Local Economic Systems and Housing Real Estate Markets in University Towns

This book investigates the relationship between universities, real estate markets, and local economic systems in light of contemporary urban regeneration processes and sustainability challenges. Indeed, university settlements can generate important spillovers and opportunities in their territory, thus becoming decisive development and transformation factors for cities' socio-economic, productive, environmental, and infrastructural components. Furthermore, the increasing student mobility to university towns raises relevant sustainability issues concerning the housing demand stemming from off-site students, which, by strongly impacting the real estate market, can place students' families and low-income residents against important financial barriers. By collecting the papers presented at the SIEV (Italian Society of Appraisal and Valuation) seminar, held in Florence, Italy, in November 2023 within the context of the "Urbanpromo Progetti per il Paese" cultural event, the book delves into understanding and assessing the complexity of the effects generated by investments in university settlements as a fundamental factor for effective urban development policies aimed both at meeting the "right to study" and maximizing impacts from a circular perspective. The proposed reflections, finding their common thread in the use of interpretative models and methodological tools of the appraisal and valuation discipline, are organized into three parts: Part I “Investing in university cities: sustainability and urban regeneration issues”; Part II “University and real estate markets: evaluation issues and models”; Part III “Real estate market and governance in university cities: evidence from case studies”.

Alessandra Oppio is a Full Professor in Real Estate Appraisal and Project Evaluation at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano (Italy), where she serves as the director of ASP (Alta Scuola Politecnica). She is the president of the Italian Scientific Society of Appraisal and Evaluation (SIEV). Her research activities deal with analyzing and evaluating the public and private feasibility of urban regeneration interventions; the impact evaluation of projects and investments; complex decision support systems and integrated evaluation; and economic and multidimensional evaluation of cultural and environmental assets. She has been the Chief Editor for the SIEV-Springer publications since 2017.

Marta Bottero is a Full Professor in Real Estate Appraisal and Project Evaluation at the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of Politecnico di Torino (Italy). She is a Full Member of the Italian Scientific Society of Appraisal and Evaluation (SIEV), where she serves as the director of the indexed and peer-reviewed journal “Valori e Valutazioni. Teorie ed esperienze”. Her research activities span from monetary and non-monetary evaluations with a focus on mixed-method approaches for supporting urban transformations and territorial planning.  

Stefano Stanghellini is a former Full Professor in Real Estate Appraisal and Project Evaluation at the University IUAV of Venice (Italy). He is one of the founding members and the honorary president of the Italian Scientific Society of Appraisal and Evaluation (SIEV). He serves as president of Urbit–Urbanistica Italiana srl, a subsidiary of the National Institute of Urbanism (INU) dedicated to organizing cultural events and providing consultancy services. His scientific research has mainly focused on assessing the financial and socio-economic feasibility of projects, public-private partnership tools, land value equalization and compensation, social housing, and the costs associated with building restoration and urban regeneration projects.

Marco Rossitti is an Assistant Professor in Real Estate Appraisal and Project Evaluation at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC) of Politecnico di Milano (Italy). He is an ordinary member of the Italian Scientific Society of Appraisal and Evaluation (SIEV), where he serves as one of the coordination committee members for the “SIEV Giovani”. His research activities focus on defining and implementing evaluation methodologies to support heritage conservation and urban transformation from a public and private perspective, and on analyzing the complex relationships between real estate markets and climate risks as bases for adaptation strategies.