Studentification in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Abstract

Globally, studentification has emerged as a prominent urban process, fast becoming entrenched in geographical discourse. Since the early 1990s, in both developed and developing world countries, an expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of higher education institutions to provide adequate accommodation. These trends have been noted in South Africa too. The extent and impact of studentification on the urban geography of those places in which it has taken root is still poorly understood in both South Africa and the global South at large. This paper investigates studentification as experienced in one of South Africa’s secondary cities – Stellenbosch. An overview of generic studentification impacts is provided and the development of this process tracked. Thereafter, the motivation for living in these developments and the impacts of this process comes into view. It is argued that the areas affected by studentification have fundamentally changed in their physical and social character. Interestingly, a range of findings in the academic record were not present in the Stellenbosch context. Finally, it is suggested that studentification in South Africa requires greater research attention in a range of other urban settings in which this process has emerged. This is particularly urgent as it would appear that studentification can radically and very rapidly transform the geography of the areas in which it takes hold.

Housing in multiple occupation and studentification in Johannesburg

“…In the context of the global South much less scholarship exists about studentification and its impacts. This said, case studies are available for Chile (Prada, 2019), China (He, 2015), Kenya (Fedha et al, 2017) and South Africa, where there is recorded a marked upturn of research around studentification (Benn, 2010;Donaldson et al, 2014;Ackermann and Visser, 2016;Gregory and Rogerson, 2019;Visser and Kisting, 2019;Gregory, 2020).…”

“…The first analysis of studentification in South Africa was Benn's (2010) interrogation of the impact of student housing in residential areas close to Stellenbosch University in Western Cape province. Most subsequent research has focused on examining the various social, economic and physical impacts of studentification in Stellenbosch (Benn, 2010;Donaldson et al, 2014;Ackermann and Visser, 2016;Visser and Kisting, 2019) and Bloemfontein (Donaldson et al, 2014;Ackermann and Visser, 2016). For South Africa's major cities limited research so far has been pursued, with the exception of one study of studentification impacts and the commodification of student lifestyle in the Braamfontein area of Johannesburg (Gregory and Rogerson, 2019).…”

Exploring the effects of studentification on neighbourhoods in Nigeria

“…Understandably, such community is susceptible to noise pollution due to concentration of students in the HMOs. According to Visser and Kisting (2019), HMOs are more vulnerable to noise pollution. As such, there have been advocacies for PBSAs to facilitate the outmigration of students from some neighbourhoods where student in HMOs has become overpopulated.…”

“…These changes could either result in negative of positive outcomes. The changes could be classified as cultural, economic, physical and social transformations (Visser and Kisting, 2019).…”

“…Studentification is prevalent in many countries in the world, including Nigeria. Gregory and Rogerson (2019b) and Visser and Kisting (2019) revealed that limited academic attention has been given to studentification in the global south (e.g. Africa), except for case studies in parts of South Africa, e.g.…”