10.6092/issn.3034-8544/16719
The growing number of university enrolments and the increase in student mobility have led to a considerable increase in the demand for accommodation in the member states of the European Union over the last twenty years. Many countries have therefore undertaken policies aimed at building university accommodation and residences, through funding plans involving public and private entities.
In Italy, Law no. 338/00 is a first example of an organic multi-year plane that provides state co-financing for measures aimed at building new university student accommodation and residences, also through the extraordinary maintenance, restructuring and purchase of buildings already destined or to be destined for the specific function.
The importance of the regulation is due, among others, to its experimental character, the definition of dimensional standards and the importance given precisely to the recovery of disused existing building stock.
application/pdf
3034-8544
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Claudio Piferi
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Urbana
Law 338/2000
Multiannual Public Intervention Programs for Student Housing and Urban Regeneration
Text.Serial.Journal
https://urbana.unibo.it/
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Thematic Section
2024-01-25
2023-04-06
2024-01-25
2024-03-20
67-85
Urb
Claudio Piferi
2024/01/25
10.6092/issn.3034-8544/16719
67
University of Florence
3034-8544
1
Law 338/2000
en
85
Multiannual Public Intervention Programs for Student Housing and Urban Regeneration
https://urbana.unibo.it/article/download/16719/17489
1
                                                       URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024              67




Multiannual Public Intervention
Programs for Student Housing and Urban
Regeneration
PEER REVIEWED


Claudio Piferi

University of Florence

claudio.piferi@unifi.it


1.        Multi-annual Funding Plans for University Residences.

Since June 1999, when 29 European ministers of education signed the
'Bologna Declaration', which aimed to achieve a European higher
education area, student mobility within the EU member states has
increased                                                    significantly.
This mobility, coupled with the growing number of university
enrolments, has led to a considerable increase in the demand for
accommodation since the end of the 20th century. With the aim of
meeting this demand with an adequate supply of housing, many countries
have undertaken policies aimed at building university residences,
through     programs       involving   public   and     private     actors.
Of particular interest, also for a comparison with the Italian reality, are
the French, German and Irish experiences. The first one through the
Centre National des Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires (CNOUS) and the
Centres Régionaux des Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires (CROUS),
which implement funding programs for the creation of new university
student accommodation places also through the renovation of the
existing building stock, the second through the Deutsches
StudentenWerk (DSW), a non-profit state agency, financed by the Lander
and private individuals, which deals with the construction and
management of student housing1. Of great interest in recent years is also
the program implemented in Ireland, where the increase in university
enrolment has forced the state Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to finance
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to build Purpose-Built Student
Accommodation (PBSA), residences mainly for students without financial
means.                                                              (CEB)2.
The recent Next Generation Europe program, for example, with Mission

1
  Germany Visa 2021. Student Accommodation and Housing in Germany.
https://www.germany-visa.org/student-accommodation-housing/
2
  CEB, 2021. CEB to support construction of student housing in Ireland with a € 75
million loan. Available at: https://coebank.org/en/news-and-publications/news/ceb-to-
support-construction-of-student-housing-in-ireland-with-a-75-million-loan/


                                                                     Copyright 2024 The Author
                                               This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.3034-8544/16719               Attribution 4.0 International License
                                                          URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024         68



4, Component 1, Reform 1.7 of the NRP - Student Housing and Reform of
Student Housing Legislation, envisages an investment for Italy of no less
than 960 million euro with the aim of tripling the current supply of
university student housing (amounting to about 38,000 units) and making
more than 100,000 accommodation places available by 2026.
In Italy, it is since the beginning of the century, with the enactment of law
338/2000, that structured policies for the construction of accommodation
and residences for university students have been put in place: the
legislative provision constitutes a first example of an organic multi-year
programme aimed at a specific type of user that provides state funding
for measures to increase the number of accommodation places also for
doctoral        students,     researchers,     visiting    professors,    etc.
The law has practical implications because it has allowed for an increase
in the number of housing places available [Figure 1], cultural implications
because it has sanctioned the transition from dormitory to incubator
residence3, and socioeconomic implications because it has triggered a
virtuous process by contributing to the redevelopment of disused
buildings and the urban and social regeneration of degraded areas 4.




