Held Thursday, January 25, 2018
Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Programs, Dean of the University Extension at UCSD
Distinguished Professor of Regional and International Development, Director of Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
The three most dynamic regional economies in California are Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. In all three regions, global-class universities, public and private, are powerful actors, but in San Diego and San Francisco, they came to be seen as key actors. Michael Storper and Mary Walshok explore the reasons for the divergence of these three metropolitan regions, giving special attention to the role of universities in what Storper has termed the “relational infrastructure” of a region. This infrastructure of leaders, communities, university administrators, technologists, and other groups, as well as the vision of the future that these networks created for the regions, had signi cant impacts on the rise of the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego. However, in Los Angeles, while universities did have a role in the region’s growth, they appear to have been far less articulated with the local networks, industries, and social life. The speakers consider the past role of the universities in the regions and suggest future directions.
