When I traveled to Northern Europe, I was struck by how similar the cities I visited felt like college towns I had been to. Especially the less touristy or old city center areas. Basically where people lived felt like universities without the university part
_And then there are actual Northern European university towns... like Umeå, where I live._ At least like a quarter of town is dedicated to the university, the university hospital and student housing & amenities. And that's not including the land area dedicated to all the other schools, include those and it might be 1/3 of town dedicated to education.
@@ashwingopinath4634 The best are those where the universities don't have their own campus and the uni buildings and facilities are normall part of the city. Makes for a very lively atmosphere.
It always bears repeating: Americans are so fond of their time in college because it's likely the only time in their life they'll live in a walkable area
I went to a smaller state school (9k students, 25k in the city) and generally the only time I needed a car was to go to the big boxes; unless it was winter. Everything else we needed (including a couple grocery stores) was walkable within 15 minutes.
It's because this country design everything to be cat centric their alot of place that don't have public transit or crappy public transit instead of good one like Japan or Europe have for one also here we make suburbs that are super size and are unsustainable environmentally and economically
@@tylerjames819 The statement was about emissions, not rent control (which is a serious but separate issue). Once people have a steady income, they will start buying cars, boats, jacuzzis and what not. Students walk, bike or take public transit wherever they need to go. Whatever cash they have left is spent on beer - which can cause littering, but doesn't have a large carbon footprint. The guy was being a bit tongue-in-cheek. Obviously, if you actually were to build an "eco-friendly" neighbourhood by targeting a specific demographic, you would only be moving the emissions to other parts of town.
As a Texas A&M grad I'm so impressed by the difference between the jobs of campus planners and the city of College Station (which is doing their best). Campus planners don't have to worry about NIMBY's and the university employees almost everyone anyways so they have an incredible amount of leverage to redevelop parking lots and operate a massive bus network as well as implement bike lanes and bus lanes (only on campus). But it's still really crazy to look at the campus masterplan and realize how much of it is able to be implemented due to Top down planning.
@@MrJahka interesting. I think you'll notice a HUGE difference between the income and power of college station residents (usually professors and university employees) not the richest people in the world vs your average Berkeley resident. College Station ABSOLUTELY still has annoying nimbys but they really can't stop the University from building on its own land.
I went to a university in a university town which was also a seaside tourist town called Aberystwyth in Wales, it is an amazing and beautiful place. Over 40% of the population are students. There is a good relationship with local residents as many are former students because they loved it so much. But it was also the first university in Wales (1872) and was paid for by public and private subscription to buy this astonishing gothic building on the coast called the Old College now. Meaning people in the town had partly paid for it, so it became an integral part of the town's identity and culture. This includes the Arts Centre which is part of the university but is for the locals as well, it includes dance studios, threatre, cinema, cafe, bar, museum and art gallery. The university is also vital to the modern economy, as most tourist areas are very seasonal, whereas for Aberystwyth tourists turn up in the summer and then students for the other 3 seasons keeping the local economy in a healthy state year round. The locals also drink in the same pubs and nightclubs as the students etc. The students in Aberystwyth do drink a lot and that's compared to other students, which for residents is probably one issue, unless they want to join in. The town does also have a very high Welsh speaking population which is one cause of friction, there are many Welsh speaking students, but most are not Welsh speakers and like myself are not Welsh either and come from England and Ireland. However it's not a major issue I found. Judging by the video I think Aberystwyth has a rather unique relationship with the local residents.
There are a number of attributes that make college towns nice. - They tend to be older so have more/bigger trees - Biking paths and options in general tend to be nice - Campus malls tend to be relatively compact which makes them easy to walk. You can eat/sleep/"work"/play in a a compact area without a car. - Most college tends tend have more creative shops/restaurants - Demographics for college towns skew toward white collar/educated/intelligent people.
>tend to have more/bigger trees As someone who's lived in both city, suburb, and rural areas, one issue is that we keep cutting down trees to unnecessarily flatten and grade the entire lot before a house is built these days. Part of the building code though, of course, so if you want to build something you have to destroy the land.
That last one is massively questionable. You can't replace community with intelligence as anyone who's lived in less-desirable places with amazing communities would tell you.
