Studentification, youthification, and gentrification, all at once? New-builds, newcomers, and near-campus change in a post-industrial city
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/bgss-2024-0015Keywords
urban studies, geography, planning & development, knowledge economy, residential choice, reurbanisation & deindustrialisationAbstract
Higher education growth changes the neighbourhoods of university cities in multiple ways. The most evidenced way is studentification, although researchers also report youthification and gentrification. However, empirical studies on near-campus change through the tri-conceptual prism of studentification, youthification, and gentrification are recent and limited to North America. Therefore, we apply it to another context. In this paper, we look at Lodz, Poland, and its campus-adjacent, post-industrial area that is facing a housing boom. We describe the new-builds (their scale, types, and morphologies) and the newcomers (their demographics, residential choices, satisfaction and plans). As a result, we claim the change here is a gentrification-like hybrid of new-build youthification and studentification. Consequently, we suggest that boundaries between studentification, youthification, and gentrification can be fuzzy in particular locales. We also nuance previous findings about the near-campus change, especially the features of studentification and studentifiers, and the role of the campus itself in this process.
References
Antczak-Stępniak, A. (2022). The role of real estate development activity in the re-urbanization of cities – a case study of Łódź, Poland. Environmental & Socio-Economic Studies, 10(4): 59–70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2022-0024.
Cenere, S., Mangione, E., Santangelo, M. & Servillo, L. (2023). Setting up a University City. Geographies of Exclusion in North Turin. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie, 114(5): 400–414. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12550.
Davidson, M. & Lees, L. (2005). New-Build ‘Gentrification’ and London’s Riverside Renaissance. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 37(7): 1165–1190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a3739.
Duke-Williams, O. (2009). The geographies of student migration in the UK. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 41(8): 1826–1848. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a4198.
Ehlenz, M.M. (2016). Neighborhood Revitalization and the Anchor Institution: Assessing the Impact of the University of Pennsylvanias West Philadelphia Initiatives on University City. Urban Affairs Review, 52(5): 714–750. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087415601220.
Foote, N.S. (2017). Beyond studentification in United States College Towns: Neighborhood change in the knowledge nodes, 1980–2010. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49(6): 1341–1360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x17698962.
Górczyńska, M. (2015). Gentryfikacja w polskim kontekście: Krytyczny przegląd koncepcji wyjaśniających (Gentrification in the Polish context: A critical review of explanatory concepts – in Polish). Przegląd Geograficzny, 87(4): 589–611. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2015.4.2.
Grabkowska, M. & Frankowski, J. (2016). ‘Close to the city centre, close to the university’. Are there symptoms of studentification in Gdańsk, Poland? Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series, 32: 78–83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bog-2016-0016.
Gregory, J. & Rogerson, J. (2019). Housing in multiple occupation and studentification in Johannesburg. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series, 46(46): 85–102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2019-0036.
Herbst, M. (2009). Tworzenie i absorpcja kapitału ludzkiego przez miasta akademickie w Polsce (Creation and absorption of human capital by academic cities in Poland – in Polish). Studia Regionalne i Lokalne, 38: 21–38.
Holm, A., Marcińczak, S. & Ogrodowczyk, A. (2015). New-build gentrification in the post-socialist city: Łódź and Leipzig two decades after socialism. Geografie, 120(2): 164–187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2015120020164.
Holton, M. & Mouat, C.M. (2021). The rise (and rise) of vertical studentification: Exploring the drivers of studentification in Australia. Urban Studies, 58(9): 1866–1884. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020925246.
Hubbard, P. (2008). Regulating the social impacts of studentification: A Loughborough case study. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 40(2): 323–341. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a396.
Hubbard, P. (2009). Geographies of Studentification and Purpose-Built Student Accommodation: Leading Separate Lives? Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 41(8): 1903–1923. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a4149.
Jakóbczyk-Gryszkiewicz, J., Marcińczak, S. & Wolaniuk, A. (2014). Gentrification processes in the city. In: Marszał, T. (Ed.), Society and space in contemporary Poland in Łódź University Geographical Research, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego.
Kajdanek, K. (2022). Powrotnicy. Reurbanizacja w perspektywie przebiegu życia (1st ed.) (Reurbanites. Reurbanisation in a life course perspective (1st ed.) – in Polish). Wydawnictwo Nomos.
Kinton, C., Smith, D.P., Harrison, J. & Culora, A. (2018). New frontiers of studentification: The commodification of student housing as a driver of urban change. The Geographical Journal, 184(3): 242–254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12263.
Kotus, J., Rzeszewski, M. & Bajerski, A. (2018). Visitors in Urban Structures. Students and Tourists in the City (1st ed.). OpenGeoHum.
