StudMIHome is a research-action project.
Research, as it investigates the practices concerning the student housing market in Milan. These activities involve different tools that aim to collect data to understand what’s going on in the private rental market and students’ experiences in it.
Action, as it aims to implement a housing orientation service through generative research and co-design activities with students and partners.
Interviews
Semi-structured interviews with housing market actors, key informants and students from Politecnico di Milano.
Students Survey
A wide-ranging survey, involving off-site or commuting students from all universities in Milan.
Real Estate Survey
Surveying housing actors allows us to reconstruct demand strategies within the rental market.
Urban Mapping
Using existing databases, particularly university and governmental databases, it is possible to estimate the number of off-site students and how they are situated in the urban fabric.
Digital ethnography
This research activity explores the ways students interact with each other in informal channels for room searching.
Desk analysis
Understanding the policy framework from a European perspective, and reviewing the international debates on students’ housing conditions allows for Milan contextualization in broader national and international tendencies.
Interviews
Semi-structured interviews with housing market actors and key informants: they aim to reconstruct together with actors and project partners the situation of the local context, with particular attention to policies, local institutions variously involved in the student housing ecosystem, and strategies of different actors. These actors cover a broad range, from Polytechnic offices to real estate associations; from tenant unions to students associations, from municipal agencies to third sector organizations.
Semi-structured interviews with Polytechnic students: they aim to understand students’ housing narratives with the highest degree of detail, while also considering intangible aspects such as the emotions and feelings experienced by people in connection with their housing journey. In this way, their trajectories can be reconstructed in the best possible way, with attention to the ways in which people make sense of what occurs to them, to how they make their decisions, and how they think about themselves and others.
Survey
Student survey: a wide-ranging survey, aiming to involve students from all universities in Milan as well and focusing on the experience of off-site or commuting students, to understand their representation of their own housing situation, and to collect information regarding costs sustained, any malpractices encountered, and evaluations of their own quality of life.
Real estate agents and small landlords survey: a market is not only made up of the supply, but also the demand. Surveying housing actors allows us to reconstruct the strategies they pursue within the rental market, thus also allowing us to put focus on how these actors think about the different housing markets and students as tenants.
These actors cover a broad range, from Polytechnic offices to real estate associations; from tenant unions to students associations, from municipal agencies to third sector organizations.
Urban Mapping
Using existing databases, particularly university and governmental databases, it is possible to estimate the number of off-site students and how they are situated in the urban fabric. This allows a better understanding of the spatial component of the phenomenon, drawing maps of the housing whereabouts of students.
Digital Ethnography
A big part of the search for homes, and their exchange is played out in digitally-mediated environments, such as social media and chats. This research activity helps make sense of the ways people interact with each other and offers a first exploration of the channels that students use to find their location. Also, social media are often the place where many scams start, thus observing them helps to reflect also on the forms of cooperation and solidarity between students.