In Italy, the spread of exclusive student residences (PBSA) highlights a deep evolution in student living, with outcomes that are still largely unexplored. Starting from an ethnographic study of two PBSAs in Bologna, the project aims to analyze the political-economic processes and the nature of public-private relationships that have led to the creation of PBSAs. Second, the research examines the relationship between these structures and the surrounding territory to understand the student experience and socio-spatial dynamics of this population. To achieve these objectives, this study proposes an integration between theories of studentification and those of financialization, with the aim of advancing the understanding of the financialization dynamics of university cities and their socio-spatial implications.
Keywords: PBSA, student housing, financialization, studentification
The research, conducted within the framework of the European Horizon 2020 project I-CHANGE, aims to explore the role of citizen science activities in the Living Lab of Bologna to promote lifestyle changes in response to the climate crisis. Through a socio-technical ecological perspective, the research analyzes the structure of citizen science at micro, meso, and macro levels, considering factors influencing its effectiveness. Using the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation Behavior Framework (COM-B), the study investigates how micro-level activities can impact meso and macro levels. The Living Lab, defined as an open-innovation ecosystem, emerges as a key place to experiment with citizen science initiatives, focusing on air pollution and sustainable transportation. The research, involving over 150 participants, aims to understand, through serious games and questionnaires, the role of citizen science activities as catalysts for individual and collective lifestyle changes in the face of the climate crisis, suggesting possible applications in other contexts to amplify their impact.
Keywords: citizen science, living lab, climate change, transition
Sustainable mobility is encouraged to tackle the environmental crisis in cities. However, it is largely acknowledged that men and women do not move in the same way and persistent socio-spatial constraints prevent women to be equally socially and spatially mobile. My PhD thesis wants to broaden established thinking on urban mobility, showing how and why mobility is gendered, understanding the interconnections between spatial and social mobility. It aims to reveal how everyday experiences of female mobilities modify gender and subjective identities and are a category to conceptualize how space is built, reproduced and represented. A special attention will be done to mobility behaviors within the recent transformations in the labour market, such as Remote Worker Arrangements. Through an intersectional approach the study will count on a mixed methods research methodology in Bologna. Results of the research will provide a deep understanding to rethink feminist and sustainable cities.
Keywords: urban mobility, gender, experiences, intersectionality
In Europe, the increasing concentration of students belonging to the same social or ethnic group within the same schools has led to an intensification of studies on school segregation. However, despite an increasing number of publications on the topic in Southern Europe, there are still few analyses on segregation conducted within the Italian context. Furthermore, a solid strand of research oriented to investigating the relationship between school dropout and school segregation seems not to have been developed yet. With a focus on the municipal area of Bologna, the research explores the presence and extent of school segregation in primary and low secondary schools and examines its correlation with the phenomenon of school dropout. By adopting a mixed-methods approach, the aim is to observe: (I) the characteristics of students who prefer schools in the reference school catchment area, according to their area of residence, immigrant origin, economic-cultural capital of their families, and the educational offer of each school; (II) the relationships between the levels of school segregation found and the drop-out rates of the schools studied.
Keywords: school segregation, early school leaving, Bologna, georeferenced analysis