Rethinking Studentification: Town‐Gown Interaction in Small Cities Through Everyday Urban Experiences

ABSTRACT

This paper repositions town‐gown relations in small cities by focusing on the everyday urban experiences that shape them, rather than limiting them to the studentification perspective. Drawing on Amasya, Türkiye, as a case study, the research conducts 63 semi‐structured interviews with local residents and small business owners across neighbourhoods with different levels of university influence. An AI‐based content analysis identifies four specific dynamics: (1) the generation of substantial but seasonal economic uplift, concentrated along campus‐city corridors; (2) rent inflation and tenure shifts that localise housing pressure in particular neighbourhoods; (3) ambivalent social change linked to greater intercultural contact and improved amenities coexisting with noise, norm frictions, and strains on place attachment, particularly in areas where students clusters; and (4) pragmatic routines and municipal measures that partially stabilise coexistence. These are conceptualised as “everyday town‐gown dynamics”, not as an alternative theory to studentification, but as an analytical extension that foregrounds how student‐led urban change is mediated through proximity, academic seasonality, routine encounters, and local governance capacities. The contribution presents a qualitative, multi‐actor account that centres on routine accommodations and spatial range effects, with policy implications for managing near‐campus intensification. This approach smooths seasonal volatility and aligns housing and retail planning with social cohesion, promoting a more cohesive community.