College town

This article is about the type of settlement. For other uses, see College town (disambiguation).

"University town" redirects here. For other uses, see University town (disambiguation).

High Street in Oxford, England, a prototypical example of a university town. There is no central campus; rather, university buildings are scattered around the city between shops, such as those at centre right of the picture.

Main Street in Hanover, New Hampshire, home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College

A college town or university town is a town or city whose the character is dominated by a college or university and their associated culture, often characterised by the student population making up 20 percent of the population of the community, but not including communities that are parts of larger urban areas (often termed student quarters). The university may be large, or there may be several smaller institutions such as liberal arts colleges clustered, or the residential population may be small, but college towns in all cases are so dubbed because the presence of the educational institution(s) pervades economic and social life. Many local residents may be employed by the university—which may be the largest employer in the community—many businesses cater primarily to the university, and the student population may outnumber the local population.

Description

Kuopio, North Savonia, home to the University of Eastern Finland and Savonia University of Applied Sciences

In Europe, a university town is generally characterised by having an ancient university. The economy of the city is closely related with the university activity and highly supported by the entire university structure, which may include university hospitals and clinics, printing houses, libraries, laboratories, business incubators, student rooms, dining halls, students' unions, student societies, and academic festivities. Moreover, the history of the city is often intertwined with that of the university. Many European university towns have not merely been important places of science and education, but also centres of political, cultural and social influence throughout the centuries. In university towns such as Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews and Durham, the town centre is dominated both physically and functionally by the university, with the result that the town has become identified with the university. While in many historical university towns, the town has grown up around the university, Durham is an example of a university town where the university has 'colonised' the town centre.

Besides a highly educated and largely transient population, a stereotypical college town often has many people in non-traditional lifestyles and subcultures and with a high tolerance for unconventionality in general, and has a very active musical or cultural scene. Many have become centres of technological research and innovative startups. Universities with start-up centers can be large cities like Munich, but also small cities like Trieste.

Although the concept of a university town has developed since the European Middle Ages, equivalents already existed in earlier times and in non-European cultures. For example, in later Classical times the city of Athens – no longer having any political or military power, but renowned as the greatest center of learning in the Roman Empire – had many of the characteristics of a university town, and is sometimes called such by modern scholars.

Development

Durham, England, home to Durham University, has been identified as having "one of the highest relative student populations of any city in the world", with 64% of the population of the city being students.

In most of Europe, medieval universities grew or were founded in major urban areas rather than in college towns, although there were exceptions such as Siena in Italy, Tübingen in Germany and Cambridge in England. In the US, by contrast, the development of universities preceded urban growth and founders of colleges often chose (after the models of Oxford and Cambridge) to site their institutions away from cities, although, as at Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard University, the metropolitan areas have sometimes since expanded to take in the college town. A second driver of the growth of college towns in the US was that towns that wished to develop economically competed to attract colleges with donations of cash and land.

As a result of this history, the university buildings in classical European university towns are located on multiple sites in the city centre, while the university buildings in American college towns are concentrated on a campus distinct from the city itself. Thus, the student residential area in historic European university towns such as Oxford, Cambridge and Durham is around the city centre, while in US college towns such as Ithaca, New York, it is outside the city centre and near the campus.

"Studentification", in which a growing student population move in large numbers to traditionally non-student neighborhoods, has been a feature of both university towns and university quarters in larger cities in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This may be perceived as a form of invasion or gentrification. This is driven by rising university enrollment, beyond the capacity of universities to expand on-campus housing. Despite its frequent negative portrayal in the media, studentification also brings benefits to towns, with student spending boosting local economies across multiple sectors and the student population allowing towns and cities to project a cosmopolitan image in their marketing. Studentification has mainly been studied in the context of student quarters within larger cities, with the term having been originally coined in 2002 in a study of student residences in Leeds in England; however, a 2024 study of studentification in the small city of Durham, England, showed that similar processes apply in college towns and are less diluted than in larger cities, affecting the entire city.

Town–gown relations

See also: Town and gown

Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan

As in the case of a company town, the large and transient student population may come into conflict with other townspeople. Students may come from outside the area and be from different socio-economic classes than local residents, increasing tensions. The different demographics of the student population can lead to school closures, and the conversion of family homes into houses in multiple occupation can reduce the availability of affordable housing. Economically, the high spending power of the university and of its students in aggregate may inflate the cost of living above that of the region. However, small college towns can also lead to more close-knit academic communities as staff interact frequently outside of work, leading to better work–life balance.

In the US, educational institutions are often exempted from local taxes, so in the absence of a system for payments in lieu of taxes, the university population will disproportionately burden parts of the local public infrastructure, such as roads or law enforcement. Some analysts argue that students relieve the burden on other parts of the local public infrastructure, such as local primary and secondary schools, by far the most costly line item in most North American city and town budgets, by providing tax revenues through local sales tax and property tax paid by landlords. When a university expands its facilities, the potential loss of property tax revenue is thus a concern, in addition to local desire to preserve open space or historic neighborhoods.

Expansion of university facilities can lead local people to resent the university and its students. The students, in turn, may criticize the local residents' taking jobs at the university provided by student tuition and fees, and accepting the tax revenues (e.g. local sales tax, property tax on rented properties) that students generate, but resenting students' lifestyles. Some students refer to other inhabitants as "townies", a term with somewhat derogatory connotations.

See also

• List of college towns
• Student quarter
• Town and gown
• Company town

References

• Gumprecht, Blake. "Stadium Culture: College Athletics and the Making of Place in the American College Town", Southeastern Geographer 43:1, May 2003.
• Kemp, Roger L. "Town & Gown Relations: A Handbook of Best Practices," McFarland and Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, USA, and London, England, UK (2013). (ISBN 978-0-7864-6399-2).