Nuancing student geographies: studentscapes in post-industrial cities

Abstract

The article contributes to the debate that links student geographies with urban change. It has been argued that students reshape urban geographies through the creation of distinctive "student areas." However, while the literature has substantially advanced our understanding of students' role in urban change, it has often done so focusing on one specific component (e.g., accommodation or leisure) and one specific city or neighborhood. Therefore, we aim to nuance the debate over student geographies in cities. To this end, we use the "studentscapes" framework and propose a concurrent examination of students' educational, residential, and leisure activities distributed in the urban space of Lodz, Poland, and Turin, Italy. We show that the presence of higher education students plays a role in the multifaceted and dynamic restructuring of Lodz and Turin as they transition from industrial to post-industrial economies. We also claim that the dichotomous distinction between "student" and "non-student" neighborhoods might miss the wide range of configurations of students' activities in urban settings.

Setting up a University City. Geographies of Exclusion in North Turin

“…These processes have led to the emerging of specific ‘studentscapes’ made of students' educational, residential and leisure activities (Zasina et al . 2021), through which students co‐produce urban space and contribute to the transformation of Turin.…”

“…The attempt to identify a new path to relaunch Turin's post-industrial economy has seen both the University of Turin and the Polytechnic of Turin acquiring progressively a major role in local urban growth strategies 2 . In the span of two decades, the two universities have shifted from being important assets of the city to crucial partners in implementing urban strategic plans and programmes of urban regeneration (Zasina et al 2021). While at first the relevance of universities within urban growth strategies was mainly attributed to their role as knowledge factories, during the last 10 years the focus has shifted on their capacity to become an element of Turin's urban branding strategy and to attract students and investments from other regions and countries (Cenere & Mangione, 2021).…”

“…On their part, local universities have shown their relevance both in terms of their capacity to attract new, mobile, young populations and as assets for a broader process of urban socio‐economic restructuring (Zasina et al . 2021).…”

“…During the last 20 years, this former industrial town has tried to leverage on local universities as a crucial asset for the local economic system in a knowledge economy framework. On their part, local universities have shown their relevance both in terms of their capacity to attract new, mobile, young populations and as assets for a broader process of urban socio-economic restructuring (Zasina et al 2021).…”

Is the ‘student city’ lost? The rhythms of Lodz as a consumption‐oriented student city through the COVID‐19 pandemic lens

“…The public HEIs started operations in Lodz quite recently, in the post‐WW2 period, due to the socialist modernisation programme of the city. One of its legacies is the UniLodz's campus located on the northeast edge of Lodz's core (Zasina et al, 2021 ). The HE sector in Lodz accelerated in the 1990s and early 2000s with the Polish HE boom (Sokołowicz, 2019 ).…”