In response to growing tension between schools and the city, a delegation of representatives from various local colleges recently released a report that called for an alliance among Boston area colleges and universities to invest more into the world’s preeminent college town.

The report, titled “A New Era of Higher Education-Community Partnerships,” documents the impact of colleges and universities on Greater Boston’s economy, quality of life, identity and civic leadership, and celebrates a recent blossoming of college-community partnerships.

The Boston Foundation, a nonprofit community organization, funded the report, conducted by the delegation under the umbrella of the Carol R. Goldberg Seminar.

“The goal of this seminar was to come up with issues critically important to the region and focus on higher education,” said David Trueblood, spokesman for the Boston Foundation. “We found that despite this area being identified as the densest population of the greatest colleges and universities in the world, there was nothing bringing them together.”

Trueblood said colleges and universities invest an enormous amount into the communities just as communities invest a lot into their surrounding colleges, but rather than having two opposing teams, he said, creating a coalition could help define their goals.

“It is not only a response to a challenge in this increasingly competitive world, but to also define a knowledge center within Boston,” Trueblood said.

The report, released last week by 20 college presidents, presents a proposal but does not outline “a complete recipe” for the alliance, Trueblood said. That, he added, would be determined as the plan progressed.

“[The Goldberg Seminar] report takes a thorough look at the issues and role of higher education with many interesting ideas,” said Boston University spokesman Colin Riley. “Historically, BU has a working relationship with the community, businesses and higher education peers.”

BU’s collaboration with city businesses and organizations is cited in the report.

Because the report is only an analysis, it is too premature to make a decision as to whether BU should join the alliance, Riley said.

“Each institution can determine the direction they want to go in and look to see if the alliance will be productive and monitor the progress,” he said.

A spokesman for Northeastern University said the university would strongly consider joining the alliance as their president, Richard Freeland, co-chaired the Goldberg Seminar with Massachusetts Biotechnology Council President and former House Speaker Thomas Finneran.

“The report highlights and represents the interest of the city and regional economy in a coordinated way, which is not in place right now,” said Fred McGrail, spokesman for Northeastern University. “We can’t take for granted Boston’s leadership in higher education. The report attracts and promotes the higher education industry and is attempting to represent and make a case for higher education in Boston.”

McGrail said he “doesn’t foresee any problems with the alliance.” The only challenges that the report may face are the vasntess and complexity of the institutions involved, he said.

Erin Murphy, spokeswoman for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber is “in whole-hearted agreement [about the alliance].

“Bridging business with education is a high priority,” Murphy said. “Historically, the perception is that colleges act independent from the community. But that is on a case-by-case basis.”

Murphy said an encouraging trend in collaboration is already taking place. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been interacting with the Cambridge community in technology and scientific development.

Northeastern’s President Freeland has experience in forming an alliance, Murphy said, so he would be prepared to take on any challenges the school may encounter.

Murphy highlighted two recommendations from the report: strengthening talent retention and workforce development, and increasing housing availability and affordability, and said they were directly related to the BCC’s policy agenda.

Trueblood cited the high cost of housing prices as an issue that students and the community could confront together.

“If the community and colleges can make a comprehensive plan to let the universities build more dorm space and help communities build affordable housing in an area such as Allston-Brighton, it will help build a common ground,” he said.