Chapel Hill fits this idea perfectly, by being a moderately sized town (~60k), but due to the massive university (UNC Chapel Hill), the public bus system is not only large but also free, and downtown is great.
I grew up in Chapel Hill and so glad to know the bus is still free it was a huge blessing we we didn’t have a car I could ride the bus to the rec center activities! Go Heels!
I heard someone mention that college towns may be the only time that many Americans live in a walkable neighborhood. And even my semi-commuter college was more walkable than where I live now.
As someone who lives in a college town after having graduated from school, you hit the nail on the head on a ton of the reasons why I just love living here. There's lots of community events ran by organizations that are part of the local university, there's a great downtown, there's really great transit (though it has rather limited service on the weekends when students don't need to commute to class), and all the amenities I need are really close by. I always wanted to escape from the suburbs when I was young, and the crowds of people in a city always seemed intimidating to me, but college towns keep a small town charm combined with big city accessibility and amenities.
I dropped out of a state college over a decade ago, but I often go to Princeton and walk around just because it's pretty and I like the vibe. Plus the record store there is great.
College towns are the best! I went to Iowa State, and Ames is definitely one of my favorite places in Iowa. I'm living in Los Angeles now, it's awesome to see the the student population is so huge. I had no idea.
I live in Tempe, near Arizona State University and yes, it is great living in a college town - I'm close enough to bike to everything (as things are often set up for students, who do not have a car - walk score of 86, a bike score of a 100 and there is also a street car and the light rail which also goes to Mesa and Phoenix, runs through the area :-)
Interesting that Tempe is more into housing and transit because of its status as a college town. Meanwhile right beside it are two of the worst NIMBY towns in the US: Scottsdale and Gilbert.
@@ianhomerpura8937 theres a NIMBY group in Scottsdale that made a video about how urbanization “ruined” Tempe. They clearly dont know how Mill Avenue was like before the 90s.
I live in Madison Wisconsin and work for the city government. My wife went to UW-Madison and her father works there. It's very integrated with the city and area. Love the video btw! 👍
I think a couple points missed are college towns, being more youth oriented, attract a wider variety of businesses. You find a lot more unique and funky shops in college towns. They also attract more diverse entertainment options. Yes, as a middle aged GenX-er, I still appreciate the diversity a college town attracts. Plus, they are generally less conservative. More open to different ideas and lifestyles.
I’m a longtime watcher and Cornellian ‘22! Loved this video. I lived in a fraternity house in Cayuga Heights for two years. Lots of stepping on toes, to say the least! It was a lovey neighborhood to live in.
Cambridge is not at all cheap compared to a lot of the US, or even other parts of Massachusetts (I am right across the river from Cambridge myself in Allston). Gerrmany must be very expensive these days.
Areas around any ivy league in the U.S. are not cheap... at all. The only people who can afford Harvard, Yale, Brown, MIT, etc have tons of cash already so restaurants are able to charge large prices.
@@TheAmericanCatholic Yes, the subway access is great. I would not have ever expected anyone to say something nice about New Haven, although it looks like a good deal of the rough area has been knocked down...
As universities continue to avoid paying professorial salaries while underpaying adjuncts and become increasingly top-heavy with do-nothing admin positions, the nature of college towns is shifting as well. The educational mission is obviously being destroyed, but it will be interesting to see how college towns themselves weather this dissolution.
University of Arizona student: Tucson is really weird because it's like a sun belt city grew around a college town. The central area is super bike friendly (a significant swath from downtown to the University has a perfect bikescore), has every component, has a super useful, high-frequency streetcar, and has a lot of great amenities, but if you go too far out it starts looking like the Phoenix area (but not quite as bad) Just some thoughts.
Fellow U of A student and I feel the same way. Hanging out with friends, dining out, getting to class, getting downtown, all of it is pretty convenient. But you go half a mile in the wrong direction and all of a sudden it’s strip mall central.
University of Arizona student who also was born in Tucson: various parts of the city have fantastic bike accessibility (ie. the Loop, 3rd street etc.), but still way too many places are hazardous to travel to, and our public transportation system outside of the sunlink and a few good bus lines is severely lacking.
