Living and Learning: A New Identity for Student Housing in City Suburbs

Abstract

The role of student housing in academic formative paths is rapidly changing and increasing in importance. According to international trends, university residencies are shifting their function from mere dormitories for students to more open structures for urban territories and the local population and are starting to be considered as important opportunities for enhancing and revitalizing the peripheral and problematic contexts in which they often are located. The case of the Politecnico di Milano is emblematic, due to the large investments the university injected into this sector over recent years, leading to the opening of three new residencies in the suburbs of Milan. This chapter reports on the activities developed by the authors over the last few years, aiming at fostering a more direct relationship among academic knowledge, educational strategies, and urban contexts. This comes via the experimentation of new forms of didactic and research, which attach great importance for university residencies for their possibility to share services, facilities, knowledge among students and the local population. The research focuses on the consequences of this change not only in sociological terms, but also in architectural ones, considering the new implications for the morpho-techno-typological design of structures. The results aim at going beyond the rigid constraints of the current regulation, developing a more open approach to design, which could be a starting point for the advisable revision of the law 338/2000, which is now 20 years old.

Student housing in architectural renovation and urban regeneration projects

“…The evolution of living in the most attractive university cities is moving towards typologies that, beyond technological implementation for digital services, enhance the temporary dimension of use by introducing innovative hybrid forms that broaden the potential clients (Gullace, 2020). Student hospitality is combined with the availability of workstations and meeting rooms for co-working, the sharing of services and spaces for interaction and social cohesion in co-living and the creation of environments capable of stimulating "learning and living" experiences (Bellini et al, 2020). Renowned international companies in the sector are investing in the cities with the greatest university presence and attractiveness, also ex-panding their service offerings to the hospitality-tourism sector.…”

“…L'evoluzione dell'abitare nelle città universitarie maggiormente attrattive si muove verso tipologie che, oltre l'implementazione tecnologica per i servizi digitali, valorizzano la dimensione temporanea dell'utilizzo introducendo forme innovative ibride che ampliano la potenziale clientela (Gullace, 2020). Alla ospitalità studentesca si abbinano la disponibilità di postazioni di lavoro e sale riunioni per il co-working; la condivisione di servizi e spazi di interazione e coesione sociale in co-living; la creazione di ambienti in grado di stimolare le esperienze di "learning and living" (Bellini et al, 2020). Importanti società internazionali nel settore stanno investendo nelle città a maggior tasso di presenza universitaria e attrattività, ampliando l'offerta di servizio anche all'ambito ricettivo-turistico.…”