Living and Learning: A New Identity for Student Housing …
107
4 Student Housing as a Community Hub
The research carried out and the open perspectives clearly demonstrate the potential
of student housing as a privileged field for the construction of Community hubs
able to provide spaces and furniture to local people as well as social support to the
population by young students with high educational profile and specific linguistic,
technical, and digital skills.
Community hubs are public spaces able to bring together community agencies and
neighborhood groups, offering a range of activities, programs, and services referred to
the specific needs of the local population. They encourage social gatherings, improving the use of public spaces, embracing multiple services under one roof. Among the
others, Community hubs can include health services, education, and employment
amenities, childcare and sports facilities, social, cultural, and recreational spaces
(Bagnoli et al. 2019). Community hubs foster the integration of local population,
helping to put in relation people who speak the same language, with similar cultural
backgrounds (Sousa 2013; Brotsky et al. 2019).
This gives the interpretation of student housing a double meaning, considering it
on the one hand as “hardware”—a physical place able to provide innovative spaces
and facilities to citizens—on the other hand as “software”—a social environment able
to interact with the multicultural tendencies of a contemporary metropolis. Hardware
and software become the new tools for generating integration, cohesion, inclusion
and new human and social capital.
In conclusion, the research has opened an innovative interpretation of student
housing, as a strategic field for promoting sociocultural regeneration of urban environments, triggering virtuous interactions among citizens—in particular among the
more vulnerable groups such as the elderly, differently abled, children without access
to a decent education, immigrants, and second generations of immigrant families—
and fostering accountability in students, favoring their empowerment in urban life
and their involvement in active citizenship.
References
Abidin, N. Z., Najib, N. U. M., & Yusof, N. A. (2011). Student residential satisfaction in research
universities. Journal of Facilities Management, 9(3), 200–212.
Agnoli, M. S. (2010). Spazi, identità, relazioni. Indagine sulla convivenza multiculturale nelle
residenze universitarie. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Bagnoli, L., Bartocci, A., & Borlini, M. M. (2019). Obiettivo Periferico. Visioni e previsioni sul
futuro della periferia urbana. Milano: StreetLib.
Bellini, O. E. (2015). Student housing_1. Atlante ragionato della residenza universitaria contemporanea. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli.
Bellini, O. E. (2019a). Student housing_2. Il progetto della residenza universitaria. Santarcangelo
di Romagna: Maggioli [published soon].
107
4 Student Housing as a Community Hub
The research carried out and the open perspectives clearly demonstrate the potential
of student housing as a privileged field for the construction of Community hubs
able to provide spaces and furniture to local people as well as social support to the
population by young students with high educational profile and specific linguistic,
technical, and digital skills.
Community hubs are public spaces able to bring together community agencies and
neighborhood groups, offering a range of activities, programs, and services referred to
the specific needs of the local population. They encourage social gatherings, improving the use of public spaces, embracing multiple services under one roof. Among the
others, Community hubs can include health services, education, and employment
amenities, childcare and sports facilities, social, cultural, and recreational spaces
(Bagnoli et al. 2019). Community hubs foster the integration of local population,
helping to put in relation people who speak the same language, with similar cultural
backgrounds (Sousa 2013; Brotsky et al. 2019).
This gives the interpretation of student housing a double meaning, considering it
on the one hand as “hardware”—a physical place able to provide innovative spaces
and facilities to citizens—on the other hand as “software”—a social environment able
to interact with the multicultural tendencies of a contemporary metropolis. Hardware
and software become the new tools for generating integration, cohesion, inclusion
and new human and social capital.
In conclusion, the research has opened an innovative interpretation of student
housing, as a strategic field for promoting sociocultural regeneration of urban environments, triggering virtuous interactions among citizens—in particular among the
more vulnerable groups such as the elderly, differently abled, children without access
to a decent education, immigrants, and second generations of immigrant families—
and fostering accountability in students, favoring their empowerment in urban life
and their involvement in active citizenship.
References
Abidin, N. Z., Najib, N. U. M., & Yusof, N. A. (2011). Student residential satisfaction in research
universities. Journal of Facilities Management, 9(3), 200–212.
Agnoli, M. S. (2010). Spazi, identità, relazioni. Indagine sulla convivenza multiculturale nelle
residenze universitarie. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Bagnoli, L., Bartocci, A., & Borlini, M. M. (2019). Obiettivo Periferico. Visioni e previsioni sul
futuro della periferia urbana. Milano: StreetLib.
Bellini, O. E. (2015). Student housing_1. Atlante ragionato della residenza universitaria contemporanea. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli.
Bellini, O. E. (2019a). Student housing_2. Il progetto della residenza universitaria. Santarcangelo
di Romagna: Maggioli [published soon].