One of the more interesting dynamics between the local town and university involves taxes. Universities tend to be tax-exempt and therefore don't pay the property taxes (and possibly other kinds too) that support various city services (police, fire, etc...) Which can place a strain on the local police/fire dept. Even if the university should have their own police/fire depts, if something happens off-campus, it will be the local dept that has to respond to the situation. These costs ultimately are borne by the property owners who pay the taxes. Usually there is a balance, but if it gets out of whack, it creates another point of friction between the town and the university.
@@fallenshallrise Most universities and colleges in the United States are either government owned, religious based, or are a secular non-profit (all of which are exempt from most taxes). In fact, for profit universities and colleges tend to have a terrible reputation, with many being barely above a scam. Many frequently go out of business or are shut down by the government for fraud and other malfeasance.
The way UC Davis was ignored in this video 😭 it's the only city I know that has separate bike paths away from traffic towards the university. For the most part, you can live in the city without ever owning a car. Pre-covid bus schedules were frequent running every 15 for major lines and 30 for minor ones!
As a resident of Davis, I was also sad to see Davis ignored in this video. Thought "If he highlighted Roseville in the mall parking lot video, surely he will visit Davis for this one!".
Sad that UC Davis didn’t get a mention! Great bike paths, bus system, transportation overall. In California when you think of college towns, Davis comes to mind.
Yes, Davis is great! I love the big slide there! Davis, Santa Cruz, SLO, and Isla Vista/Goleta are all great campuses/college towns here that I love to visit! I wish I could live in all of them.
I was waiting for it, too! I think it’s a very achievable model for a lot of small/mid size North American cities, too, being recognizably suburban but with exceptionally well developed bus & bike paths plus a robust downtown with multiple green spaces
I liked having so many colleges around in the south loop chicago because it attracted interesting food options to the area, and ones open late. Before the student influx the area was more of an enclaved retirement village and hardly supported any retail. Students on the other hand spend all the money they have, stimulating the retail sector.
THANK YOU!! Why are not many people mentioning the food options in college towns FFS?? hehe Good portions, open late and tons of national n international cuisines presented without bottle-service and linen charges. A youthful vibe, the joy of learning and the promise of an exciting future...wheee.. This is water; this is water; this is water! --David Foster Wallace☮🕉☯
I wish you had touched on the issue of colleges removing property from the tax roles, and how it becomes a burden on locals. It's a big problem in Ann Arbor where the University of Michigan has purchased thousands of acres over the past few decades.
Oklahoma State had a controversy in the mid 2000s when the University purchased up several blocks of housing on the North Side of campus to build an Athletic village
I am from New Haven and this is a massive problem. Over 50% of the land in the city is owned by Yale. They own a lot of land for commercial uses too and rent it to businesses. They still don't pay taxes on that despite effectively being a landlord in many areas of the city. When I graduated high school the public school system was $20 million in debt and they had an endowment of over $30 billion.
But they also attract a wealthy class of individuals (professors) who will have very high property taxes on their properties, and students who will spend a lot of money patronizing the local businesses and contributing to sales tax. If you want to complain about the whole in your property taxes, you must also compare it to the bump in the rest of your taxes to see if it even is a net loss for your city.
@@jasonreed7522 one could argue the same thing about for-profit employers. In fact, large companies like Amazon often try to negotiate breaks on their taxes when they move in based on the employees they are bringing in.
I live in Knoxville. The city is too large to be a college “town” but obviously benefits from the university. One benefit of living in a college town is it provides sports entertainment comparable to large cities with professional sports teams.
