Post-industrial City. Metropolis. Border Town. Tourist Mecca. We like to classify our cities, giving them labels that signal what makes them tick, why they’re special.

Now, data suggest there’s another urban typology to add to the list: The University City.

This new species of city is interesting in part because it is difficult, although not impossible, to replicate. The striking similarity of the data points among University Cities — and their distinction from other cities of similar size, larger cities and the nation as a whole — suggests that the outcomes naturally result from a city growing up around a major research university. Non-University Cities can invest in, say, more police to lower the violent crime to University City levels. Or they can choose to fund a dramatic rise in the number of arts and cultural institutions to University City levels. Or they can focus on attracting young degreed talent. Or they can dial up their startup culture and focus on raising employment rates. But it would be difficult to invest in more than one of these successfully.

In University Cities, all these effects happen organically.

So if University Cities are swirling cocktails of talent, ideas, culture and innovation, served at a discount and built just right for the knowledge economy, you may be thinking about moving your family or business to one. Already, population growth in University Cities is double the national average over the past decade. But if too many follow that path, the University Cities will start looking more like Austin, home of the University of Texas. More people moved to Austin than any other city between 2010 and 2013. The result is one of the most robust economies in the country. But along with that comes too much traffic and too little affordable housing. If those are some of the trade-offs that may confront University Cities, it’s time to start planning for them with a new degree of intentionality. Or perhaps some cities will want to head in a different direction to intentionally limit growth. But they will need to choose … and plan.

We are nearing Sen. Moynihan’s 200-year mark for creating a great city. The average age is 173 for the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Kentucky, Colorado State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Duke and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. For the cities that surround those great universities, the next 30 years will be very interesting.