University campus management dynamics in spatial transformation : systemic facilitation of interdisciplinary learning communities

University campuses can be seen as socio-technical systems that evolve due to increasing global competition, changing funding structures and technological development. These evolutions can be explored through the lenses of spatial transformation theory in three dimensions: the tightening competition shifts function from local towards global; the changing funding structures shift meaning from individual towards communal; and digitalization alters form from spaces of places towards spaces of flows. Hence, universities are increasingly operated like highly-branded businesses. This dissertation explores university campus management in a changing action environment. Campus development processes are investigated through the theory of sociotechnical systems in change and through the empirical lenses of university campus management. The aim is to identify and develop models to support campus management. The focal research questions are: 1) How does the spatial transformation paradigm affect campus management practices? 2) How has campus management responded to spatial transformation from a business model perspective? 3) How have campus management processes been affected by spatial transformation? 4) What implications do spatial transformation challenges have for campus management processes under two different sets of circumstances? This research is qualitative and bases on case studies. The empirical data has been collected by means of interviews and workshops and derives from eight Finnish and five Australian case studies. The data were analyzed with a qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti. The results show that the spatial transformation effects to campus management practices can be divided to spatial and management process issues. A major spatial finding is that campus environments are increasingly designed based on the demands of the user communities. A major management process finding is that inclusion-oriented bottom-up facilitation challenges the control-oriented top-down management as a valid management approach. These challenges take concrete forms in future foresight for the campus management, in tightening spatial resource scarcity for the middle-management and in designing for flexibility for the operational level management. As the main contribution to knowledge, this dissertation produced a model that visualizes the challenges that campus managers are facing and helps campus management organizations to prioritize and discuss the emerging issues. Potential future research streams include demand explorations, model testing, and service concept development.