I went to Knoxville for a convention at the convention center by UoT. I went to a commuter school in basically a large suburb, so it was a great experience to be in an area with a university and downtown area within walkable distance. The rowdy university bars were just a 20 minute walk from the rooftop bars and shops
Honestly college sports are better than national level sports, for starters its your city/town's team, possibly your friends, has no stopping for commercials to play on TV, and the pep band makes a world of difference in crowd energy. (Also ticket price)
@@grantr9745 that's hilarious and kinda embarrassing for the Titans. I used to ticket prices for less atypical situations being $10 for a mens game at my college and $100 average for the Montreal Canadians. (Plus travel expenses if applicable)
I live in Hollidaysburg PA which is 40 miles south of State College and the other town I gained a fondness for is Ithaca NY. We went to the finger lakes to swim and the town of Ithaca was beautiful and charming. Definitely want to go back there. Btw. Pennsylvania has a lot of charming small college towns like Indiana where they have an “It’s a Wonderful Life, tribute to Jimmy Stewart during the holidays; Lock Haven and Mansfield are cute little college towns in PA as well
Go Cyclones! Totally wasn't expecting Ames to be mentioned in one of your videos. But yep you covered several areas of the town, our student ghetto is Campustown and it really is like its own downtown, there's the greek neighborhood, the faculty housing in a beautiful wooded area just west of campus, we have a vibrant downtown, our bus system is excellent, and we have a pretty good bike trail system as well! Love Iowa City too also briefly shown in the video. They have an excellent pedestrian mall, something that's been found to only be successful in specific circumstances, like proximity to universities.
An extreme example is Laramie, WY where I grew up. In the 60s and 70s the student population was nearly equal to the locals. What that brought was a younger, more vibrant, and definitely more liberal town than any other in Wyoming. But as a kid, UW brought major college sports, many opportunities to enjoy the arts, concerts, and a great environment to grow up in. I also lived in SLO for a while and in SLO County for many years. Downtown SLO is great on Farmer’s Market night or on the weekends!
As others have mentioned, college towns are unmatched for their walkability/bikeability. I attended UC Santa Barbara, which borders the college town of Isla Vista, which directly borders the beach. Mashed into just 1.8 sq miles is a population of about 15k people, with around 80% being college students, either at UCSB or the nearby Santa Barbara City College. With shops and restaurants mixed in, it was always extremely easy to get around and almost all my friends/profs would bus/walk/or bike to campus. It is such a bummer that the US has become so suburb-centric and lost the community that a college town provides with how easy it is to get around
I remember when I went to University at Buffalo, I remember the South campus was actually in Buffalo and well connected to the Main St and the north side of the city. The North campus on the other hand was in the suburbs and so far away from everything. The campus was so spread out to the point you basically need to drive or take the bus to travel. Walking across campus in the middle of winter was brutal.
i go to uc berkeley and have a clipper card. i haven’t driven at all since coming here, and even let my license expire. i don’t think i could ever live in a suburb again. berkeley isn’t exactly a college town, but it’s a very walkable city.
I ❤ small towns with small colleges. Moving to Northfield this year, where the city motto is “Cows, College, Contentment.” Literally bought a house that once housed college faculty. The college sold the property to fund new dorms, thus reducing the need for off campus housing. Northfield doesn’t have a whole lot of housing stock, so this was a good thing for those of us who want to buy a small home and retire. Oh, and the city basically made my entire street one big bike lane. Suhweet! 🚲
I live near Eugene, and I’d love to see the city of Eugene adopt more people-friendly policies and restrict cars from more areas of the city. University of Oregon campus is one of my favorite places to just walk around, or roll on my onewheel, and just explore.
I wish I could experience attending all of the colleges/universities and living in all the college towns. Well, a lot of them anyway. I think about how my life ended up partially due to the schools I went to, the professors and classes offered there, the people I met, campus meals, the cities they're in, the the relationships I was/am in, my career, the music I was exposed to... and how things could have turned out differently and I could have had a different life in a different place if I went to different schools. There are so many interesting and unique classes and instructors at each and every community college, university, technical school, etc. There are so many possibilities of intriguing classes I could have taken, what I could have learned, the experiences I could have had, the friendships and relationships, and who I am now... and I would like to experience it all.
@@markvictor8776 Santa Cruz sounds amazing back in the day. That's cool you got go . The campus is amazing. Yes, Reed College is similar to how UCSC used to be and has a nice campus. The Evergreen State College is also similar to how UCSC was. Evergreen still doesn't have grades, whereas UCSC implemented grades in 2000, I believe. Both schools have weird mascots, too. Although Evergreen is changing and struggling now. I went there in 2005-2007. It's basically Hogwarts. I miss it.
I think it’s interesting how these conflicts play out when there’s no on-campus housing at all. In Trondheim there’s been talks of the student association buying out an entire neighboorhood due to excess noise.
