Town and Gown Glossary
Town Gown terminology can take on a life of its own. Add a wide range of geographical areas into the mix, and things can get confusing very quickly. The following is a list of terms commonly used somewhere in the world to describe things Town and Gown. These definitions are a work in progress. Please feedback any suggestions to either the forum or email the editor directly at editor@towngownworld.com |
Community Balance
A harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design).
The National HMO Lobby in the UK defines balance as " A community which approximates national demographic norms"
See "tipping point" as when a community moves from balanced to unbalanced. |
CONTRAVERSATION:
Contraversations are based on controversial and antagonistic discourse that refers to differences among group of society and business. We defined “contraversation” as dialectical and dialogical conversation particularly and publicly directed against one faction, which create antagonisms and thwart collaboration.
In other words, contraversation focuses on inter- group or interfactional conflict that obstructs collaboration by fostering conflict, confrontation and intense feelings of participants through the agency of language. In facing problematic concerns collective identities are publicly visible through language which translate them into disintegrating rather than integrating inter-societal performance.
Explanation based on article: “Contraversations: Constructing Conflicts. Lessons from a Town-Gown Controversy”. |
HEI
Higher Education Institution. The term which embraces all institutions which deliver primarily higher education level teaching provision.Universities and Colleges could be included in this grouping. |
HMO
HMO stands for "house in multiple occupation". (In Canada HMO's are sometimes referred to as"lodging houses", where lodgers live together in a dwelling unit without the proprietor.) The UK Housing Act (2004) defines HMO as a dwelling (house or flat) occupied by more than two people who do not constitute a single household. This is a complex term to apply.For an in depth discussion on this definition, review the HMO Lobby briefing paper. |
PBD
Purpose Built Housing. Development built for the purpose of housing students. |
Studentification
The social and environmental changes caused by a very large number of students living in particular areas of a town or city. A term coined by Dr.Darren Smith. The National HMO Lobby defines studentification as, "The substitution of a local community by a student community." |
Town and Gown
The inhabitants of a college or university town (Town) and the students and personnel of the college(Gown).The gown in this expression alludes to the academic robes traditional in British universities in the Early 1800s . Towngown World examines Planning collaboration processes between the “Town" and the” Gown". |
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