Studentification and commodification of student lifestyle in Braamfontein, Johannesburg

Abstract

The process of studentification has emerged as a new form of neighbourhood change in the global North over the past 16 years and often situated within broader debates on gentrification. The growth of private student housing across cities globally has been linked to the increased neoliberalisation and massification of higher education and the lack of universities to keep up with the supply of student housing. Limited scholarship, however, exists on studentification in the global South. Notwithstanding that, in South Africa there has been growing recognition of the impact of studentification on urban environments. Despite some recognition in smaller cities, studentification has been neglected in large urban contexts. Using interviews with key informants and focus groups with students, this paper explores the impact of studentification in the urban neighbourhood of Braamfontein in Johannesburg. Over the past decade and a half there has been evidence of the concentration of student geographies and the commodification of student lifestyle in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

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).…”

“…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). The aim in this paper is to extend the scholarship surrounding studentification in urban centres of the global South and in particular to focus on issues surrounding "houses in multiple occupation" or "student communes" as they are more popularly known in South Africa.…”

“…Many of these students originate from areas outside Johannesburg or from the periphery of the city. Overall, a great proportion of the student body seeking accommodation near the university comprises black South African students -most of whom are first-generation university students and benefit from a government finance support introduced to assist their tertiary studies (Gregory and Rogerson, 2019). The study examines studentification impacts around residential areas close to the University of Johannesburg's Auckland Park Kingsway (APK) Campus, the largest of the university's four campus sites in Johannesburg.…”

Studentification in Germany: How investors generate profits from student tenants in Goettingen and the impacts on urban segregation

“…Often they play an active role in the process of studentification, for example, when there is collaboration with private developers (Macintyre, 2003). Nevertheless, studentification is the outcome of broader societal transformations, including the growing importance of the ‘advanced capitalist education sectors’ (Thiem, 2009) in a knowledge economy (Revington et al, 2018), the expansion of higher education (He, 2015) and the accompanying boom in the number of students (Allinson, 2006; Hubbard, 2009), as well as the ‘commodification’ (Gregory and Rogerson, 2019) and ‘neoliberalisation of student life’ (Chatterton, 2010: 510). Due to the increasing number of students, higher education institutions cannot provide the predominant part of accommodation for students anymore, resulting in the recent growth of the privately rented sector for students (Hubbard, 2008; Kenna, 2011; Munro et al, 2009).…”

Innovation Entanglement at Three South African Tech Hubs

“…The Precinct's environment is characterised by inner city businesses, historical buildings and railway yards, cultural precincts, proximity to two universities (Wits University and the University of Johannesburg), and a view of the Witwatersrand gold mine dumps (Trangoš, 2015). Braamfontein has a resident tertiary student population of around 6,700 (Gregory & Rogerson, 2019), including students registered at Wits, the University of Johannesburg, and several technical and vocational training colleges located in and around Braamfontein. The tech hub operates within its own framework, but under the rules and procedures of the university.…”