Students take over
Prefiguring Urban Commons in Student Housing Co-Operatives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6427693 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anke Schwittay (0000-0001-7592-2403, University of Sussex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 966-987 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Housing Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0267-3037 • E-ISSN: 1466-1810 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02673037.2024.2334816 |
| OpenAlex | W4393478574 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 29 |
Student housing has become financialized in many countries, resulting in unaffordable and unsuitable accommodations that negatively affect students' studies and health. Students are beginning to mobilize against these exploitative practices in resistive and future-oriented ways. This article analyses the establishment of student housing co-operatives in the UK as an example of prefigurative student activism, whereby students are actively creating alternative housing provisions that put them in control of the governance and management of their homes. Based on interviews with 27 key participants in the setting up of four student housing co-operatives in the UK, I explore how student co-operators are building actually existing urban housing commons under adverse conditions. Students' youth and transience necessitates collaborating with secondary organizations, which leads to ambivalent alliances that show students' persistent agency and political savvy. The challenges of growing the student housing co-operative movement contributes to discussions about the temporal and spatial expansion of the housing commons for future students, surrounding communities and broader housing struggles
Business · Commons · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Sociology · Collaborative and Sustainable Housing Initiatives · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law
The Magna Carta Manifesto
Carving Out the Commons
‘Studentification ication’
Collaborative housing and housing providers
‘The rents keep on rising and so do we’
Living together privately
From Co-Ops to Community Land Trusts
Social Movements and Alternative Housing Models
The new urban enclosures
Contesting the Financialization of Urban Space
Contesting the financialization of student accommodation
Urban austerity and activism
The de-financialization of housing
When students are house-poor
Between Boundaries
Pursuing Urban Commons
Actually Existing Commons
New-build Studentification
Building transitions to post‐capitalist urban commons
Diverse economies
Beyond All Reason
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |