Despite the long-standing presence of universities in cities, the nature of the relationship between higher education institutions and urban environments has not even fully realized. The present work aims to determine the direction of the development of academic spaces, which can be effective in determining the appropriate strategy for the development of universities. In the first step, in order to determine the direction and content of development, the real needs of the target community are investigated, and then the relationship between the university and the city in order to achieve social added value and consequently the promotion of the economic interests of parties of relationship is referred to as an inevitable necessity. This study, which is an applied research, uses qualitative content analysis method to investigate this relationship. To determine the correct level of this relationship, the political, physical, social and economic characteristics of the university and the host city are considered to be controlling factors. Meanwhile, if there is no acceptable level of bridging social capital between the two actors, the development plan will fail. Therefore, two constituents, trust and participation, among influential groups should be measured as the most important determinants of the correct level of this relationship.