Tackling Studentification
The "10 Point Plan "
By: Richard Tyler
Mar 2008, UK
Tackling studentification as a form of polarisation needs a range of measures, concerned with managing, housing and planning. Together they make a Ten Point Plan.
1. Accommodation Audit : The first requirement is to establish the breadth and depth of the problem – where is the transient population located, and to what degree of penetration? How does it change, year by year?
2. Co-ordination: In order to work together, stakeholders need some form of forum. All are responsible for actively engaging, but it is up to the local authority to set up such a forum.
3. Action Plan : Each stakeholder will need its own strategy ,But these will be ineffective without coordination.
4. Mandatory HMO Licensing : Licensing’s most useful roles are improving tenant safety as well as identifying the location of HMOs.
5. Additional HMO Licensing : Additional HMO licensing to ensure all HMO's, regardless of size, are regulated.
6. Restoration of Balance : A destabilised neighbourhood will not easily re-balance itself. Studentification makes this very difficult. In due course, ‘de-studentification’ may provide opportunities. Only the resident population itself can restore sustainability to a community.
7 Threshold Policy : The creation of some sort of threshold, beyond which further development of HMOs or student accommodation will be resisted. This is meant to prevent concentrations developing in the first place.
8 Areas of Restraint : The adoption of a range of local HMO plans to deal with the problems of concentrations of HMOs or student accommodation One of these plans is the idea of an ‘Area of Restraint’, in order to resist further development where there are already high concentrations.
9 Purpose Built Development : Such housing takes the pressure off conversion of family homes into HMOs (and in a time of housing shortage, this is far better than the conversion of family homes into seasonally-occupied second homes). At the same time, the siting of purpose-built development has to be carefully handled, so that it does not in fact increase polarisation.
10 Use Classes Order A change of the Use Classes Order (redefining HMOs, and subjecting them to planning permission) would make an enormous difference to the power of local councils. Here, it is up to government to take action – and all local stakeholders should lobby the government on this issue. ( Go to HMO Lobby Website)
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University Town: A new era of living and learning
TownGown World Article
By : Dr. Lily Kong
National University of Singapore
Feb 2008, Singapore
The groundbreaking ceremony for University Town on 31 January 2008 marked a milestone for the National University of Singapore (NUS) as well as for higher education, research and enterprise in Singapore. University Town is a major step for NUS in its quest to offer a wide range of educational opportunities designed to prepare students to compete globally. It will also help realize NUS’ ambition to build bustling intellectual hubs for world-class research, and seedbeds for entrepreneurial activity.
The main feature of University Town is an integrated learning and living environment embodied in six residential colleges. Together with two graduate residences, University Town will pioneer the concept of learning and living within colleges in Singapore when ready by 2010. Up to 6,000 students from a diverse mix of different nationalities and cultures will live, learn and play together. University Town will offer vast opportunities to cultivate cross-cultural understanding and promote deep social bonds. It is also expected to nurture tomorrow’s leaders for the global arena. The emphasis will be on independent and critical thinking, multi- and inter-disciplinary teaching and learning, the development of excellent communication skills and global minds, with a focus in helping students understand and engage Asia.
The residential colleges at University Town seek to take NUS’ annual intake of about 6,500 undergraduates and create smaller human scale communities where meaningful interactions and intense intellectual inquiry can take place. The colleges will integrate academic learning with living and by offering residential learning opportunities. In this way, the separation of learning and living will be eliminated, thereby encouraging students to make connections between academic learning and the rest of the lives. Students live together in a community, experience independent living and peer learning, appreciate diversity and develop cultural sensitivity. The college system, together with a mix of social, recreational, sporting and enterprise-related facilities and activities, will provide ample opportunities for a well-rounded education for our students and equip them with the character and confidence to take on the world.
The colleges will play an active part in each student’s academic education. Each college will offer modules that allow students to fulfill some of their curriculum requirements at the college. These will take the form of a freshman seminar and a writing module for a start. The college will also offer close academic advising and non-formal, non-credit gaining intellectually interesting and challenging activities.
Co-located in the 19 hectare site will be the Asia Research Institute and National Research Foundation’s (NRF) Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise, or CREATE, which will forge a vibrant, thriving and intellectual community, where excellence in research and scholarship is at the heart of a transformative educational experience. CREATE brings together top researchers from Singapore institutions and some of the world’s best universities, e.g. MIT and Switzerland’s ETH Domain. The close proximity of CREATE will make available a pool of experts in science and technology to share their expertise with students via seminars, talks, and mentorship, and perhaps to serve as fellows in the residential colleges too. Likewise, Asia Research Institute, with its rich concentration of expertise offering deep and broad knowledge about Asia, will provide opportunities to students for research internships and mentorship, as well as stimulating seminars.
University Town promises to catalyse a transformative educational experience at NUS; it will be a nexus of living, learning and discovery, with intellectual energy that inspires new knowledge, transforming the way people think and act.
