Conference Program

Several cities have been intensively interested by processes of gentrification, often triggered or accelerated by important urban changes. The consequences of these transformations have gone also far beyond the housing and the neighbourhood dimensions, affecting also schools. The city of Milan have been interested in the last decade by several relevant urban transformations and important and scattered processes of gentrification, that have developed in a quasi-market educational system, characterized by an extensive freedom of choice, a high presence of private and subsidized school and a strong competition.

This study explores the effects on the composition of local schools of urban and social transformations at neighbourhood scale, focusing on the case of Milan. The analysis takes into consideration neighbourhoods characterised by an increase in the share of residents with university degrees and employed as managers and professionals. The selection builds on socio-economic and demographic data at neighbourhood level. The five selected neighbourhoods are at different stages of the process of change that has been set in motion by different drivers such as housing estate projects, urban renovation or mega-events. The contribution then follows by analyzing trends in local school enrolment highlighting whether and to what extent the change in the socio-economic profile of the neighbourhood have led also to a change in the schools’ composition. Results show a variety of outcomes as specific local educational landscape can affect the choice patterns of parents, the relationship among schools and with the surrounding territories. Overall the study highlights on one hand the need for further research on the relationship between urban trasformations and the reproduction of educational inequalities, and on the other hand it signals the need for a policy agenda that takes into account these intertwined consequences of urban changes at neighrbouhdoor and school level.