       Figure 1| Accommodation places financed with L. 338. Situation in December 2022.
                                   Credits: Andrea Sichi.


In addition to the definition of specific quali-quantitative standards, the
law makes explicit reference to extremely topical issues, such as
environmental compatibility, integration with the city and services, the


3
  Claudio Piferi, La qualità dell’abitare a servizio del diritto allo studio (Trento: Edizioni
Opera Universitaria, 2021), 7-25.
4
  Adolfo F.L. Baratta, “La legge n. 338/2000 come strumento di recupero del patrimonio
e rigenerazione delle periferie”, Vivere e abitare l'Università (Milano: Politecnica, 2020),
47-54.
                                                         URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024         69



coexistence of individuality and sociality, and the integration of
information and multimedia technologies5.
Specific Executive Decrees have the task of describing the technical and
economic parameters to be met to obtain the state contribution and of
defining the procedures and methods for the submission of projects and
the payment of funding.
To date, five calls for proposals have been published, the latest of which6
is currently in progress [Figure 2].




                             Figure 2| The regulatory framework.
                                    Credits: Andrea Sichi.


The procedures of the previous four calls7 were very similar: from the
publication of the Executives Decrees, subjects interested in funding had
a defined time frame in which to submit a final or executive level project.
At the end of the deadline, a specially Commission8, composed of 7
members appointed by the Ministry of University and Research and 7 by
the State-Regions Conference, assessed the proposals submitted and
submitted the ranking list to the Minister: this ranking list was included
in the Three-Year Plans9 that allocate the available economic resources

5
  Romano Del Nord, “L’innovazione di processo come strumento per promuovere la
qualità delle opera”, Il processo attuativo del piano nazionale di interventi per la
realizzazione di residenze universitarie, (Firenze: Edifir, 2014), 19-27.
6
  DD.MM. nos. 1256-1257/2021.
7
  DD.MM. No. 116-118/2001 (I), No. 42-43/2007 (II), No. 26-27/2011 (III), No. 936-937/2016
(IV).
8
  DD.MM. No. 117/2001, No. 27/2005, No. 2/2009, No. 245/2012, No. 504/2015, No. 321/2019, No.
916/2022.
9
  DD.MM. n. 40/2004 (I), nn. 41-72/2008 (II), n. 246/2012 (III), nn. 852-853/2019 (IV).
                                                            URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   70



between interventions admitted with the availability of funds, admitted
but awaiting the necessary resources, and excluded.
From the publication of the Plans, the beneficiaries were given a defined
time to submit any supplementary documentation (e.g. building permits
and the executive project).
After examining the supplementary documentation, the Commission
decided either to approve the signing of the agreement with the MUR, or
to revoke the co-financing: from the notification of the registration of the
agreement, which defines the duties of both parties, the deadlines for
starting the work begin.
As for the financial aspects, each call provided for a total amount divided
by year10 and a maximum funding equal to 50% of the total cost of the
intervention, which may include the value of the building, the cost of the
works and part of the furnishings.

2.         The Numbers of Law No. 338/2000.
The research activity, carried out by the TESIS Inter-university Centre of
the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence for more
than 15 years through the preparation of special agreements with the
MUR and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. (CDP), and focused on the
collection, analysis, systematization and processing of data and
information that are remarkable for their quantity, quality and
originality, has made it possible, through the development of specific
operational tools, to assess the efficiency of the standard.
The combination of operational research activities and the study of the
process and its evolution makes it possible to compare the quality
expected from the Program with that achieved.
Specifically, about 650 projects (over 150 of them concerning the fifth call
of the law) were investigated, more than 200 economic frameworks were
monitored and verified, 2,800 work progress reports, 380 variants and
around 200 inspections were carried out.
The four calls for tenders saw the submission of 487 applications for a
funding request of more than 1,890 million, and the standardization and
construction of 60,000 housing places (35,000 from scratch). The
applications were distributed throughout the country: 247 in the north,
144 in the center and 96 in the south.
A total of 395 projects were admitted into the three-year plans for a co-
financing request of more than 1,300 million and 48,000 accommodation
places concerned.
After exclusions and renouncements, there are 317 implemented
interventions with co-financing of just under EUR 1,000 million and more
than 38,000 accommodation places (about 24,000 ex-novo).
There are currently 249 university residences in operation (142 in the
north, 67 in the center, 40 in the south), with a total of almost 30,000

