Gentrification is a term coined by Ruth Glass in 1964 despite recent suggestions that, ‘the term gentrification is a neologism’ (Smith, D.P., 2005, pp.73). The term describes the social and economic change of an area and the displacement of the original populations who lived there being replaced by a ‘gentry’ hence where the term gets its name (Lees, L. 2007). It has now become a ‘shifting, complex, contradictory phenomenon’ (Holt, L. and Smith, D., 2007, pp 143) as it begins to broaden and become an umbrella term for many different types of urban change. One type of urban change that can be linked to gentrification is studentification. Studentification has recently become more popular within the media due to the number of students accessing Higher Education in the 1990s almost doubling, as a result of the targets set by the government in 1987 (Allinson, J. 2006). Students were discussed as being ‘apprentice gentrifiers’ by Holt and Smith in 2007, within the article they focus on the links between Higher Education and modern gentrification within smaller cities. In this essay, I will discuss how students can be seen as apprentice gentrifiers in two ways. First, I will look at how students can be seen as gentrifiers but only to a certain extent and that the limited role they place in the gentrification of an urban area means that they are more like apprentices. I will then go on to look at how studying for and receiving a university degree produces young professionals who will have the necessary characteristics to contribute to the gentrification of areas. Throughout the essay I will link the processes discussed to myself as a university student studying in Leicester and currently living in a privately rented house and considering where I may want to live once I have graduated.
Students can be seen as gentrifiers as areas that are now home to large student populations, have seen indigenous populations become displaced. The areas begin to become mainly orientated towards students causing services, retail and infrastructure to be updated as well as the housing (Allinson, J. 2006). These services such as bars are tailored to suit students by the conversion to ‘theme bars’ (Harris, P. and McVeigh, T., 2002, pp.12) and by introducing cheaper drinks deals on drinks that students tend to gravitate towards. Harris and McVeigh (2002) also examine how this becomes an issue when the area becomes deserted and turn into ‘ghost towns’ (Hubbard,P., Sage, J. and Smith, D. 2012A) over the summer months when all the students go home. This means that many student areas become seasonal and services aimed at students during the summer months go into decline and remaining non-student residents lose the buzz of the once busy area. Darren Smith (2008) suggested that studentification had similar characteristics to other ‘societal processes that are reconfiguring the socio-spatial patterns of knowledge-based, post-industrial societies’ (pg. 2546) which in other words could say, studentification has similarities to gentrification. The displacement caused by students can sometimes be invisible especially when the students are moving into apartments in a high rise building in a city centre rather than in a house of multiple occupancy (HMO). This can be referred to as vertical studentification (Coronado, J.M., Garmendia, M. Urena, J.M., 2012) but none the less the in migration of students works to change the building and displace residents for a whole number of reasons including noise levels and fear. Studentification can come under the umbrella of third wave gentrification (Holt, L. and Smith, D.P., 2007). One example of this is that students take advantage of the cheap rent that is available which, ‘attracts students and young artists’ (Monje, P.M.M. and Vicario L., pp.2397) this is very similar to the rent gap situation which attracts investors from housing companies into an area. As of this, it could therefore be suggested that students who move out of halls of residence and into privately rented accommodation for 2nd and 3rd year, could be seen as gentrifiers due to their involvement in the process of altering an area and as a result displacing a certain group of people.
In contrast to the similarities between studentification and gentrification there are also significant differences between the two. Students only stay within the area for a set period of time, at maximum a handful of years, whereas gentrifiers have made a life change when they choose to settle in a new area (Smith, D.P., 2005). David Ley (1996) also suggests that it isn’t the students leading the gentrifying of an area it is the small-scale institutions such as landlords and letting agencies who are taking advantage of the opportunity to receive more revenue. This is possible as a result of converting family homes in to Houses of Multiple Occupancy which generate higher levels of rent and also need less upkeep, as students in general are seen to not care as much about their surroundings. Students can therefore be compared to third wave gentrifiers who are more ‘consumers’ rather than ‘producers’ (Smith, D.P., 2005) as they aren’t altering the environment for themselves they are just utilising it after it has been altered for a short period of time. The effects of studentification could be put down to the lack of regulation from the government and planning permission not being needed for the production of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) (Smith, D.P., 2008). The right-to-buy scheme also led to many houses being converted into HMOs (Hubbard, P., Sage, J. and Smith, D. 2012B). The change within the physical environment therefore can be said to be at the fault of the landlords and only the ‘perceived failure’ of the students to upkeep their physical environment, which leads to the decline of an area (Kenyon, E.L., 1997, pp.295). For these reasons, it can be said that students are aren’t gentrifiers themselves, as they haven’t taken part in the physical changes of an area they have just made use of it whilst it is there because it has the characteristics a student would be looking for. On the other hand, students couldn’t be seen as having no input in the gentrification of an area as without them the area wouldn’t have been socially adapted in the ways that it has. It is also argued that a handful of students living in an area to begin with is what draws in the primary small-scale investors which is called ‘pre-studentification’ (Smith, D.P., 2005, pp79). This why they are given the term ‘apprentice gentrifiers’ to represent to more marginal role that they play.
