Regulating the Social Impacts of Studentification: A Loughborough Case Study

Abstract

Now a recognised phenomenon in many British cities, studentification is the process by which specific neighbourhoods become dominated by student residential occupation. Outlining the causes and consequences of this process, this paper suggests that studentification raises important questions about community cohesiveness and that intervention may be required by local authorities if social and cultural conflicts are to be avoided. Detailing the social impacts of studentification in Loughborough, a market town in the English East Midlands, the paper accordingly considers recent housing policies designed to prevent the formation of exclusive`student ghettos'. The paper concludes by suggesting that the type of`threshold analysis' utilised in Loughborough may well spread students more thinly across a city, but that the relationship between students and the wider community requires other forms of regulation if town^university tensions are to be effectively managed. Throughout, comparison is made between the Loughborough and other UK university towns where the challenges and opportunities associated with studentification have been differently addressed.

Studentification, diversity and social cohesion in post-socialist Budapest

“…the noise of night-time parties) which generate conflicts in the affected neighbourhoods. It is evident, therefore, that differences in behav-iour of students and host communities can result in a hostile attitude between the two main groups (Hubbard, P. 2008;Smith, D.P. 2011;Cochrane, A. and Williams, R. 2013).…”

“…As the British HMO Lobby (2008) interpreted: studentification is the 'substitution of a local community by a student community', which can also be called as 'student ghetto' because of the strong isolation of student areas from the rests of the cities (Smith, D.P. 2002;Hubbard, P. 2008). As for our context, it is important to emphasise that studentification has evolved in postsocialist countries differently from the West because of historical legacies and path dependencies (Grabkowska, M. 2011;Gentile, M. et al 2012;Haase, A. et al 2012;Górczyńska, M. 2014Górczyńska, M. , 2017Jakóbczyk-Gryszkiewicz, J. et al 2014;Bernt, M. et al 2015).…”

Living with the consequences of policy decisions: reactions to student lifestyles in the neighbourhood

“…It is this concentration that has been referred to as 'studentification' (e.g. Smith, 2008Smith, , 2009, something that creates new processes of urban change (Allinson, 2006;Hubbard, 2008 It is this exodus and the nature of exchanges between Headingley residents about students that is suggestive of a panic.…”

Studentification in Bloemfontein, South Africa

“…Evidence from several countries shows that higher education students have become highly influential role-players in local rental markets (Baron et al, 2010). The increase of student populations is, however, often seen in a negative light with undesirable impacts on the local housing market (Hubbard, 2008), as the influx of students into a neighbourhood generally leads to an increase in rental prices (Benn, 2010). Pickren (2012), for example, notes that an owner of an apartment complex with high vacancy rates might lower rent in order to attract more consumers, thus creating more affordable housing.…”

“…Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse since the large-scale expansion of higher education in the early 1990s (Hubbard, 2008;Smith, 2007;Smith, Holt, 2007). Studentification can broadly be understood as referring to a range of economic, environmental, physical and social processes which take place when large numbers of students move into a particular part of cities or towns in which desirable universities are located (Smith, 2007).…”