now
Evening Sun 6 May 2008
... GETTYSBURG, PA - The 13th draft reflects changes that council members and residents wanted to see from the ordinance's 12th draft, particularly the elimination of an overlay district that would have allowed student housing in residential neighborhoods near Gettysburg College and Lutheran Theological Seminary ...

Student housing will be permitted in four districts by special exception, meaning a particular use of the property could be allowed, but the land owner would need to prove to the zoning hearing board that plans for the property meet the established criteria ...

Building boom will boost IU’s Bloomington campus
The Herald-Times (subscription), IN - 6 May 2008
... BLOOMINGTON, IN - This is the first step in McRobbie’s announced plan to overhaul student housing on campus, which will help IU stay competitive for the best students ...

Building toward the future: What will Weld County look like in 20 years? 30 years?
Tribune - 5 May 2008
... GREELEY, CO -In Greeley, Starbucks meets "Green Acres." That's how Becky Safarik, as she looks into her crystal ball, describes the Greeley of 2028 ...

"Greeley will always be a hybrid," she said. That hybrid -- according to many planners, government officials and business leaders -- will include agriculture and urban environments. Often thought of as being at odds with one another, people in northern Colorado are laying their claim that the northern Front Range can be both a place to raise cattle in the morning and get dinner at the hippest restaurant before seeing the latest touring theater show at night ...

Downtown merchants reach out to area college students
Public Opinion - 5 May 2008
... CHAMBERSBURG, PA - Downtown Chambersburg merchants are trying to reach a new demographic of shoppers.

Downtown shops and restaurants are increasingly reaching out to college students.

"In a lot of college towns you get a lot of positive effects from students. They buy food, go to coffeehouses, and add to the community downtown," said Mark Miller, owner of Gypsie in downtown Chambersburg ...

The bittersweet end of a beloved bakery
Inquirer - 5 May 2008
... GLASSBORO, NJ - Glassboro Mayor Leo McCabe said he hoped the bakery could find another site in the municipality, which is set to undergo a $100 million redevelopment, including a wide pedestrian-friendly boulevard and new businesses.

"A bakery fits in well with what we want in the future," said McCabe, who has been a longtime Liscio's customer. "Their rolls are very good. Everything they have is good."

Glassboro's Rowan Boulevard Project calls for the town to be restyled into "a quintessential college town," the developers say. Groundbreaking is planned for next month and will include off-campus student housing for Rowan University students near downtown ...

Co-op evolves from far-out to mainstream
Register - 4 May 2008
... DECORAH, IA - food cooperatives have mainstreamed.

Today, in the newly expanded co-op in this small college town, one finds mothers, retirees, Republicans, people who don't wear sandals.
Advertisement

"At one time only certain people would shop here," said Ed Hover, one of those retirees in this town with a heavily Norwegian heritage. "People who were 'far-out' - not your normal Scandinavians."

Oneota now has 2,900 members, or roughly one in seven residents of Winneshiek County. In April, the store's grand opening celebrated its fourth move to a bigger store since its origin in the 1970s. The retail space has tripled to 5,600 square feet from its last location, a block away on Decorah's business district ...

College towns rank high on 'recession-proof' list
Tribune - 4 May 2008
... USA - Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hovind, president of JobBait.com, compared job expansion in a number of key industries and workforce growth in various metropolitan areas. He came up with a list of about two dozen areas where jobs outpaced the workforce during the recessions of 1990 and 2001, and in the past year, and figured they'd likely fare well in another downturn.

Among the metropolitan areas making his list were Prescott, Ariz.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Bakersfield, Calif.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Bend, Ore.; Valdosta, Ga.; and Morgantown, W.Va.

Each has an economy built around some industry or mix of industries that "don't follow the business-cycle pattern," said Matt Martin, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank's Charlotte office. They're regional health-care centers, state capitals or university towns ...

TownGown World Launches May 2008 Discussion on Occupancy Limits for rental housing

Part two of a three part series on licensing HMO's has recently been launched .This discussion focuses on the use of Occupancy Limits in Canada and the USA to limit overcrowding of rental properties.

TownGown World Launches Discussion Topic

TownGown World has gathered articles and news releases from contributors in the UK, USA, and Canada to discuss different approaches to licensing HMO's. Near campus communities as well as their university neighbors will find this an interesting read.

National Award for Smart Growth Achievement
Includes a category for colleges and univeristies - Submissions due by April 7
...USA - Colleges, Universities, and Medical/Hospital Research Institutions: Colleges, universities, and medical research institutions across the country are growing, and many of them seek to accommodate this growth in and around their existing campuses or districts. This situation creates unique challenges and significant opportunities for both the institution and the surrounding community. Ensuring that growth and expansion benefit both the institution and community is the desirable outcome for all stakeholders. This category recognizes exemplary projects initiated by educational or medical institutions or in collaboration with the surrounding community. Examples should be built or nearly completed projects that accommodate institutional growth on and off campus (projects where an initial phase of a multi-phase project is built or nearly completed will be considered). Entries must show how the project serves the mission of the institution(s) and supports improved environmental, economic, and community outcomes in the adjacent community.

Click here for the application form for the Colleges, Universities,
and Medical/Hospital Research Institutions category (MS Word) (13 pp., 144kb).