As a second-year university student I currently live in a seven-bedroom house with shared communal facilities in Highfields, Leicester, roughly a ten-minute walk away from the University. In my opinion, this would be the typical type of accommodation described as a HMO. The area has a high student population and both neighbouring houses are occupied by students. Physically within Highfields there is evidence of studentification in line with the degradation of the ‘visual appearance of streetscapes and residential environs’ (Balsdon, S., Sage, J. and Smith, D.P.,2014, pp.118). Fly tipping and uncollected rubbish bags often line the streets as well as the fronts of houses looking old and in need of refurbishing which is just one of the reasons as to why landlords prefer to house students rather than families. Another highly studentified area in Leicester is Clarendon Park roughly 5 minutes away from University campus it has been described as, ‘an urban oasis for students’, (Taylerson, R. 2017) The influx of students into Clarendon Park changes the socio-economic factors of the area, and because of this many of the services are now student orientated. Services now include, two pharmacies, restaurants, cocktail/wine bars and multiple coffee shops alongside hairdressers, who may offer discounts to entice in the students within the area such as 20% off midweek (http://www.emmabrownhair.co.uk/services/) and also convenience stores such as Sainsbury’s Local. If more and more student continues to move into this are and more house become transformed in HMOs then there is also the possibility that local schools may shut down due to a lack of families within the area. There is also evidence within Leicester that supports that students aren’t doing the gentrifying themselves and that it is actually at the responsibility of the private landlords and even the estate agents. Within Leicester there are many student estate agents who have used the demand for student accommodation for their personal gain. Some estate agents have even been seen to be offering incentives that would appeal to students to get them to use their letting agency for example, Costa Vouchers (http://www.evans-students.co.uk). Others have offered all-inclusive rent packages consisting of rent, water, gas and electric bills and also high-speed internet connection. Because of these all-inclusive packages being targeted to a student with a government loan the rent is normally much higher than an original resident could afford this could be seen on a few of the letting agency websites (https://www.westmanorstudentliving.co.uk/news/student-accommodation-leicester-bills-included-2/). Landlords and letting agents also cause students to panic as they urge them to look for private housing earlier and earlier every year with the threat that if they don’t start soon all the houses will be gone (Jones, A., Rhodes, D. and Rugg, J. 2000), this means students are pushed into the areas where there are surpluses of private student accommodation and rather than allowing them to look further afield. Through looking at Leicester we can see there are clear socio-economic effects of students living within a city centre, close to campus. This can be through creating a distinctive market that companies target or by displacing the previous populations and therefore removing the previous markets that were within the area.
Another way students can be classed as apprentice gentrifiers is through the thought that by completing a university degree then a student will have gained all the necessary characteristics that would be typical of a gentrifier. These characteristics, being creative, educated, and middle class. It has been suggested that students keep the values and characteristics that they form whilst at university when they evolve into the world of work (Ley, D. 1996). Due to the level of education a student has, they will tend to be generating a higher income allowing them to move out of student areas and into gentrified areas in inner city environments, census data collected in Washington in 2011 suggested that graduates earnt on average 73% more than those who only had qualifications up to high-school level (Badger, E. 2014). After spending three years in a university city, most students will feel comfortable living in an urban environment and may even be looking for modern, urban accommodation which tends to be built within the process of gentrification. Many students may event want to stay within the city where they completed their degree, this has been evident in Sheffield where many graduates choose to stay in the city after the completion of their degree (Holt, L. and Smith, D.P, 2007). Leicester is trying to encourage this as well with the City Council is now actively trying to keep graduates within the city to boost the socio-economic status of the city and prevent the loss of high skilled workers that the city has produced. One way this has been done is through the introduction of the cultural quarter, something university graduates would be drawn to as part of the ‘creative class’. Hubbard (2009) discusses UNITE accommodation group, and its new scheme called ‘Livocity’ which aims to give student tenants similar accommodation once they have graduated. The transforming of buildings in to ‘Livocity’ accommodation blocks will most likely spark the process of gentrification in an area when large numbers of graduates move in, with the service industry tailoring itself to meet the needs of the new populations of the area. Most students also gain ‘purchasing power and a vibrant social life’ (Boros et al, 2017, pp. 161) which they keep once they have graduated, along with the desire to live alongside people similar to them which is part of Butler and Robson’s (2003) theory where people living within gentrified areas like to live with ‘people like themselves’ (p.1799).