2:42 I think the appeal of living in a college town after graduation I think is mostly fueled by nostalgia as you're young and surrounded by people the same age constantly. It's less about the town itself and more the experience then misattributing it to the place.
9:31 OMG THIS. I’m Canadian so our uni towns can be kinda different - I went to uni in Waterloo, Ontario and it’s such an amazing city. It hits every one of your notes - above average public transit for a small city, a distinct university area where everything is geared towards students, a student ghetto currently in the process of gentrification, etc. The city is well planned out and the neighbourhoods are all desirable to live in. Compared to the suburbs of Toronto, it’s paradise lol
I live in a small college town. Everywhere away from the college is dire poverty for local people. Landlords have gone crazy buying up all the properties and raising rents to absurd levels pushing people out of the area. The landlords are also destroying the single family homes to make them into rentals. It's out of control.
The architectural elegance in faculty suburbs around East Lansing, Michigan (Michigan State) is awe-inspiring. Especially the Indian Hills subdivisipon of Okemos to the east.
I went to Ohio State, which is basically a city within a city, campus even has its own zip code, police, transit system, power plant, and development. It gives a college town feel while being only a short bus ride from a large city center. That’s why the neighborhood between downtown and Ohio State, the Short North, is a highly desirable neighborhood because you get the best of both worlds
There’s been a pretty enduring fight between students and neighboring residents in UCLA’s Westwood Village. With UCLA’s ever increasing enrollment numbers, students and the university have been advocating for larger buildings for off campus housing. This fight took place largely in Westwood’s city council which is made up of half students and half homeowners from the Holmby Park area to the east of campus. The homeowners argued that if UCLA built towers for off campus housing it would block their views. However, they didn’t mention that the view they were so worried about was basically just the 405 if they could even see that. Not sure what happened after I graduated, but there’s a massive 15 story complex across the street from the In N Out now so I think UCLA got it’s way. Glad the students got more housing!
I lived across the street from that In-N-Out and there’s definitely a lot of new construction around there (and more being built) but I’m sure it’s still a struggle. Really interesting neighborhood in the context of car centric LA.
i also hear that the bel air homeowners do not want to support the building of a westwood metro station but with so much commuters it’s much more sustainable to use public transit
@@johnarambulo The time for "do not want" is long gone - the Westwood station has been under construction for multiple years now - they started before Covid.
Davidson, North Carolina, which is home to Davidson College, is a very nice college town. Has just about the lowest crime rate in North Carolina. The college town I live in, Greenville NC, people put hellcat logos on nissan altimas and drive 120mph through campus
I was born amd raised in one of the largest college towns and eventually went to the central uni. Living in the student district vs living as a local was like living in two different worlds.
I work at an urban university so it's integrated when it comes to biking/bus/subway, and still has issues with the local neighbourhood as far as housing students. The university I went to is large enough that it has its own bus system, in addition to being close enough to bus and subway. That college town really has a lot of the similarities of Ithaca (defined areas where faculty live; defined areas where students live; town/gown disagreements, etc.) while being close to a much larger metropolitan area.
This was really good, thanks. Pity that the only comment on Boulder was about the riot, because otherwise, it is an almost ideal college town, by a lot of the criteria you mention in the video. Because of the local topography, the town literally can not expand beyond the same foot print it's had since the 1950s. And there's been a moratorium on new architecture in place since the 60s. It's always been very progressive. Denver metro is 30 minutes away, but Boulder is like a quaint old mountain town, with lots of old brick 19th century architecture, pedestrian friendly since forever, filled with lush gardens, and steps away from pristine alpine hiking. There's even a Chautauqua there, the only one remaining outside of the original in New York. That whole neighborhood is magical, with the little matching cottages dense with flower gardens and the huge trees that are everywhere in town. It has the great mix of everything, even has a stream with parks running through the middle of it. The Pearl Street mall is the dream pedestrian mall, many blocks of brick storefronts with restaurants, galleries, bars, music venues, etc. Street performers - the whole thing, and it's been that way since the 70s. Anyway, I love your videos, maybe you can do one on Boulder. I lived in Denver for years, and always longed to live in Boulder, but it's very expensive. Thanks!
