Cities that are strengthening their role as centres of higher education are experiencing transformation processes that are challenging their societies, environments and economies. In this context, the complex interplay between urban strategies and the university agenda, housing supply and demand, and the struggle to find affordable housing remain an area little explored by research and public policy, despite the fact that it profoundly influences the lives of students and, in general, the social sustainability of the city.
The research project LINUS – Living the university city: student housing as a driver of changes, addresses these issues by focusing on the dynamics of student housing as a driver of urban change, where university and city attraction policies and the related growth of the student population put pressure on local housing systems.
This volume collects the proceedings of the public conference Vivere la città universitaria, L’abitare studentesco come generatore di trasformazioni, held in Padua on 31 May 2024. The conference was organised as part of the Project of Significant National Interest (PRIN PNRR 2022) entitled LINUS – Living the University City, financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the Ministry for Universities and Research (MUR) with PNRR funds.
Each chapter opens with speeches by the session coordinators, with analysis and positioning in national and international academic and policy literature and debates. The second part of each chapter is completed by contributions from conference guests. In line with the investigative framework of the project, in fact, the seminar fostered the confrontation between a multidisciplinary group of academics, with experts in the field of student housing and public decision-makers, articulating the discussion around three main axes: university systems, the city – understood as a public and local decision-making system, and the student body as a whole.
