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Written over 25 centuries ago in ancient China, the Tao Te Ching offers ideational principles and practical guidelines for today’s learning organizations. By portraying the energy patterns that recur throughout creation, the Tao provides new insights for planning and problem solving. By focusing on process, the Tao reveals the vital connection between personal growth and growth in organizations. Unlike mechanistic management that treats people like replaceable parts, leading with the Tao respects people and process, leveraging positive personal and organizational change to produce greater energy, innovation, and productivity.

To explain the process of how star architecture projects generate impact, one must first describe the outputs of such projects and then unpack the wide array of potential effects, which are generated by these outputs. This requires the application of multi-disciplinary research perspectives. Only then can one begin to systematically analyse the long-term impacts. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the complexity of such multi-disciplinary research exercise can be managed through the application of a methodological strategy aided by a conceptual impact model.

A conceptual impact model is presented, which describes the process of the development of star architecture projects, the various outputs of these projects and the possible effects generated by these outputs. The effects of three case study star architecture projects are discussed.

Empirical research findings indicate that while the isolation of effects serves the operationalisation of research, the investigation of the impact of star architecture projects on their respective cities must draw on the intertwinement of the fields of urban economy, society and morphology. The paper concludes by arguing for the application of the described methodological strategy as the basis for understanding in which dimensions a star architecture project generates impacts.

The potential of the proposed impact model for urban analysis when considered as a field of intertwined relations is demonstrated in this article. It helps to reveal how particular local developments change the city significantly in socio-cultural and spatial terms.

The transformative impact of star architecture projects and the role of economic and other effects in this process has hardly been studied, particularly in small and medium-sized cities. This article presents a unique multi-disciplinary research project approached consecutively in the aforementioned fields.

The National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) recognizes that there is a tendency for the term “PDS” (Professional Development School) to be used as a catch-all for various relationships that constitute school–university partnership work. The intent of this NAPDS statement is to assert the essentials, or fundamental qualities, of a PDS. NAPDS encourages all those working in school–university relationships to embrace the Nine Essentials of PDSs communicated in this statement. The Essentials are written in tangible, rather than abstract, language and represent practical goals toward which work in a PDS should be directed.

Policy statement.

NAPDS maintains that these Nine Essentials need to be present for a school-university relationship to be called a PDS. Without having all nine, the relationship that exists between a school/district and college/university, albeit however strong, would not be a PDS. How individual PDSs meet these essentials will vary from location to location, but they all need to be in place to justify the use of the term “PDS.”

For those in established PDSs, some aspects of this document will be confirmed, while other aspects may be identified as needing attention. For those aspiring to establish PDSs, the authors offer this statement as a useful guide for their work. NAPDS invites individuals involved in school–university partnerships to share this statement with colleagues in the spirit of continuous improvement. By coming to terms with the challenges and opportunities inherent in this statement, the study can collectively fulfill the vision of this remarkable and distinct partnership called PDS.

This policy statement articulates how the Nine Essentials are the foundation of PDS work.