A different sense of place: care and curation in the university

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore the spatial constitution of the university today, its relation to Bildung in the university, and the way that changes of the universities are conceptually articulated or even programmatically demanded. In the first part of the article, the concept of the so-called ‘non-places’ advanced by the French ethnologist Marc Augé is used in order to set a conceptual framework for reflecting on the place of the university. In the second part of the article, it is demonstrated that the university is currently being reshaped as a non-place and more specifically, as a transit lounge. Using the example of Minerva University, it is shown how mobilization, optimization, and functionalization of learning become dominant at the expense of forming its own place. In the third part of the article, the relations between Bildung and place are reflected on following Ronald Barnett’s ecological approach of the university. In this approach, care and curation are central, as is shown in the final part of the article.