Co-Lab
2025
Anchor Institutions
This booklet examines the implications for local economies built around medical and educational institutions. As manufacturing declined, many small cities turned to "meds and eds," anchors seen as rooted and less likely to relocate, and boosted by decades of government investment. But their outsized land, capital, and political power often strain housing and community relationships. The booklet looks at how these institutions can become more effective, accountable partners in local governance.
Inside, a feature by C.L. Bohannon of the University of Virginia looks at how academic institutions can partner with municipalities to translate research into practice, drawing on community-engaged design work in Apalachicola, Florida; a conversation with David Kooris of the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority examines how anchor institutions shape, and sometimes distort, local housing politics in CT small cities; and a feature with Jess Myers of Syracuse University traces the history of Pioneer Homes and the 15th Ward, showing how the same urban renewal playbook that let universities and hospitals seize land was also used to displace Black and Jewish residents in the name of "scientific urbanism."