10   2002-2004 (I), 2006-2009 (II), 2011-2013 (III), 2016-2018 (IV), 2022-2024 (V).
                                               URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   71



accommodation places (more than 17,000 ex-novo) and a co-financing
provided by the state of almost 700 million [Figure 3]. All the interventions
financed by the first call (114) are in operation, while for the second there
are 82 residences in operation and 2 missing interventions are expected
to be completed in 2023.
                                                           URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024           72




   Figure 3| Requests, admitted interventions, in progress and in use, by geographical area.
                                 Situation in December 2022.
                                    Credits: Andrea Sichi.


For the third, 65 per cent of the planned interventions have been
completed, while for the fourth, the number of residences in operation is
over 30 per cent, with some interventions that have yet to submit
supplementary documentation, others that have yet to conclude the
agreement, with the ministry (20 per cent) [Figure 4].




    Figure 4| Requests, interventions in progress and in operation by call for applications.
                                 Situation in December 2022.
                                    Credits: Andrea Sichi.
                                                         URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024         73



3.     Analysis and Structuring of Data Acquired during Research
Activities.


In addition to the social and cultural implications already mentioned, it is
worth emphasizing other consequences related to the structuring of the
norm.
One of the positive aspects of the law is that the implementation of the
program does not stop with the granting of the funding, but continues
through the monitoring of the construction phases, from the publication
of the call for tenders to the commissioning and is completed with the
disbursement of the state funding following, the control of the actual
expenditure incurred and any variants.
The state financing is therefore configured as a reimbursement,
constituting a further guarantee of the use of public resources for the
intended purposes, avoiding complications for the repayment of unused
amounts, with considerable savings in economic and time terms:
moreover, the disbursement of the financing in conjunction with the
transmission of the work progress reports allows the subjects to quickly
dispose of the money advanced.
The structuring of the program meant that the interventions did not
suffer any slowdowns or drastic interruptions, guaranteeing that
construction companies could work even during periods of severe crisis
in the construction sector.
Finally, by means of the principle of sliding from one Plan to another of
the unspent funds deriving from the tender rebates (about 160 million in
total), and the allocation of a reserved annual fund, as provided for in
paragraph 18, Art. 144 of Law 388/00, it was possible to guarantee the
continuity of the procedure and the procurement of the necessary
resources also for the interventions admitted with reserve.

4.      Urban Regeneration.
Aware that new constructions imply a considerable use of energy, that
Italian cities are characterized by the presence of abandoned buildings (it
is estimated that there are over 10 million empty residential properties)11,
and that the system of Universities spread throughout the territory,
typical of the Italian reality, is mainly structured in the historical city
centers12, the legislator, in art. 1, of 338, specifies that the law was created
to allow the State to contribute to the realization of interventions
necessary for [...] the extraordinary maintenance, recovery and
renovation of already existing buildings, used or to be used as

11
   Vincenzo Gioffrè, “Riciclare l’urbano. Strategie rigenerative per la città orizzontale”,
Technè, 17 (2019): 167.
12
   Roberto Bologna, “Il progetto della residenza per studenti universitari”, Il processo
attuativo del piano nazionale di interventi per la realizzazione di residenze universitarie,
(Firenze: Edifir, 2014), 122-123.
                                                        URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024         74



accommodation or residences for university students, as well as
interventions of new construction and purchase of areas and buildings to
be used for the same purpose: the priority, therefore, appears to be that
of recovering, for this purpose, the existing building heritage, as opposed
to interventions of new construction.
This has allowed not only the recovery of disused buildings but, in many
cases, also the urban and social regeneration of depressed and degraded
areas13.
The recovery of the existing building stock is, in fact, further incentivized
by the possibility, offered by the law, to contribute the value of the
building as part of the co-financing amount and consequently obtain state
funding equal to the total amount of the works [Figure 5].




     Figure 5| Existing building and new construction: interventions and accommodation.
                                  Situation in December 2022.
                                     Credits: Andrea Sichi.


