When the Minnesota state legislature approved funding for a new on-campus Minnesota Gopher football stadium in 2006, a clause in the statute required the University to undertake a Neighborhood Impact Study. The legislation made clear that the study was to examine how the presence of the University affects the character and livability of adjacent neighborhoods, not the impact of the stadium per se. This study was to be conducted in collaboration with the adjacent neighborhoods and the City of Minneapolis for the purpose of documenting how the University's presence impacts the community vitality of the four Minneapolis residential neighborhoods surrounding the core campus, and recommending strategies to achieve a shared vision for the area. The statute called for a task force to complete the study and identified CURA as a collaborator to undertake research to inform the work of the task force. This article summarizes the findings from research completed by two teams of graduate students and CURA staff that provided part of the information base for the task force recommendations that were submitted to the legislature on February 15, 2007.

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