Re-contextualising purpose-built student accommodation in secondary cities: The role of planning policy, consultation and economic need during austerity

Abstract

The rise of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) has become a dominant feature of many secondary cities over the last decade. These cities often have weaker property markets than ‘primary’ or capital cities and often rely on the ‘knowledge economy’ to drive economic and urban development. A growing body of work has explored the effects of ‘new-build studentification’ and its relationship to economic crisis and the financialisation of housing. Less attention has been paid to how the localised political and economic impacts of austerity led to the creation of particular planning policies and actions to facilitate PBSA. Through a case study of a housing estate in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, whose ward has seen a 467% increase in student housing numbers, this article highlights that student housing is shaped not merely by issues of supply and demand but also often by planning practice and local economic demands. Whilst we recognise that PBSA development is also reliant on particular global economic conditions and investment strategies, this article calls for a more relational, contextual approach to examining PBSA. We pay specific attention to local political and institutional actors and their policies, working practices and social constructs amidst austerity.

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

“…The negative effects experienced by the broader local community seem to be mainly due to how these strategies and plans are pursued, often out of lack of public resources, without considering the needs of residents, who may feel ‘a loss of local control’ (Heslop et al . 2022, p. 15).…”

“…Through the investigation of processes of urban transformation in an area that has become increasingly characterised by a patchworked presence of university students, we aim at including the multiple geographies of exclusion produced as the result of both urban capitalist dynamics, sparked by local coalitions of interests as well as global investments and the rising of students' enrolment connected to the global imperatives of the knowledge economy (Heslop et al . 2022). Notably, the article will show how the construction of a PBSA, the proposed conversion of a former hospital into a student residence and the nightlife economy revolving around a commodified student lifestyle exemplify how the combination of policy decisions and capital investments shape the urban space, entailing the production of heterogeneous geographies of exclusion affecting both residents and students.…”

“…Post-industrial, secondary cities look at university-driven urban development strategies to overcome multiple crises affecting their social and economic fabrics. In cities struggling to govern their development trajectories, the identification of HE institutions and the knowledge economy as key elements for economic and urban development drives planning decisions in urban contexts that are deeply affected by austerity politics (Heslop et al 2022). Recent investigations have shown how the PBSA business too presents specific features in secondary cities, where the financialisation of student housing provides new opportunities for capital investment in otherwise stagnant housing markets (Revington & August 2020).…”

“…Heterogeneous urban dynamics can be located within broader conflict-ridden trends in urban transformation, in which the simplified causal relation between students and exclusion appears misleading. A growing body of literature has moved beyond the first understandings of studentification, investigating how the increased reliance of urban development strategies on HE has supported a new form of capitalist urbanisation (Heslop et al 2022). The forms of socio-spatial exclusion usually associated with increased students' concentrations are traced back to the actions of public institutions, investors and entrepreneurs, who variously try to take advantage of the growing relevance of universities for urban economies.…”

Infrastructure debt funds and the assetization of public infrastructures

“…The enclosure of services by UPP rests in their monopoly power: UPP Exeter reported an application-to-acceptance ratio of 5.3:1 in 2022, showing how demand for spaces significantly outstripped supply (UPP (Exeter) Ltd ( 2022). This is bolstered by support from universities and councils, aiming to ease pressure on their balance sheets and local housing supply, respectively (Heslop et al, 2023).…”