Students Living in Milan
The project, funded by the Polisocial Award 2023, investigates the housing conditions of students in Milan’s rental market and aims to develop an integrated housing orientation service.
In recent years, Milan has become a particularly attractive city within the international tertiary education system, as well as a key hub at the national level. This has led to a significant influx of students from other provinces, regions, and countries, which has had a major impact on the internal structure of the city’s universities and has prompted a redefinition of their role as local attractors and civic actors. Students, like other social groups, face numerous challenges in accessing the rental market and, more generally, during their stay in the city. These challenges are linked to the affordability of available rental housing, the infrastructural quality of accommodations, legal aspects of rental agreements, and the frequency of informal or unregistered leases. Other difficulties include interactions with landlords and real estate agencies, the dynamics of shared living, and the interplay between the right-to-study system, international mobility, and the housing system. The wide variability in available housing solutions, both in terms of cost and quality, can generate or exacerbate inequalities among students. Preliminary research and dissemination activities have identified multiple stress factors that pose the risk of restricting the effective exercise of the right to study, with potential repercussions on the already low national tertiary education enrollment rate.
The project aims to create a pilot for an integrated housing orientation service at the Politecnico di Milano. The tools for this service will be co-designed in a participatory process involving students, institutional stakeholders, and market actors. The service operates bi-monthly at the Off-Campus NoLo space, located in a neighborhood with a significant student presence. It provides initial legal and contractual consultation services and produces guidance documents to promote good practices in the housing market. This service is open to all Politecnico di Milano students and can also be accessed via email or the project’s social media channels.
Duration
October 9, 2023 – January 9, 2025
Team LPS
Giuliana Costa, Tommaso Frangioni
Consortium
Politecnico di Milano (DAStU, ABC and DESIGN Departments), Fondazione DAR Cesare Scarponi (Sara Travaglini); Fondazione Housing Sociale (Giordana Ferri, Simonetta Venosta); La Cordata SCS (Libero Albrizio, Valeria Inguaggiato); Ass. Agenti Immobiliari Riuniti – Collegio Provinciale di Milano (Andrea Sini); Meglio Milano (Monica Bergamasco); Prendi In Casa project; Fuori Luoghi SCS (Matteo Avvalli, Nadia Cattaneo); SUNIA Milano and Federconsumatori Milano (Carmelo Benenti); Auser Laboratorio Casa (Gabriele Danesi); Confabitare Milano (Daniele Giusto); Unione Degli Universitari Milano (Marta Andreoletti); Unione Degli Universitari Nazionale (Simone Agutoli)
Funding Body
Politecnico di Milano, Polisocial Award 2023
Website
www.studentslivinginmilan.polimi.it