Students tend to gather in similar areas—places with desirable bars, cafes, shops, and most importantly, other students. This concentration creates student enclaves, a phenomenon called studentification. The seasonal migration and flows of students encourage social, cultural, economic, and physical restructuring in these spaces. These changes can make areas more lively, diverse, and artistic, with better access to transport, public services, and leisure facilities. However, they can also lead to the loss of community spirit, character, and affordability, resulting in isolation and conflict.
On the surface, this sounds remarkably like gentrification. Gentrification is a process by which residents of a lower socioeconomic class are priced out of areas by an influx of wealthier individuals, eroding communities and neighbourhoods.
This raises the questions: Is studentification merely another form of gentrification? Who is to blame? And is there a solution? I will attempt to answer these questions in relation to Marchmont, an area regarded as a student enclave in Edinburgh, a city where the student population has more than doubled since 2014.
A growth in students means a growth in student housing, often in the form of privatised HMO flats. The re-commodification of formerly family homes into HMO properties decreases the number and affordability of properties for long-term rent or ownership. As new families stop moving into the area, others are displaced. Displacement can be forced by economic reasons or voluntary due to undesirable socio-cultural changes. These displaced homes are then converted into HMOs to maximise profit, creating a vicious cycle of replacement through re-commodification.
Long-standing businesses and services may also be replaced due to the differing consumption habits of the new, young, often middle-class student population. This impacts the character and stability of the locale and residents’ feelings of autonomy over and connection to it. A group that is particularly affected is the elderly, and their ability to age in place.
For the elderly, with reduced mobility and more free time, local neighbourhoods become highly valuable as places for experience, interaction, and overall well-being. The community provides informal social, emotional, and physical support networks. Since studentification decreases long-term resident populations and students rarely connect with elderly people, these support networks can start to disappear. This loss of casual interaction and community cohesion results in social segregation and isolation, which can lead to individuals’ cognitive and physical decline. This situation is worsened by feelings of anxiety over possible ‘anti-social’ behaviour associated with students, further deepening demographic divides.
But what does the Marchmont community think about studentification? I spoke to a few long-term residents to find out. Sarah is a 75-year-old who lives in Marchmont with her husband. She believes that: “it’s not the students’ fault. It’s the developers, it’s the people who allow the developers.” She describes the rapid recommodification process as “mind-blowing levels of criminality” which “ruins communities”. She remembers a time when “the community was very strong”, but now new families “can’t afford a house.” She concluded that a lack of planning and cooperation between councils, developers, and communities was the main issue. That if we can’t bridge those gaps: “we’re seriously f*cked.”
Another interviewee who wished to remain anonymous has lived in Marchmont for around 40 years. Similarly, she stated that: “There are no issues about students in Marchmont.” To her: “They are part of the community.” Instead, the issue was a wider recommodification of homes, both for HMO and Airbnb. This is putting “pressure on housing for families,” as developers maximise profits by “maximising the number of people in these flats.” This has made Marchmont: “a more expensive area, the shops are more expensive, people with more money are buying the flats.” This could signify that studentification is a precursor to further gentrification.
So, what is the relationship between studentification and gentrification? It doesn’t align with theories of gentrification; in cases like Marchmont, it is often the established middle class who are pushed out by those of lower economic and political power. In the context of Marchmont, studentification could be viewed as a catalyst for further gentrification.
In any case, the blame doesn’t seem to rest with the students themselves. Rather, property owners, businesses, and investors who perceive a push for re-commodification of homes as an opportunity for profit maximisation play a significant role in community destruction.
However, student enclaves could serve as training grounds for students to become future gentrifiers. Gentrified communities and their residents tend to share many social, consumptive, and class traits with students in enclaves like Marchmont.
With this possibility in mind, students should be mindful of their potential position as future gentrifiers. In the meantime, as a student community, we should strive to connect and integrate with established local communities, whether that is having a chat in the street, befriending an elderly neighbour, or taking part in local action against housing recommodification. Any level of connection is better than none.
Image by Max Brown for The Student