摘要：The University is identified as a domain for humanity’s creative and reflective reasoning as well as a producer and communicator of knowledge. It reconciles differences within cultural space and provides meeting points for diverse knowledge. Through these come its social, political and economic roles which generate impacts over: urban space in general and the immediate environment; over conditions of habitability; over social relationships that are established between the everyday population and others; and over economic activities, land uses and land prices. Today the University has been compelled to assume new roles in search of economic and social sustainability in a globalized world. At the same time it is required to establish or conserve a harmonious dialogue with the city, which allows the conciliatory interaction of inhabitants with the university community and the interactions of educational activities with those of the urban piece. However, as this article shows, the University will find itself on the verge of disappearing if it does not conserve, transform and develop, in today’s world, the irreplaceable role that it has traditionally played since the beginning.
关键词：university;economic role;urban role;cultural role;history of the university.;universidad;rol económico;rol urbanístico;rol cultural;historia de la universidad.