I moved back to San Luis Obispo only a couple years after graduating from Cal Poly. I lived in LA for a bit but SLO is just so much more pleasant to me.
I'm a current College student and I love being with young people, walking around, lots of small business etc... especially in Puerto Rico where all of those are extremely rare here. Mayagüez
0:34 as a current U-M student, i love Ann Arbor, espracially after growing up in a suburban Michigan town. i could name nearly every building in this shot and have walked nearly this entire town
I graduated from Cal Poly SLO with a BArch degree back in 1984. I loved living in San Luis Obispo, and didn’t want to leave after graduating, but I did leave. I now live in Ventura, a roughly two hour drive from SLO. I still get up to SLO a few times a year. College towns are just more exciting to be in. Back in 2022, I was on a road trip back to Colorado Springs with a school friend to visit a couple of our other classmates who are married and have their own architecture firm. On the way home, we stopped in Flagstaff AZ, which is also somewhat of a college town. It too was a fun, vibrant town to visit.
I remember taking someone in my Uber, trying to describe chapel hill. I moved here 17 years ago, and it was definitely a college town and one of the best ones at that. Such a great arts and music and coffee scene. Since the five-over-ones invaded us in 2017, the town just hasn’t been the same. The student in the back of my Uber just couldn’t describe the town to her friend, and said “it looks just like all the other suburbs around us in Orange County “ I became really depressed and realized, she’s right.
I grew up in a college small town (2000 pop college, 10,000 pop town) and definitely agree that it made the town better. There's a lot to be said about college prices and the way they use their funding/raise tuitions, but they can provide a beautiful, walkable section of town that even local kids can use to play around and enjoy. The library was always open and had spaces to hang out, they had summer programs for kids who wanted to learn art/science/etc from the professors, and they hosted community events on campus that could really help bridge the divide. Granted, my dad worked there, and I ended up attending myself when I got old enough. But I can't imagine the town without the college. Even our downtown, a 15 min walk or so from campus, would have been so much less without it I think. Business would slow down so much in the off months.
I have an acquaintance from High School who's at Cal Poly SLO in the City & Regional Planning major. Good to know he's got great faculty like you to support him in his education there!
The city I grew up in, is an old railroad town. Reading, Pa, the one from monopoly. From what I seen it currently has 4 colleges within it and seems to be doing a lot better compared to 15 years ago.
I went to Texas A&M for undegrad and I'm now at Cornell for grad school. It was fun enough to see both of them on the list of college towns, but I was shocked to see Ithaca get so much screen time. Go Big Red!
Lol, I graduated from Calpoly and currently live in Ithaca. My problem with Ithaca is the weather (best summer, worst winter) and the reason I have a car (which I funnily bought in San Luis Obispo). Walking or Biking in winter is not joke.
i’m from los angeles…. i have barely clicked on this video and i love it so much. i think i’ve idolised college towns my whole life without even realising it😂😂😂
Being a senior in high school, i've spent a lot of time during the past year comparing colleges towns and so i was really interested in what this video had to say. It was a pleasant surprise to see you're teaching at cal poly which is where i'll be heading in the fall for architecture!
Hey , I'm a international student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC and it's really fun here instead of choosing main campus I chose this and it was one of best decisions of my life
I’d like to see a discussion comparing college towns to cities with colleges (Los Angeles:UCLA and USC, Boston : Harvard and MIT). What’s the economic impact and etc? Which do you like better and why?
Here in the Netherlands cities like Utrecht, Groningen, Leiden en Delft are college and university towns. And also the towns with the best cycling infrastructure and night life.
Cheap food, cheap entertainment, walkable neighborhoods, and an abundance of transit options. The only downside is the drinking and late night shenanigans. I 100% would live in a college town.
Future Madison resident here! Even though I'm not going to UW, I can really feel the advantages of being in a college town just from browsing around on Google Maps. Great video :)
Tbh what I miss most about the college town I lived in (Santa Barbara) was meeting people my own age wherever I went. Here in the Stockholm suburb I live in now the people you meet on the street are mostly seniors, moms, squirrels and deer. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's a very temperate social climate in comparison.
