A bottom-up and community-centred power dynamic helps with a steady grounding in the community’s needs and ways, which is beneficial to both the community through receiving what they truly need, and the university in making sure their direction is grounded and useful.

Active participation as a model of improving the balance of power. Includes shared decision-making and creating an environment for others to hold a self-directed power of exercising their own functions.

Suggests that the shortage is not in the willing participants on both sides or the potential projects, but in the missed connections.

Suggests that dedicating a role and budget towards a manager of the CUP will engage the public, spread awareness, and help to give positive recognition and celebration of the partnerships and their projects.

Every community has unique strengths, and by identifying and building on these strengths, CUPs can leverage existing resources and avoid replicating what already exists.

Identifying community capacity through “Community Assets Map (CAM),” a tool developed by Wendler to help map the assets and resources within a community.

Suggests residents have a more thorough understanding of their community's history, culture and needs, therefore providing local knowledge and expertise that government channels may not be able to.

Co-developing programs that address root causes of conflict and promote reconciliation and healing.

Willingness to engage in difficult conversations

Universities prioritizing individual achievement over collaborative work which discourages faculty from engaging with community partners.

Funding is a significant barrier to CUPs, as communities may lack the resources to support the project, while universities may prioritize funding for research that benefits their institution rather than the community.

The amount and source of available funding can significantly affect the impact that can be made through CUPs

Staff to provide follow-through on projects and be consistently present.

Staff to form connections.

Resource limitations, including time, are a well-recognized barrier to community development initiatives. It is therefore important to consider the management of time (which is in itself a resource).

Partners should have an equal capacity for engagement and primary roles, such that one partner is not relied upon more than other.

Adam Kramer & David Speer

The stability of the community or neighborhood is crucial for establishing a long-term, trusting CUP.

Communities with high resident turnovers and dwelling foreclosures discourage residents from participating in community events and make it challenging to establish trusting relationships

The idea of “double consciousness” giving marginalized communities an epistemological advantage, which is that marginalized communities are able to see situations from two places at once: that of the dominant worldview and that of their own.

“Stories” as an asset for community development.

Importance of undertaking research of relevance to intended users.

Producing knowledge which is useful and practical to the community.

Without community participation, ‘helping’ them would be akin to objectifying them.

Altering knowledge creation such that it is communal and multidirectional: a form of co-learning which conceptualizes the community as a living classroom.

Experiential learning (integration of theory and practice), such that the education is responsive to the needs and interests of the community.

Need to work differently in different contexts and under different conditions.

That a disposition of openness- open minds, open hearts, open communication, open structures, open constructions of self and others- are vital for engaged work.

Imagination and creativity in education

Creating spaces where people can explore new ideas and experiment

Academic multi-disciplinarity when tackling complex community issues as a disposition that is more equipped to deal with complexity than secluded, singular disciplines.

Two-way mode of exchange: rather than the delivery of knowledge and services from institutions to the communities, the focus is on “partnership, reciprocity and mutual learning”.

Two-way interactive exchange adds value to the resilience of planning processes and urban sustainability.