In addition, interventions on the existing building stock of special value
and listed buildings have considerable advantages regarding compliance



13
  Adolfo F. L. Baratta, and Claudio Piferi. “Le residenze universitarie come strumento
di rigenerazione urbana. L’esperienza del programma 338/00”, 3° edizione di abitare il
futuro. Giornate internazionali di studio, edited by Antonella Falotico, Nicola Flora,
Domenico Moccia, Maria Federica Palestino, Sergio Pone, Francesco Rispoli,
Michelangelo Russo, Sergio Russo Ermolli, Paola Scala. (Napoli: Clean edizioni, 2015),
485-493.
                                                     URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   75



with dimensional standards, as they provide for decreasing percentages
on legal obligations.
Of the 317 projects in place, more than 70 per cent concern existing
buildings: of the approximately 38,000 accommodation places concerned,
more than 23,000 are in existing buildings and about 15,000 in new
buildings.
There are many university residences realized with law no. 338/00 that
can be taken as examples to understand the role that these structures
have played and are playing in terms of urban, environmental and social
regeneration: the recovery of the former convents of Crociferi in Venice
[Figure 6] and Benedettini in Palermo are perhaps the best-known
examples, but there are many others equally significant.




                  Figure 6| Crociferi University Residence, Venice.
                               Credits: TESIS archive.

Briefly, 3 case studies are described that highlight some of the urban
implications arising from the introduction of university residency
through the redevelopment of the existing building stock.
The San Giobbe university residence project constitutes the last stage in
the completion of the new Ca' Foscari university campus in Venice. The
project, which began in 1995, involved the restoration, rehabilitation, and
urban redevelopment of disused industrial areas, including the former
monumental slaughterhouse and other adjacent areas in a serious state
of                                                          deterioration.
The area for the student residence is located on the outskirts of the city,
on the same site where the hospital designed by Le Corbusier in the 1964s
                                                      URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   76



was                      to                     be                     built.
The project envisaged, on an experimental basis and for the first time in
Venice, through consultation with the Superintendency, the use of
sustainable technologies to achieve energy class 'A'. The residence
accommodates 229 students distributed in single and double rooms
according to the hotel typology. Common areas are located both on the
ground floor and on the different floors. Of particular interest is how the
intervention fits into the established historical context of the city of
Venice. The architecture and the use of materials, in fact, recall the
classic stylistic features of lagoon architecture, recreating, within the
complex, “calli” and “fondamenta”, and consequently allowing Venetians
to regain possession of a contemporary and functional space that does not
disrupt           the         pre-existing          urban           texture.
This ensures that the new neighborhood that has been created is also
experienced by non-residents. The realization of a new pedestrian bridge,
which from platform 1 of the Santa Lucia railway station allows students
and others to reach the complex, guarantees an uncommon level of
accessibility for a complex city like Venice [Figures 7, 8].




                  Figure 7| San Giobbe University Residence, Venice.
                                Credits: TESIS archive.
                                                      URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   77




                  Figure 8| San Giobbe University Residence, Venice.
                                Credits: TESIS archive.

The complex where the Ca' Longa university residence is located dates to
the end of the 19th century and housed a cotton mill: the entire complex
is in an area heavily densified by former industrial buildings that have
undergone restoration work in recent years. The Santa Marta Residence
project serves as a complement to these interventions, offering the
opportunity for the portion of the neighborhood to be lived in during all
hours of the day. Externally, the structure retains the appearance of an
industrial brick building with large windows in relation to the pertinent
garden and a series of skylights in the roof that allow natural light to enter
the first floor. The residence, which accommodates a total of 650
students, 136 of them thanks to this intervention, is spread over two floors
according to a mini-apartment, single and double accommodation type,
and guarantees a standard of approximately 25 square meters per
accommodation space. The building also uses a photovoltaic system and
solar panels to supply energy from renewable sources. In terms of urban
regeneration, the entire complex is in an area heavily densified by former
industrial buildings that in recent years have been recovered and
transformed into educational centers for Ca' Foscari University. The
Santa Marta Residence project serves as a complement to these
interventions, offering the opportunity for the portion of the
neighborhood to be lived in at all hours of the day [Figure 9].
                                                      URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   78




                  Figure 9| Ca’ Foscari University Residence, Venice.
                                 Credits: TESIS archive.

