Students and Creative Practices in University Cities: A Case Study on Environmental Sustainability Initiatives Carried out by University Students

Cities could be considered as synthesis of human thoughts, feelings, acts, and inter- actions through history. Mutually, they constitute the environment in which devel- op psychological and interpersonal processes of their inhabitants. Considering their crucial role in the understanding of coexistence relationships in contemporary cities, this work aims at addressing psychosocial dimensions of the individual relation with urban environment. Moreover, a deepening on such processes could enable a better comprehension about how anthropological change of urban dimension take place in everyday life and in subjective experiences of dwellers. More precisely, increasing of urbanization, transnational urbanism, superdiversity, and social differentiation imply novel efforts to relations of dwelling. Within this framework, historical cities are trans- formed by the global ecumene, as we can observe on gentrification and touristification processes, and on the non-places’ imaginary that shapes public spaces. On the other hand, these processes, rather than to be homogeneous, are intertwined with the histor- ical and cultural backgrounds of territories, which influence the order of interactions and the practices of building and dwelling. Therefore, it becomes relevant to under- stand how individuals, social groups, and communities dialogue with these issues (tensed between global and local instances) by adapting, negotiating, transforming, and resisting to them. Basing on these assumptions, historical university cities could be considered as peculiar urban contexts. Indeed, universities could be considered as a node link between deterritorialization and reterritorialization processes. In this contexts, students-city relations have to deal with internationalization tendencies, ur- ban transformations, place-making processes, and conflicts. Particularly, even though several aspects of students-city relation are changed during history, we can identify some constants related to it, such as the fact that besides the awareness of the economic benefits derived from the presence of students in the territory, there are few attempts to really include them in the urban governance. In order to consider this topics, students’ public participation practices represent forms of social and psychological involvement of students with the city, which could engender creative practices and the introduction of novel ideas. While a consistent corpus of research about students’ citizen practices in relation to civic identity construction has recently been developed, there is pauci- ty of research that take into account how these practices transform places, and how they influence the development of person-place bonds between students and the city. Particularly, person-place bonds are here considered as intersubjective experiences which can foster the assumption of responsibility towards the city. Therefore, the aim of the research is to explore students’ public participation practices in historical uni- versity cities, focusing on the innovation they introduce and on their influences on person-place bonds. To pursue this objective, an empirical case study is here proposed to analyze the activities of a group of students aimed at addressing environmental sus- tainability in a university in the North of Italy. The research design implies an analysis of available institutional documents related to these practices, in order to describe the activities, the aims, and the strategies employed. Furthermore, in-depth interviews with students were conducted in order to investigate person-place bonds and possible biographical turns in relation to dwelling. The interviews will be analyzed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis, both referring to the constructs of place attachment, place identity and sense of place, both identifying new themes in students’ narratives.