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A college town or university town is a town or city whose character is dominated by a college or university and their associated culture, often characterised by the student population making up 20 percent of the population of the community, but not including communities that are parts of larger urban areas (often termed ). The university may be large, or there may be several smaller institutions such as liberal arts colleges clustered, or the residential population may be small, but college towns in all cases are so dubbed because the presence of the educational institution(s) pervades economic and social life. Many local residents may be employed by the university—which may be the largest employer in the community—many businesses cater primarily to the university, and the student population may outnumber the local population.
Besides a highly educated and largely transient population, a stereotype college town often has many people in non-traditional lifestyles and subcultures and with a high tolerance for unconventionality in general, and has a very active musical or cultural scene. Many have become centres of technological research and innovative Startup company. Universities with start-up centers can be large cities like Munich, but also small cities like Trieste.Uwe Marx "Die besten Gründer-Unis in Deutschland" In: FAZ 10 November 2018; Filippo Santelli: Start up, sono Trento e Trieste le capitali dell'innovazione. In: La Repubblica 25 April 2014.
As a result of this history, the university buildings in classical European university towns are located on multiple sites in the city centre, while the university buildings in American college towns are concentrated on a campus distinct from the city itself. Thus, the student residential area in historic European university towns such as Oxford, Cambridge and Durham is around the city centre, while in US college towns such as Ithaca, New York, it is outside the city centre and near the campus.
Two examples of college towns in the US and the UK that have been the subject of academic studies are Ithaca, New York, and Durham, England. These are cities of similar sizes, with the Durham built up area and the Ithaca urban area both having populations between 50,000 and 60,000 in 2021. They both also have major universities founded in the 19th century, with student populations of over 20,000.
Ithaca is a relatively recent foundation, with settlement of the city beginning with a "military tract" designated in 1790 for veterans of the American Revolutionary War. In contrast, Durham is an ancient cathedral city, established in the 10th century. The university was founded by the cathedral in 1832 and is the third oldest in England. Unlike Cornell University in Ithaca, which developed on a campus east of the city centre there, Durham University was mainly based in the city centre, around Palace Green and the Bailey, until the mid 20th century, when it expanded into the Elvet area of the city and the hilly area south of this.
In Ithaca, the two main areas for student residence are Collegetown, to the southwest of the Cornell University campus, and the Greek housing district, to the west of the campus. These were undeveloped when the university opened in 1868. Collegetown developed, similarly to other student rental districts in the US, in response to student demand, with cheap rooming houses and private dormitories being built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Collegetown developed its own central business district, catering to the needs of students. After World War 2, in common with other US universities, Cornell's student population increased dramatically, nearly doubling between 1940 and 1965. This drove the further development of Collegetown, with rooming houses becoming apartments and the conversion into student accommodation of many family homes that had been built in the areas furthest from campus. The area also became run down, with a number of proposals for renewal put forward including, in 1969, compete demolition. However, it was not until Cornell invested in Collegetown projects in the 1980s that there was any significant change, with large, student accommodation blocks described as "a cross between dormitories and apartments" replacing the old houses in the area close to campus. However, the areas further away from campus remained large houses subdivided into apartments, and continued increase in the student population pushed the edge of the student rental area west towards the centre of Ithaca and east into Bryant Park.
Until the 1980s almost all students at Durham University lived in colleges rather than accommodation in town, but expansion of the university after this outstripped the growth in college accommodation, leading to many students renting privately in surrounding areas, particularly Elvet and the Viaduct area around the railway Durham Viaduct. Unlike Ithaca, where Collegetown was built to accommodate the student population, these areas were already long-established residential districts – Elvet was an ancient borough chartered in the late 12th or early 13th century, with much of the housing converted to student use being former , while the Viaduct area developed during the 19th century as Victorian .
From the 1990s onwards, these were increasingly occupied by students, with over 1,800 houses being converted to student rents over a 25 to 30 year period to 2022 and some streets reaching 100 per cent student occupancy. Durham County Council introduced a student housing policy in 2014 and from 2016 required planning permission to convert single family houses to houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), but this was widely regarded as being "too little too late". The council also encouraged the development of dormitory (PBSA) in the city to relieve pressure on the housing market, with the first private PBSA, built by Unite Students opening in Elvet in 2012. Retail premises in the city centre were also converted to private halls of residence. However, demand for HMOs continued to rise, leading to growth in other areas of the city, with Gilesgate in particular seeing large rises in student rents between 2014 and 2022.
This process of large student populations moving into traditionally non-student neighbourhoods, displacing the local population, is known as . It has been a feature of both university towns and university quarters in larger cities in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as university enrolment grew faster than the capacity of universities to expand on-campus housing. It may be perceived as a form of gentrification but can also brings benefits to towns, with student spending boosting local economies across multiple sectors and the student population allowing towns and cities to project a cosmopolitan image in their marketing.
Studentification has mainly been identified in the context of within larger cities, with the term having been originally coined in 2002 with reference to Leeds in England. However, Durham provides an example of studentification in a smaller college town.
Town–gown relations
As in the case of a company town, the large and transient student population may come into conflict with other townspeople. Students may come from outside the area and be from different socio-economic classes than local residents, increasing tensions. The different demographics of the student population can lead to school closures, and the conversion of family homes into houses in multiple occupation can reduce the availability of affordable housing. Economically, the high spending power of the university and of its students in aggregate may inflation the cost of living above that of the region. However, small college towns can also lead to more close-knit academic communities as staff interact frequently outside of work, leading to better work–life balance.
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