The CUDC provides real-world learning opportunities for Kent State students and allows the UDC staff to provide design services to the entire region served by Kent State's eight campuses, with a particular emphasis on sustained relationships with Cleveland’s community development corporations and the network of non-profit organizations supporting them.

In addition to its resident academic and public service functions, the CUDC seeks to improve the quality of life in Northeast Ohio through a range of research and advocacy activities:

• The CUDC develops information and public awareness about the physical environment and design and development issues, through practice-based research, discussion forums, exhibitions, lectures, exploratory design charrettes, competitions and international knowledge transfer.
  
  
• The CUDC is a meeting place for design and planning professionals in the region, offering a space for discussion and continuing education.
  
  
• The CUDC helps community and neighborhood groups, providing a place to exchange ideas and facilitating collaborative work.
  
  
• The CUDC collaborates with the educational and advocacy efforts of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University and with partners at other universities in the region.
  

Through design services, research, advocacy, and the professionals it trains, the CUDC works to build a sustainable and vibrant regional future based on ideas that work to: