Revitalizing neighbourhoods.’
Lecture 1: Introduction.
‘slechtste wijken zien achterstand verder toenemen’
Stronger concentration of low income/low education households.
Minister: we have to mix these neighbourhoods more.
Is that really the solution?
Why do neighbourhoods matter?
A stage for every-day life
A place where you feel at home
Provision of amenities
Social cohesion and capital
Composition has an impact
For whom do neighbourhoods matter?
Residents come to mind first. Neighbourhoods are key for individual well-being.
Neighbourhoods create future opportunities for children. (Is the school good? Can they go by
themselves?)
Residential property owners and local businesses: there is an important financial logical in
how neighbourhoods change.
Local government: Does the neighbourhood match the needs that need to be fulfilled?
Housing supply, public services, economic competitiveness + liveability.
Housing associations are specific to the Dutch context. They have a very central role. Are
concerned with housing affordability and liveability.
How do neighbourhoods affect us?
The kind of services, facilities and social cohesion in the neighbourhood: how do they affect us?
Neighbourhood effects = impact of the composition of ‘the neighbourhood’ or its structural
characteristics on people’s life.
Most of the studies on this in the US. There are many differences between the EU and the
VS. Why? Because of welfare regimes and taxes.
There is a difference between qualitative and quantitative studies.
Neighbourhood effects for residents.
1. Social-cultural mechanisms (e.g. informal social control & role models)
2. Environmental mechanisms (e.g. exposure to violence & pollution)
3. Geographical mechanisms (e.g. spatial mismatch)
4. Institutional mechanisms (e.g. stigmatization, quality resources)
How to improve neighbourhoods: policy responses.
Ingredients of Neighbourhood Policies identified by Houterman & Hulsbergen:
Housing market
Situational
Impact on personal live
Time really plays a role: the neighbourhood is adapting continuously.
How to understand NB revitalization?
,Revitalization is a term used in many disciplines. In architecture and urban design. It’s related to the
renovation, restauration, revival of abandoned, vacant, deteriorated buildings of areas into new,
meaningful, attractive places fit for existing or new functions.
Diversity of definitions on improving neighbourhoods:
NB transformation
NB regeneration/renewal
NB revitalization
Central to the neighbourhood are
interactions between people and the
environment. There are three broad
categories: physical, social and economic.
The right side of this model are purposeful
interventions: they are built by the frames
we have.
Lecture 2: Studentification.
Learning goals:
Identifying different dimensions of studentification
Understanding studentification as a policy issue in Groningen
Collecting first ideas on researching effects PBSA on neighbourhoods
Why does policy focus on studentification?
They want to attract students; brain gain. However, many students leave after they finish
school; brain drain.
There are struggles of students to find good housing
What does the inflow of students do to communities?
Keep in mind the planned versus the lived city:
‘’How people want to live should be expressed in how cities are built, but just here lies a great
problem. Experience in a city is rarely seamless.’’
People use spaces differently than was intended.
E.g. family homes being split up into student housing.
What is studentification?
Studentification is a new term. We see an emerging research field. This research is predominantly
coming from the UK content.
Video clip: What stands out?
Moving in off a large group of students. Displacement of the original residents.
A huge concentration of students; clustering.
Change of facilities in the area.
Student hall as discussed in the video are specific to the UK context.
Stakeholders: students, property owners, residents, local shop owners.
Results: change in shops, replacement of original facilities, pollution, erosion of the built
environment
How can we think of a policy that reduces the negative effects of studentification?
,Waves of studentification
1st wave
Comparable to the traditional understanding of gentrification
Emergent student hoods in inner cities and around university campuses
Rise of distinctive sub-culture; due to concentration.
nd
2 wave
Supply of cheap convertible single family residences in attractive parts dries up
As a response Purpose built student accommodations are built
Ironically (dis)replacing many of the (parent) gentrifies from the 1 st wave.
Impact of studentification
City level vs street level
Economic & facilities:
City level:
Flexible working force and start ups
Specific facilities (medical services, sport facilities, night live)
Improved transportation
Hood/Street level:
Housing market: Buy-to-let
Change of facilities
Pressure on parking
Density of people on the street increases
Environmental effects:
Hood/Street level:
Littering
Noise pollution (nightly disruptions)
Anti-social behaviour (vandalism, shouting)
(Petty)crime
Lower level of maintenance
Less social control in neighbourhoods with a lot of students
Socio-cultural effects:
City level:
Cultural diverse (cultural activities, internationalization)
Depopulation during study breaks
Long term residents: strangers in town (ordering in English, advertisements oriented towards
students)
Stigmatization
Hood/Street level:
Diversification of declining areas
Tensions due to different rhythms
Reducing sense of community
Internationalization: communication barriers & unfamiliar with social norm and cultural
codes.