I went to a small "private college" not really outside of Kansas City and the small little town was so cute and the gothic castle buildings on campus overlooked the whole town. Underneath my college was a vast cave system where students take classes. It's wild and beautiful at the same time.
Lafayette IN, home of Purdue, is a great example of everything you’ve said. A lot of graduates even settle around town because of all the industry and companies that are here
i’m from california, and i’ve observed that the better part of universities that are located in college towns are either public schools with low acceptance rates or incredibly expensive private schools. i went to a “low-tier” UC and received a great education, but couldn’t help but notice the lack of walkability in the immediate surrounding area. just goes to show that in ca, walkability is something that you have to be able to afford, whether financially or otherwise.
I always knew this, and I’ve intentionally lived within 2 miles of a university in 3 of the 4 metros I’ve called home. One thing I think he left out is colleges like to ensure good emergency services- so a respectable police force, and good response times across the board- no parent is gonna pay thousands of dollars in tuition if they child isn’t safe, so bad ems is bad for enrollment.
Former resident of Bloomington IN here. Bloomington is a great place to grow up. There’s a lot more going on than a random town in Indiana, it’s more culturally diverse and much more liberal. At this point it’s also wildly more expensive to live there. My parents moved away by choice but couldn’t afford to move back after unforeseen health struggles. My brother still lives there and has almost given up on being able to afford a home with his partner. The college brings so much to the city but also brings a population much more willing to pay inflated rent and other prices, sometimes because they’re from higher cost of living cities on the east coast. This raises the cost of living in Bloomington and has lead to situations where it’s long term residents can’t achieve their goals. The size of the city also means some of its children move away as their careers involve jobs not found there. I’m not surprised the once substantial population growth has leveled off. When it’s easier to buy a house in an affluent suburb of Indy than Bloomington somethings wrong.
i moved to a college town last year and i didnt expect to stay here for very long, now i feel like i might end up settling here for a good portion of my life. its insanely easy to get around, i do not even have a car or plan to own one. i even decided TO enroll in college because of how much easier it was to manage costs here due to not having a car.
In State College we get great opportunities from Penn State. High school students can take some Penn State classes on the University Park campus, Penn State has lots of community events that anybody can participate in, and they’ve built some of the most iconic buildings in the area (the arboretum, Beaver Stadium, and Old Main just to name a few). I believe Penn State literally has more than 50% of the population of State College during fall and spring semesters.
Makes me kinda miss walking around in Atlanta when I was in college. GA State was definitely a commuter college but I still enjoyed being able to walk to class to class and enjoy the local eateries there too. I especially liked going to one of the cheesesteak restaurants they had too and this awesome pizza place!
I feel like Canada doesn't have many college towns... Mcgill and U of T are right downtown and many schools are in major cities, not the middle of nowhere. Those cities also happen to have good public transit. I've been having conversations about college towns with my American friends lately and our campuses are so different
We have at least three college towns in the Maritimes: Antigonish with St FX, Wolfville with Acadia, and Sackville, with Mount Allison. You could also add Fredericton with UNB, and even Halifax, with Dal, SMU, the Mount, and NSCAD, although it is a bit offset by a large government; provincial and federal, and military presence.
Woah! I just committed to Cal Poly (I’m from Seattle), and I clicked on this video to learn more about what a college town like SLO would be like. Had no idea that’s exactly where you live!
I think Philadelphia is a verrry big college town. UPenn, Drexel, Temple, StJoes, LaSale, etc. We literally have a neibougherhood called University City.
I live and work in Pullman, Washington - the home of Washington State University. The students outnumber the residents: total population is around 33,00, with nearly 18,000 of those being students.
Davis, California is a good college town and not too far from the San Francisco Bay Area. You would be hard pressed to find a more bicycle friendly town in the United States. Excellent college too.
Town-gown dynamics have been playing out for as long as colleges existed. It's way more dynamic in such Old World colleges where the University campus is dispersed amongst the town's buildings instead of having their own consolidated grounds. Owing to that and to time, the stories and conflicts are more colourful too.
