Harriet Jamieson

Subsequent to the downturn of heavy industry in the latter half of the twentieth century, the emerging finance economy forged new relations between the city and its institution. Within this context we can turn to the education field, where the morphology of the contemporary university is catered to an expanding market of potential customers and investors and while the urban “economic growth machine,” as described by Neil Brenner, exponentially extends its reach, the newly monetised education sector and the neoliberal city become unlikely bedfellows. Education is repackaged as an “experience” for students, playing out in cities as identity-driven spaces delivering mutual financial benefit to developers and academic institutions. Can the relationship between town and gown divorce? And might the university escape its “debilitating city-centricity” (Cairns, 2018) to promote a freer form of public knowledge by connecting global networks less directly affected by capital forces – those of the hinterland, and specifically those governed by international maritime laws that extend beyond the jurisdiction of the notorious free-market and nation state.

To contextualise the thesis, the landscape at Duisburg inland port – the World’s largest of its kind – will serve as a case study for challenging the established power structures within higher education by leveraging ‘China’s New Silk Road,’ establishing a direct link to a major global economy for knowledge exchange.