, Policy making: socio-cultural issues.
Policy makers have limited attention for the possible disrupting effects of growing HEI for
towns and cities
Anti-social behaviour by students is judged differently: socially accepted + decision makers
often have been students themselves
Many students want to be active, but do not know how to start.
Policy making: burning questions
‘positive’ regeneration or questionable displacement?
Promoting clustered areas or mixed areas?
Purpose-Built Student Accommodation.
Reasons for PBSA’s:
Reallocating students for other residential areas
Reducing pressure on communities and housing market
Attractive accommodation for students
Some lenses for analysing PBSA’s:
New business models > commodification of student spaces
Affordability
Impact on student experience
Effects for the neighbourhoods
Possible effects PBSA’s on neighbourhoods
Increased liveliness
Reinforce cultural activities
Socio-cultural displacement
Self-segregation
Effects of studentification in neighbourhoods of Groningen.
Groningen is the youngest city of the Netherlands. The student population brings an dynamic and
vibrate city, stimulates knowledge and creativity and a boost for the local economy. But also
unkempt gardens, a lot of bikes, crease the quality of the streets and noise disturbance.
Housing vision ‘wonen in de stad’ of 2015. The intention of the municipality was to offer good
housing for young and increasingly international people. 3 topics were discussed:
1. Developing independent studios
There is a changing demand student’s want more surface, better facilities and more privacy. The
BouwJong program realized more than 2000 new houses for young people. They are at attractive
locations for young people, but also locations that does not suffer trouble in the neighbourhood.
2. Well-balanced neighbourhoods
Want to create a pleasant and good living in Groningen for everybody. Some neighbourhoods are out
of balance; a lot of room rental in popular neighbourhoods, splitting or expanding of houses and
decline in housing quality.
Lecture 1: Introduction.
‘slechtste wijken zien achterstand verder toenemen’
Stronger concentration of low income/low education households.
Minister: we have to mix these neighbourhoods more.
Is that really the solution?
Why do neighbourhoods matter?
A stage for every-day life
A place where you feel at home
Provision of amenities
Social cohesion and capital
Composition has an impact
For whom do neighbourhoods matter?
Residents come to mind first. Neighbourhoods are key for individual well-being.
Neighbourhoods create future opportunities for children. (Is the school good? Can they go by
themselves?)
Residential property owners and local businesses: there is an important financial logical in
how neighbourhoods change.
Local government: Does the neighbourhood match the needs that need to be fulfilled?
Housing supply, public services, economic competitiveness + liveability.
Housing associations are specific to the Dutch context. They have a very central role. Are
concerned with housing affordability and liveability.
How do neighbourhoods affect us?
The kind of services, facilities and social cohesion in the neighbourhood: how do they affect us?
Neighbourhood effects = impact of the composition of ‘the neighbourhood’ or its structural
characteristics on people’s life.
Most of the studies on this in the US. There are many differences between the EU and the
VS. Why? Because of welfare regimes and taxes.
There is a difference between qualitative and quantitative studies.
Neighbourhood effects for residents.
1. Social-cultural mechanisms (e.g. informal social control & role models)
2. Environmental mechanisms (e.g. exposure to violence & pollution)
3. Geographical mechanisms (e.g. spatial mismatch)
4. Institutional mechanisms (e.g. stigmatization, quality resources)
How to improve neighbourhoods: policy responses.
Ingredients of Neighbourhood Policies identified by Houterman & Hulsbergen:
Housing market
Situational
Impact on personal live
Time really plays a role: the neighbourhood is adapting continuously.
How to understand NB revitalization?
,Revitalization is a term used in many disciplines. In architecture and urban design. It’s related to the
renovation, restauration, revival of abandoned, vacant, deteriorated buildings of areas into new,
meaningful, attractive places fit for existing or new functions.
Diversity of definitions on improving neighbourhoods:
NB transformation
NB regeneration/renewal
NB revitalization
Central to the neighbourhood are
interactions between people and the
environment. There are three broad
categories: physical, social and economic.