Students may also want to move out of their university city and into another city for work opportunities or to be closer to home. Within these urban areas they will engage within the processes of gentrification. The Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, Andrew Carter has said that, ‘“Graduates aren’t just thinking about their first job or their salary; they’re considering which cities offer the best long-term prospects for a career and wages.” (Savage, M. 2018). And statistics show that within six months of graduation, nearly one quarter of graduates from British universities had worked within the most influential city in the country, London (Swinney, P. and Williams, M. 2016). This supports the argument that students do enjoy the city environment and look for urban settings when applying for jobs post-graduation. When students migrate into a new city for better work opportunities and a similar lifestyle to university it creates a cycle of gentrification. Graduates move into an area as a result of the magnetic attraction (Marcus, J. 2014) to areas that already have graduates’, due to the better services such as shops and restaurants that an area will already have. Then more services follow them due to their spending power which encourages yet more graduates to migrate in, until all service’s main priorities are with the graduates (Badger, E. 2014). This leads to services becoming too expensive for the non-university educated populations and displaces them to other areas. In the western parts of Philadelphia’s centre there are high populations of graduates along-side middle and upper-class populations, in relation to this the area is also home to the majority of high rise buildings, restaurants and shopping areas (Hwang, L. 2016). The movement of graduates into new cities post-graduation causes areas to become gentrified due the upgrading of not only housing, but social space, services and ultimately the class of the area. All of these arguments can support the idea that students are apprentice gentrifiers.
Once I have graduated I would be interested in working in Sheffield as it is the closest city to my home town and also it has excellent job prospects alongside a similar quality of life I have grown to love in Leicester. Sheffield is within the top ten cities (Swinney, P. and Williams, M. 2016) for hosting graduates and is a city I will be very interested in living once finishing my undergraduate degree in Leicester. The city boasts two major universities, and the percentage of students who choose to remain in Sheffield once they have graduated is above 42% (Sheffield Hallam University, 2018). Kelham Island is an area that is currently being gentrified as a result of deindustrialisation. The new apartments within Kelham Island are being advertised with young professionals (graduates) in mind. We can see the effects this is having on the area from the indigenous populations due to graffiti around the area stating ‘fuck the yuppies’. Kelham Island has now become inundated with ‘young, wealthy, educated, liberal types who flood the areas with coffee shops, renovate the old buildings, and push up house prices’ (The Northern Urbanist, 2017). However, the displacement within Kelham Island wasn’t due to the in-migration of graduates as the area was once mainly industrial buildings. Original populations feel displaced by the students as they identify their heritage with the area and in Kelham Island there is no doubt there are signs of gentrification.
Within this essay gentrification and the roles student play within gentrification have been analysed widely. It can be said that students unknowingly gentrify whilst at university a process that can be termed studentification. And also, that students are taught the necessary characteristics in order to be able to migrate into urban areas where lower income and less educated populations are going to be displaced. Hwang, J. (2016) suggests that neighbourhood identities are ‘socially constructed’ by graduates and therefore this creates an area which can exclude certain groups down to income or class. Gentrification is an extremely complex process which is strongly linked to the place in which it is occurs, for example gentrification in student areas is classed as studentification. Throughout the essay the idea that students are subconsciously gentrifying has been explored and therefore it could be said that being a gentrifier is something that becomes an intrinsic quality to a student whilst at university and also post-graduation. It can therefore be said that students can be seen as ‘apprentice gentrifiers’ for the reasons explored within this essay.