College Park, MD occupies a weird niche. It's both a suburb and college town. Old Town has the beer pong tables and porch couches like you're describing. I feel like Route 1 is trying to be that college town main street over the portion just south of UMD. When you go north past the campus, though, it just turns into a strip mall lined stroad. Living in College Park, I would go to DC if I wanted to eat at any restaurant that wasn't a chain. I felt like, as a college town experience, it was lacking. On the other hand, it's not as isolated as a place like Blacksburg or Morgantown.
Blacksburg was very isolating as a former Hokie. The campus itself was nice but the moment you try to go out of town, you're stranded without a car. And driving back to the DMV area for the holidays was hours of soul sucking traffic because everyone tried to go back at the same time.
I live in Columbus, OH, which is similar to Madison but It's larger and doesn't have enough of the "college town" feeling. But it sure is dominated by Buckeye love, which is tough when you're not a buckeye fan haha
I'm a non-Buckeye fan in Columbus. Yep. It was a crappy time the day my friend got ticketed while we were out to eat on campus because the parking sign just said "No parking on Game Days" and she, being from WV, just parked. Me, not being a fan, had no idea to warn her. I've grown up here and lived here my whole life. I hold conflicted views about the students here. They flip cars and set them on fire whether or not OSU wins or loses. But there's interesting food and activities. But campus has a high theft rate. But we're a pretty progressive, LGBTQ+ friendly part of Ohio. Win some, lose some. It's never a dull moment though! 😅
I feel like one big advantage of college towns is that they naturally have so many young people, which brings a lot of fresh energy, new ideas, new beginnings, etc. Compare that to expensive places with aging populations, and you’ll find a very different vibe that tends to drive away young people.
Moved from NYC is ended up landing in Boulder, Colorado. I tried living in other places but I don’t have a driver’s license or car, so getting around was miserable. I obviously don’t go down to Denver or other nearby towns here in CO but I feel like I have everything I need here
Boston (the urban part at least) also works well if you are a non-driver and find yourself looking for a bigger city than Boulder. Chicago too, but the weather really sucks and don't listen to anyone who says otherwise.
Boulder is awesome. The housing prices aren't though! I was looking at the apartments in north Boulder near the Google campus, they're quite nice but man oh man are they expensive.
I went to college in Boulder from 99'- 02'. Beautiful city. Rent was $400 a month then, and I roomed with someone else but we often didn't lock our doors (or forgot to) as we went in and out of the house all day: the only place I lived where I could do that. I imagine it's different today, especially with crazy housing and rent prices like nearly everywhere else.
@@TheHiddenNarrative I went to Boulder in 91 to 93 after transferring from NYC. My rent in 01 was 400 too, and right on the hill. Boulder was awesome 30 plus years ago. Haven’t been back in 23 years.
I went to a university in a university town which was also a seaside tourist town called Aberystwyth in Wales, it is an amazing and beautiful place, there is a good relationship with local residents as many are former students because they loved it so much. But it was also the first university in Wales (1872) and was paid for by public and private subscription to buy this astonishing gothic building on the coast called the Old College now. Meaning people in the town had partly paid for it, so it became an integral part of the town's identity and culture. This includes the Arts Centre which is part of the university but is for the locals as well, it includes dance studios, threatre, cinema, cafe, bar, museum and art gallery. The university is also vital to the modern economy, as most tourist areas are very seasonal, whereas for Aberystwyth tourists turn up in the summer and then students for the other 3 seasons keeping the local economy in a healthy state year round. The locals also drink in the same pubs and nightclubs as the students etc. The students in Aberystwyth do drink a lot and that's compared to other students, which for residents is probably one issue, unless they want to join in. The town does also have a very high Welsh speaking population which is one cause of friction, there are many Welsh speaking students, but most are not Welsh speakers and like myself are not Welsh either and come from England and Ireland. However it's not a major issue I found. Judging by the video I think Aberystwyth has a rather unique relationship with the local residents.
Imo the best type of college town is Cincinnati, where the college is walking distance from the city center, and "student ghettos" are like half students half townies. You get the best of all worlds with the college just being part of the city
Going to college is absolutely why I’m a hardcore urbanist. I hate that there’s a stigma for people not in college who prefer living their college town. As if they haven’t “moved on”. College towns have some of the best urbanism of anywhere in the country and have extraordinary sense of community and belonging. Maybe I’ll move back to Gainesville one day.