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Yale University
Contributing to a Strong New Haven
TownGown World Article
by Shana Noelle Schneider
Yale University, Jan, 2008, USA
Over the past 15 years, Yale University has worked closely with the City and the community to create a vibrant and growing New Haven. Yale institutionalized its commitment to the city’s future by creating the office of New Haven and state affairs, Yale has focused their community building efforts on fostering economic development, Creating a vital downtown, strengthening neighborhoods, supporting public education and communicating New Haven’s renaissance. (Go to Article)
Editor's note: While there are many higher educational institutions that have solid community partnerships, one cannot help but be impressed with both the scope and structure of the various Yale Initiatives.
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Near-Campus Student Housing and the Growth of the Town and Gown Movement in Canada
Dr.Michael Fox
Jan 2008
Close to 150 Canadian communities are home to one or more colleges or universities, providing an enormous social and economic impact from over 1 million full-time students. Yet a growing number of off-campus incidents concerning student housing and behavioural issues have caused local residents and public officials to raise concerns about neighbourhood safety and community security. This article explores the complexities of so-called “Town and Gown” relations and the growing body of research and professional associations aimed at reducing the disruptive nature of student housing enclaves through enhanced cooperation by all parties involved in the provision of education, student housing and neighbourhood security.(Go to Article)
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Towards a Vision of a Vibrant Urban Campus
Integrated with the Surrounding Neighborhood
TownGown World Article
By: Harry Mattison
Jan 2008, USA
Of all the world’s university expansions underway or planned, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Harvard University, the world’s wealthiest university with a $35 billion endowment, owns more than 300 acres in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. In January 2007, Harvard announced plans for 4 to 5 million square feet of new construction in the next 20 years and another 4 to 5 million square feet in the 30 years after that. For comparison, the combined size of these projects is more than 3 times the size of the Empire State Building!
Readers of the North Allston Strategic Framework and Harvard Allston Life Task Force report, or any urban visionary, can imagine the wonderful outcome that this campus expansion could have. Harvard gains much-needed space for research, teaching, housing, and cultural facilities. The diverse Allston and Brighton neighborhoods and the local economy are invigorated while existing residents continue to be part of the community. Stunning new buildings are built and citizens of Boston and beyond benefit from increased access to Harvard’s vast museum collections that now languish in storage.
On the way to what could be this great result, residents of Allston and Brighton have watched Harvard purchase dozens of commercial, industrial, and residential properties in the past decade. Since Harvard’s purchase, many of these formerly active buildings have sat vacant during a red-hot real estate market elsewhere in Boston. Hundreds of jobs have been lost, valuable neighborhood stores and services are gone, and even in its 50-year plan Harvard offered no ideas for acres of under-utilized property in the core of the neighborhood.
Decades of massive construction loom in the future for this densely-packed urban neighborhood. Roads are already over-burdened by the existing traffic even before the addition of thousands of construction workers and their equipment. Transportation improvements have been discussed but have not moved beyond preliminary visioning.
A City-appointed Task Force and the grass-roots Allston/Brighton Neighborhood Assembly, Allston/Brighton North Neighbors Forum and Harvard Students for Ethical Expansion and Development are seeking mutually beneficial outcomes to Harvard’s expansion, in contrast to the exclusionary approach being taken by Harvard's planning staff.
Harvard and Allston/Brighton will both be best served by the development of a vibrant urban campus that integrates with the surrounding neighborhood and the creation of new housing, new jobs, and a variety of new attractions (stores, museums, parks, etc.) that will make the campus and community more liveable and interesting.
In 2008, discussions about the Master Plan for Harvard’s new campus will continue. Harvard has the land, money, and all other resources needed to create a dynamic urban campus and support a community that would benefit the university as a wonderful place for its affiliates and others to live, work, learn, and play. Members of the Harvard and Allston/Brighton communities, concerned by steps Harvard took during 2007 to segregate its new campus from the nearby neighborhood, will advocate for a planning process and result that will positively redefine how universities can expand and simultaneously enrich themselves and their surroundings.
Editor's note : Harry Mattison is a long time resident homeowner living in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Harry serves as a member of the Harvard Universities Institutional Master Plan Community Task Force for Allston. He created and maintains the harvardinallston.net website as well as the Allston Brighton Community Blog which extensively covers among other topics the expansion plans of Harvard and Boston College. Harry also moderates AllstonBrighton2006, an email discussion group created to help support communication, information sharing, and community organizing in Allston.
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Collaborative Community Planning
Does it Exist? Common Threads
Planning for student housing a Key Focus
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lack of government policy, and the relative incapacity of institutional actors to effectively intervene or regulate the residential geographies of students, is yielding ‘unbalanced’ populations in a range of urban contexts.
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colleges and universities must both recognize that the fate of the institution and its neighborhood are intertwined and a comprehensive program addressing all the factors that contribute to community stability must be developed.
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In certain areas the concentration of students creates significant problems in creating a sustainable community. In some areas the loss of community can not be mitigated by an increased access to resources and facilities.
