Transforming Urban Places: Political Participation of University Students in Bologna

Contemporary cities are facing several changings (i.e., housing crises, touristification, and studentification) which have significant consequences on the processes of dwelling. Particularly in university cities, these transformations are influencing the co-existence processes between university students and other groups of city dwellers. Despite extensive research on the political life of students, there is a lack of studies that consider how students address these transformations through their political participation practices, and which are their implications for urban places. This research aims at analyzing how students’ political participation transforms urban places, adopting the theoretical lenses of place-making, with a specific focus on bottom-up place-making processes. The preliminary results of an ethnography conducted in Bologna will be presented. Between May 2022 and February 2023, participant observations were conducted during students’ participatory practices in public places (e.g., demonstrations, parades, occupations, performances) involving various university groups (i.e., academic associations, political and artistic collectives). The initial phases of the Reflective Thematic Analysis conducted on fieldnotes, is focused on students’ right claims, on the strategies of place-making employed during participatory practices (i.e., transformation of the place’s functions, transformation of places’ norms of interaction, emplacement), and on how these practices relate to urban borders (porosity).