Kent 360
... KENT, OH -
Kent City Manger Dave Ruller's blog

Charlottesville Tomorrow
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

Rethink College Park
... COLLEGE PARK, MD -
A participatory planning blog by UMD students

Safeguard Old State
... STATE COLLEGE, PA -
A news and opinion blog from Penn State students

University Communities Council
National League of Cities

15 Greenest Colleges and Universities
Grist - Aug 2007
College of the Atlantic
Middlebury College
EARTH University
The Evergreen State College
Oberlin College
Harvard University
University of British Columbia
California State University, Chico
Tufts University
Leeds University
Green Mountain College
Yale University
Aquinas College
Glasgow University
University of Maryland

Harvard Square's New Businesses Annoy Neighbors
Morning Edition - 24 Oct 2007
... CAMBRIDGE. MA - Harvard Square is no longer a scruffy neighborhood of quirky, independent businesses. Locals are grumbling about chain stores ruining the area. Harvard University, which owns a lot of the real estate on the Square, is sensitive to the criticism and says it's not really justified.

Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities
In July 2007, NACUBO and Ayers Saint Gross released a publication entitled Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities. Institutions of higher education across the United States have adopted smart growth strategies to help ensure that new growth and development meet the institutions’ mission to provide high-quality education, support research and innovation, and serve the community in which they live.

The publication, co-authored with the Environmental Protection Agency, begins with an overview of smart growth strategies and then makes a four-part argument for adopting such strategies:

1. Creating thriving, vibrant places helps to attract and keep the best students, faculty, and staff.
2. Smart growth development patterns are a more efficient use of scarce resources and are better investments.
3. Colleges and universities and the surrounding communities can work together across the traditional boundary of the campus to solve challenges in mutually beneficial ways.
4. Better development patterns allow colleges and universities to improve their environmental performance.

2007: 8 Great Places You've Never Heard Of
Mother Earth News - Aug/Sep 2007
Our second annual list of sustainable communities with a vision for the future.

What makes a town great to live in or visit? Each of the eight places we’ve chosen to highlight this year are unique, yet they share many of the same qualities. We’re not suggesting you quit your job and make a beeline for one of these towns — maybe just learn from them to make your own community more livable and sustainable. “The 20th Century was about going, but the 21st Century will be about staying in a place worth staying in,” says James Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere, a critique of the current state of suburban living ...

Top 10 Most Popular Retirement Community Towns Announced at Topretirements.com
15 Aug 2007
OXFORD, OH - The votes are in, and the most popular retirement communities have been chosen. Some of the winners are a bit surprising too – towns on the top 10 list range from Florida to Nova Scotia, and Connecticut to Arizona.

John Brady, President of www.Topretirements.com, announced the winning towns today. “This was an unannounced, online popularity contest among site visitors to “Topretirements – Find Your Perfect Retirement Community”. Every time a visitor viewed a town’s review page; that counted as a vote. Those with the most online visits were assumed to be the towns that active adults are most interested in learning about.” Visits were tallied between January 1 and August 1, 2007 ...

Perhaps the most surprising choices included the small college town of Oxford, Ohio; the historic coastal town of Old Saybrook, CT; and the northernmost choice, charming Halifax, Nova Scotia. ...

EcoVillage
at Ithaca
Aug 2007
... ITHACA, NY - EcoVillage at Ithaca, located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, is part of a growing global movement for a saner, more sustainable human culture. Comprising an intentional community and a non-profit educational organization, the project aims to develop an alternative model for suburban living which provides a satisfying, healthy, socially rich lifestyle, while minimizing ecological impacts.

Our village currently includes two 30-home cohousing neighborhoods, an organic CSA vegetable farm, an organic berry farm, office spaces for cottage industry, an education office, a neighborhood root cellar, a warm-season grasses ecosystem restoration project, a sheep pasture, and varied natural areas. Over 80% of the 175 acre site is planned to remain green space, including 55 acres in a conservation easement held by the Finger Lakes Land Trust ...

College Town Economics 101
Student Housing Planet
studenthousingplanet.com A blog covering the national student housing market - not exactly your father's Animal House.

For more student housing information. economic and otherwise, go to
College Town Issues

Town and Gown
Town & Gown Network (USA)
Includes a national forum

Town and Gown Association of Ontario

Great examples of specially created neighborhoods

Green (Pre)Retirement
College Towns Call Us Back
GreenGeezer - 6 Jun 2007
... USA - For at least two years we have been talking to our friends about how we'd like to maybe move back to Bloomington, Indiana, where we went to college. Many of them just don't get it, so we were glad to see that there's a website -- College Town Life -- that's dedicated to celebrating life in these great towns. What's more, Kiplinger's May 2007 issue features an article on why college towns are perfect for boomers about to retire, or in "pre-retirement" -- like us geezers ...

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Take Me Back
to Old Main
A wonderful article about SCUP's most recently published book by charter member Richard Dober, Old Main. If you do not have a Chronicle password, you can obtain a complimentary one quickly on the page that will open for you when you click the above header. There is an accompanying streaming voice/audio slide show "tour" that can be viewed on your computer without Chronicle registration.

Praise for CollegeTownLife from the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
College Town Life - Distinctive Destinations and More
Robert Karrow's College Town Life website continues to grow in scope and sophistication, continuing to easily be the very best website about all things "college town." If it's not on your bookmarks, it should be. It's Distinctive Destinations page lists college towns that are on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" Web page, and also lists a number of Great Examples of Specially Created Neighborhoods. Among those neighborhoods are: The Cotton District in Starkville, MS; Doe Mill Neighborhood (New Urbanist) in Chico, CA; and Trinity Heights Faculty and Staff Housing in Durham, NC. If these kinds of things interest you, you should subscribe to the weekly College Town News email digest.