Universities as place based leaders

Can universities be more active in contributing to civic leadership in the areas where they are located?  The Bristol Civic Leadership Project believes that they can, and Robin Hambleton wrote a short article for Times Higher Education on this topic.  Published on 3 November 2016, ‘Pulling their weight‘ suggests that the new initiative by UK universities to encourage them to become more engaged with their local communities, known as Leading Places, can learn from the experiences of American public universities.