The right side of this model are purposeful
interventions: they are built by the frames
we have.
Lecture 2: Studentification.
Learning goals:
Identifying different dimensions of studentification
Understanding studentification as a policy issue in Groningen
Collecting first ideas on researching effects PBSA on neighbourhoods
Why does policy focus on studentification?
They want to attract students; brain gain. However, many students leave after they finish
school; brain drain.
There are struggles of students to find good housing
What does the inflow of students do to communities?
Keep in mind the planned versus the lived city:
‘’How people want to live should be expressed in how cities are built, but just here lies a great
problem. Experience in a city is rarely seamless.’’
People use spaces differently than was intended.
E.g. family homes being split up into student housing.
What is studentification?
Studentification is a new term. We see an emerging research field. This research is predominantly
coming from the UK content.
Video clip: What stands out?
Moving in off a large group of students. Displacement of the original residents.
A huge concentration of students; clustering.
Change of facilities in the area.
Student hall as discussed in the video are specific to the UK context.
Stakeholders: students, property owners, residents, local shop owners.
Results: change in shops, replacement of original facilities, pollution, erosion of the built
environment
How can we think of a policy that reduces the negative effects of studentification?
,Waves of studentification
1st wave
Comparable to the traditional understanding of gentrification
Emergent student hoods in inner cities and around university campuses
Rise of distinctive sub-culture; due to concentration.
nd
2 wave
Supply of cheap convertible single family residences in attractive parts dries up
As a response Purpose built student accommodations are built
Ironically (dis)replacing many of the (parent) gentrifies from the 1 st wave.
Impact of studentification
City level vs street level
Economic & facilities:
City level:
Flexible working force and start ups
Specific facilities (medical services, sport facilities, night live)
Improved transportation
Hood/Street level:
Housing market: Buy-to-let
Change of facilities
Pressure on parking
Density of people on the street increases
Environmental effects:
Hood/Street level:
Littering
Noise pollution (nightly disruptions)
Anti-social behaviour (vandalism, shouting)
(Petty)crime
Lower level of maintenance
Less social control in neighbourhoods with a lot of students
Socio-cultural effects:
City level:
Cultural diverse (cultural activities, internationalization)
Depopulation during study breaks
Long term residents: strangers in town (ordering in English, advertisements oriented towards
students)
Stigmatization
Hood/Street level:
Diversification of declining areas
Tensions due to different rhythms
Reducing sense of community
Internationalization: communication barriers & unfamiliar with social norm and cultural
codes.
, Policy making: socio-cultural issues.
Policy makers have limited attention for the possible disrupting effects of growing HEI for
towns and cities
Anti-social behaviour by students is judged differently: socially accepted + decision makers
often have been students themselves
Many students want to be active, but do not know how to start.
Policy making: burning questions
‘positive’ regeneration or questionable displacement?
Promoting clustered areas or mixed areas?
Purpose-Built Student Accommodation.
Reasons for PBSA’s:
Reallocating students for other residential areas
Reducing pressure on communities and housing market
Attractive accommodation for students
Some lenses for analysing PBSA’s:
New business models > commodification of student spaces
Affordability
Impact on student experience
Effects for the neighbourhoods
Possible effects PBSA’s on neighbourhoods
Increased liveliness
Reinforce cultural activities
Socio-cultural displacement
Self-segregation
Effects of studentification in neighbourhoods of Groningen.
Groningen is the youngest city of the Netherlands. The student population brings an dynamic and
vibrate city, stimulates knowledge and creativity and a boost for the local economy. But also
unkempt gardens, a lot of bikes, crease the quality of the streets and noise disturbance.
Housing vision ‘wonen in de stad’ of 2015. The intention of the municipality was to offer good
housing for young and increasingly international people. 3 topics were discussed:
1. Developing independent studios
There is a changing demand student’s want more surface, better facilities and more privacy. The
BouwJong program realized more than 2000 new houses for young people. They are at attractive
locations for young people, but also locations that does not suffer trouble in the neighbourhood.
2. Well-balanced neighbourhoods
Want to create a pleasant and good living in Groningen for everybody. Some neighbourhoods are out
of balance; a lot of room rental in popular neighbourhoods, splitting or expanding of houses and
decline in housing quality.
