The Power of Place

Institutional Models and Methods for Collaborative Placemaking

Abstract

The 2025 conference of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities was held from October 26-29th in Baltimore, Maryland, focused on the theme The Power of Place.  Nearly 500 leaders from across the U.S. and internationally came together to critically reflect on the fundamental interconnectedness of our campuses with our broader social setting and its diverse ecosystem of communities.  The presentations, experiences, and conversations of those days explored meaningful and impactful ways in which we build ethical relationships and collaborations rooted in interconnectedness and, together, engage the complex questions and challenges of our metropolitan settings and, in so doing, reimagine those structures, stories, and settings and activate new solutions for equitable and vibrant futures.  Our home campus, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), was proud to join other local institutions (University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Baltimore, Towson University, and Coppin State University) as sponsors of the conference in our home city of Baltimore. Of course, no exploration of The Power of Place should be confined to conversations in hotel conference rooms. In this spirit of cultivating an experiential sense of place, CUMU participants took the opportunity to join one of several options to get out for a morning of place-based learning.