New frontiers of studentification: The commodification of student housing as a driver of urban change

Abstract

Studentification has permeated policy-orientated agendas on community cohesion in different national contexts and is of increasing public relevance at a time of changing systems of higher education. To date, studentification has been treated as a process of urban change that leads to the physical downgrading of neighbourhoods and social conflict, tied to concentrations of low-quality student houses in multiple occupations (HMOs). Our aim in this paper is to widen conceptual understandings of studentification, drawing upon a novel study of this process in Loughborough, UK. Focusing on the Kingfisher Estate, we provide the first investigation of the formation of a studentified neighbourhood, using data from administrative data sets to track tenurial transformations from owner-occupation to private rental shared housing. Our analyses are extended from a survey of student preferences for accommodation, and interviews with local community representatives, to reveal a production-consumption interface for high-quality student housing in Kingfisher. We argue that this is illustrative of a new frontier of studentification, which emphasises the volatility of student housing markets. Crucially, these dynamics are having a significant influence on broader changing urban geographies, such as the de-studentification of other neighbourhoods, and the overall supply of (affordable) housing. Our paper concludes by arguing for a wider conceptualisation of studentification that does not inherently view the process as a harbinger of downgraded urban environments. From a policy perspective, our research stresses the urgent need for different place-specific solutions and policy interventions to mitigate the challenges of studentification.

Housing in multiple occupation and studentification in Johannesburg

“…The growth in student numbers across many British cities has triggered growing demand for privately rented accommodation in areas with proximity to higher education institutions. Studentification has become a key process of demographic and spatial change in British towns and cities (Smith, 2002;2005;Kinton et al, 2018Mulhearn and Franco, 2018).…”

Geographies of purpose built student accommodation: Exclusivity, precarity and (im)mobility

“…Outside of the luxury enclaves of PBSA, the dynamics of the student accommodation landscape have led to the growth of the “student precariat” (Standing, 2011), characterised by insecurity, unaffordability and undersupply in the private rental market, combined with rising costs of HE and cuts to student grants. Kinton et al (2018) note a polarised student accommodation market whereby students priced out of PBSA concentrate in lower‐cost downgraded environments, therefore resulting in socio‐spatial division. Whilst precarity has commonly been understood “in relation to insecure conditions of work within Post‐Fordist neoliberal labour economies” (Harris, Nowicki, & Brickell, 2019, p. 2), recent debates have located precarity in the micro‐spaces of everyday life (Ettlinger, 2007).…”

“…However, Collins (2010, p. 950) notes the "serious limitations to the focus of student geographies on the notion of studentification." This paper contributes to calls that we must expand studentification research (Calvo, 2018;Kinton et al, 2018;Nakazawa, 2017) and the geographies of student accommodation in two ways. First, by recognising that PBSA is representative of, and produces, a distinct set of geographies to shared student houses in traditional residential neighbourhoods which have so far remained at the centre of much studentification research.…”

Studentification in Germany: How investors generate profits from student tenants in Goettingen and the impacts on urban segregation

“…Chatterton, 1999; Hubbard, 2009; Kinton et al, 2016; Munro et al, 2009; Smith and Hubbard, 2014). The consequences of this on urban segregation and the displacement of former residents have been particularly focused on in the analysis (most recently by Kinton et al, 2018). Due to the housing morphology in British university cities, the literature mainly has focused on the conversion of (owner-occupied) single-family houses into student housing (e.g.…”

“…Due to the housing morphology in British university cities, the literature mainly has focused on the conversion of (owner-occupied) single-family houses into student housing (e.g. Hubbard, 2008; Kinton et al, 2018; Smith, 2005) or on new, purpose-built student accommodations (Kinton et al, 2016; Smith and Hubbard, 2014). Few studentification studies have addressed students moving into rental apartment buildings, and the accompanying displacement of long-standing tenants.…”