Kubicki, P. (2011). Nowi mieszczanie—Nowi aktorzy na miejskiej scenie (New townspeople-New actors on the urban scene – in Polish). Przegląd Socjologiczny, 60(2–3): 203–227.
Łaszkiewicz, E. (2023). Towards green gentrification? The interplay between residential change, the housing market, and park proximity. Housing Studies, 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2023.2176832.
Marcińczak, S., Musterd, S. & Stępniak, M. (2012). Where the grass is greener: Social segregation in three major Polish cities at the beginning of the 21st century. European Urban and Regional Studies, 19(4): 383–403. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776411428496.
McGirr, E., Skaburskis, A. & Donegani, T.S. (2015). Expectations, preferences and satisfaction levels among new and long-term residents in a gentrifying Toronto neighbourhood. Urban Studies, 52(1): 3–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098014522721.
Moos, M. (2016). From gentrification to youthification? The increasing importance of young age in delineating high-density living. Urban Studies, 53(14): 2903–2920. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098015603292.
Moos, M., Revington, N., Wilkin, T. & Andrey, J. (2019). The knowledge economy city: Gentrification, studentification and youthification, and their connections to universities. Urban Studies, 56(6): 1075–1092. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017745235.
Moretti, E. (2013). The New Geography of Jobs (1st ed.). Mariner Books.
Murzyn-Kupisz, M. & Szmytkowska, M. (2015). Studentification in the post-socialist context: The case of Cracow and the Tri-City (Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot). Geografie, 120(2): 188–209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2015120020188.
Revington, N. (2018). Pathways and Processes: Reviewing the Role of Young Adults in Urban Structure. The Professional Geographer, 70(1): 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2017.1288574.
Revington, N. (2022). Post-studentification? Promises and pitfalls of a near-campus urban intensification strategy. Urban Studies, 59(7): 1424–1442. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211021358.
Revington, N., Zwick, A., Hartt, M. & Schlosser, J. (2023). Universities and urban social structure: Gentrification, studentification, and youthification in five United States legacy cities. Urban Geography, 44(1): 83–104. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2021.1985306.
Rogatka, K. (2019). Rewitalizacja i gentryfikacja w wymiarze społecznym (1st ed.) (Revitalisation and gentrification in the social dimension (1st ed.) – in Polish). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
Sage, J., Smith, D.P. & Hubbard, P. (2013). New-build Studentification: A Panacea for Balanced Communities? Urban Studies, 50(13): 162302641. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013477694.
Smith, D.P. (2005). ‘Studentification ication’: The gentrification factory? In: Atkinson, R. & Bridge, G. (Eds.), Gentrification in a Global Context: The new urban colonialism (1st ed.). Routledge.
Smith, D.P. & Holt, L. (2007). Studentification and ‘apprentice’ gentrifiers within Britain’s provincial towns and cities: Extending the meaning of gentrification. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 39(1): 142–161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a38476.
Sokołowicz, M.E. (2019). Student cities or cities of graduates? The case of Lodz and its students declared preferences. Population, Space and Place, 25(2): e2177. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2177.
Sotomayor, L., Tarhan, D., Vieta, M., McCartney, S. & Mas, A. (2022). When students are house-poor: Urban universities, student marginality, and the hidden curriculum of student housing. Cities, 124: 103572. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103572.
Statistics Poland. (2023). Local Data Bank. Available at: https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/.
Sýkora, L. (1993). City in transition: The role of rent gap in Prague’s revitalization. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie, 84(4): 281–293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9663.1993.tb01770.x.
Zasina, J. & Antczak, E. (2023). The ‘gown’ unconcerned with the town? Residential satisfaction of university students living in off-campus private accommodation. Housing Studies, 38(8): 1536–1559. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2021.1961692.
Zasina, J., Mangione, E. & Santangelo, M. (2023). Nuancing student geographies: Studentscapes in post-industrial cities. Urban Geography, 44(1): 105–127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2021.1969142.
Zasina, J., Sokołowicz, M.E. & Nogalski, S. (2020). Lodz City Tour: The Changing Nature of the Urban Restructuring of a Post-Socialist Industrial City. disP - The Planning Review, 56(2): 8–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2020.1794119.
Źróbek-Różańska, A. & Szulc, L. (2018). Over a Million Student Tenants in Poland. Analysis of Preferences. Real Estate Management and Valuation, 26(2): 104–113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/remav-2018-0020.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Jakub Zasina, Wiktoria Jakubiak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Title, logo and layout of journal Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series are reserved trademarks of Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series.Stats
Number of views and downloads: 332
Number of citations: 0
