Studying and living in the city

The paper tries to discuss the theme of students’ temporary housing in light of the structural changes that are affecting the contemporary society. It is widely believed that the future of the communities goes through the development of the human and social capital; moreover, the capability to attract this capital lies within the construction of what we can define as “learning communities” (Longworth, 2006). These are societies that can invest in culture and stimulate in the citizens a strong desire to improve the future of the place where they live, learn and create. The role of the university and its supporting structures - such as student residences – is very important. Historically, these buildings have been the first symbol of the existence of a “studiorum” within the cities; nowadays they constitute an important element of experimentation of new dwelling models. One of the main characteristics of the contemporary society is a widespread tendency to the mobility of people; students constitute a significant part of this moving population. The features of the latter are particular in terms of permanence and expressed demands. Therefore, it cannot simply be labelled as “temporary population”. Starting from a brief historical overview, we come to illustrate the new settling and distributional-functional trends that underlie two different ways of conceiving the life of student. The substantial switch is the formulation of living paradigms that see the student living away from home as a sedentary city dweller, part of a population in which to invest.