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the development of collaborative groups leads to improvement in identifying and defining common interests and problems. Many communities seek solutions to the effects of student enrolment increases, but invariably these solutions run into both legislative and enforcement barriers that make the effectiveness of these solutions problematic.
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| Dr.Darren Smith |
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The Politics of Studentification and '(un)balanced' Urban Populations in the United Kingdom: an update
Dr.Darren P. Smith
Nov 2007
Abstract: This paper explores the unfolding politics of studentification in the UK. It is argued that there is a paradox between New Labour’s utopian vision of sustainable communities and the geographic effects of the promotion of higher education. This contention hinges on the absence of a national policy on the production and supply of student housing, which dictates when, where and how enlarged student populations should be integrated into established residential communities, or dispersed to other parts of university towns and cities. It is asserted that the lack of government policy, and the relative incapacity of institutional actors to effectively intervene or regulate the residential geographies of students, is yielding ‘unbalanced’ populations in a range of urban contexts. This is a key factor in the rise of studentification, and the fragmentation of well-established residential communities. Ironically, some community activists argue many of these ‘lost’ communities signified lucid exemplars that the sustainable communities policy seeks to engender. These new student geographies also obscure the positive social, economic and cultural benefits which students can bring to university towns and cities, and may foster resentment and conflict between students and established residents. More specifically, the paper illustrates how ongoing debates of planning and housing legislation (licensing of Housing in Multiple Occupation, Use Classes Order, Areas of Housing Mix) may be integral for addressing the challenges of studentification.(Go to Paper)
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Send us your Feedback/Comments.
The purpose of these articles is to encourage discussion.You can make your comments/suggestions through the forum,or email the editor directly at:
editor@towngownworld.com
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| Dr. Darren Smith |
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| The Councillor's Campaign for Balanced Communities (CCBC)
"An Agenda for Change"
Nottingham, UK
Mar 13, 2008
TownGown World contributing Authors Dr. Darren Smith and Dr. Richard Tyler will be guest speakers at the upcoming CCBC conference. This event will bring together key players, all of whom are committed to continuing development and to strengthening the concept of "balanced community". (Go to agenda)
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| Dr. Richard Tyler |
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New in 2008!
Best Practice : Neighbourhood Community Organizations
In 2008,Towngown World will highlight Best Practice Neighbourhood Organizations. The criteria used for selection to this listing include organizations that; A. have an active website B. Have a formal organizational structure C. Work on leveraging the positive aspects of living near a Higher educational institution as well as working to minimize the negative impacts. D. are seen as a credible voice for the community (i.e asked to participate in joint meetings etc. with HEI's and host cities). E. Are endorsed by city officials.
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UCLA Student Housing Master Plan 2007-2017
2007, USA
The plan outlines a set of long-term strategic aspirations for the housing program at UCLA. The updated Master Plan is intended to directly link housing program goals to institutional objectives in support of the campus academic mission.
The Master Plan acknowledges the importance of on-campus housing to support undergraduate students during their transition to campus, and to provide much-needed academic, leadership, and personal growth experiences to support retention and to enrich the quality of the undergraduate experience at UCLA.(Go to Resources)
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Off Campus Capacity Analysis
Ohio University
Jan 2007, USA
In December of 2006, Ohio University brought to closure a comprehensive campus master planning effort. This master planning tool kit is compromised of four integral parts, one of these being the Off-Campus Capacity Analysis.
This report provides the university and City of Athens with a tool to determine the level of housing development needed to meet Ohio University's enrollment targets. As well, determining the effects of on-campus housing developments and enrollment growth on the City's housing stock.
The study indicated off-campus housing is strained with high demand, limited supply and poor quality.
The off-campus housing situation rests mainly between Athens and the university, with each body having their own development plan. To provide adequate housing to support university enrollment, the study found that “coordination between the city and university is crucial.” ( Go to Report)
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Featured Collaborative Planning Study
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University of Cincinnati
“Community Interactions and Collaborations
Peer Institutional Study ”
2006
The University commissioned a study on university/community joint planning, to help guide it in its work to reinvigorate its own campus neighborhood. In order to learn from peer urban/metropolitan universities engaged in similar efforts, UC commissioned what is believed to be the first broad attempt to “grade” such efforts throughout the United States and Canada. The report includes 21 case studies detailing university efforts, as well as a detailed report card of 11 of those universities across 16 criteria.
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Editor's Note: Examples of good higher education /Community collaborative planning seem to occur when;
• The neighborhood deteriorates to the point where the surrounding community is negatively impacting university recruitment of students and faculty
• The local neighborhood Association is strong enough to force change
If there are any examples out there where neither of the above was the initial catalyst for change, please send me an email.
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Collaborative Planning: A USA Perspective
The University as Urban Planner:
Town Gown Cooperation in the United States
Bob Karrow
Nov2007
(Go to Article)
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Collaborative Community Planning: Does it exist? A UK Perspective
Dr Richard Tyler
Nov 2007
(Go to Article)
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Collaborative Community Planning: Does it Exist? – An Ontario, Canada Perspective
Rob Payne
Nov 2007
(Go to Article)
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