The Camplus university residence in Florence is the result of the
redevelopment of a mid-twentieth century building owned by the State
Railways Group. The residence is in a lot adjacent to the railway line, near
the tramway and the central station and not far from the city center. The
building has maintained its C-shaped conformation, preserving the
strong stone perimeter wall on the main elevation: the original project
planned the demolition and reconstruction of the entire building:
subsequently, due to changes in the city of Florence's regulatory
framework, it was changed to a building renovation and structural
consolidation of the existing building. The building, which is on six
above-ground levels, has a hotel-type living space and accommodates 213
students in single and double rooms, for a total of approximately 12.5
square meters per student of residential area. Almost all functional
common areas including a conference room, a refreshment area and a
gymnasium are located on the ground floor. Internally, the structure is
clad with dark-colored wooden paneling, designed both to house the
lighting system and to reduce maintenance work. The furnishings are
characterized using flexible systems capable of dividing the rooms into
                                                     URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   79



smaller environmental, residential and service units14. All systems are
controlled by an automated system: electricity is produced by
photovoltaic panels on the roof, hot water by heat pumps, and ventilation
systems are of the primary air type [Figures 10-11].




                 Figure 10| Camplus University Residence in Florence.
                               Credits: TESIS archive.




14
   During the COVID-19 pandemic period, this allowed the residence managers to
manage emergencies in both the residential and service areas, preventing guest
students from coming into contact.
                                                     URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   80




                 Figure 11| Camplus University Residence in Florence.
                               Credits: TESIS archive.


The focus on the recovery of the existing heritage was further
strengthened in 2021 when the law was specially amended. Article 15,
Legislative Decree No. 152/21, amends Article 1 of Law 338, adding
paragraph 4-bis, which states: 'In order to pursue the objectives identified
in the European Commission's communication of 11 December 2019 on
the European Green Deal, transposed in the National Recovery and
Resilience Plan, the renovation, transformation, also through demolition
and reconstruction, and purchase of existing structures and buildings
with the aim of pursuing high environmental standards in the
construction and management of the interventions are promoted as a
priority'.
Ministerial Decree No. 1256/21, the fifth announcement of the law,
sharpens this concept, specifying in paragraph 1, Art. 4, that in
implementation of the provisions of the Annex relating to the approval of
the 8 July 2021 NRP assessment, no new green-field building
interventions are admissible, except for interventions included in
existing campuses, or in areas bordering university settlements.
                                                        URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024        81




5.      Developments in the Legal Apparatus.
The updates that have affected the law are due to different reasons: on the
one hand, the evolution of the regulatory framework (e.g., in the field of
public works contracts, accessibility and safety requirements, energy
containment and environmental sustainability), on the other hand, the
need to overcome some of the critical issues that have emerged during
the process. Legislators have therefore sought to make procedures
clearer and more streamlined with the aim of increasing the number of
requests, sometimes even to the partial detriment of the final quality.
In addition to the changes already described, it is worth mentioning that
with the Fifth Call for Proposals the percentage that can be financed by
the State was increased from 50 per cent to 75 per cent, and further
specific references to the themes of digital and ecological transition15
were introduced.
The digitization of the process, the elimination of the paper apparatus,
the compulsory use of Building Information Modeling (BIM), and
compliance with Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM)16 and the
principle of Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) represent some of the most
interesting introductions.
The fifth call, in addition to setting 90 days as the deadline for submitting
applications for co-financing, abolishes the obligations of submitting
supplementary documentation and signing the agreement, delegating to
the Three-Year Plans the role of regulating relations between the MUR
and the beneficiaries: the date of its publication will set the deadline from
which the 150 days for starting work will begin.
With the aim of further reducing the timing, applicants were also allowed
to attach a Technical-Economic Feasibility Project to the application,
while, to reduce the gap between the north and south of the country, 40
per cent of the total resources are allocated to interventions located in the
southern regions.
In fact, if we analyze the data from the monitoring of applications and
interventions in place in previous calls, we notice that most of the
dropouts were concentrated in the southern regions where more than 45
percent of the applications were unsuccessful and out of 13,000 planned
housing places, only 6,000 are in implementation.
With the goal of reaching target M4C1-28, due in Q4 2022 "At least 7,500
additional beds created and assigned thanks to Law 338/2000, as revised
by 31 December 2022", the MUR, on 26 August 2022, published Ministerial
Decree no. 1046, later updated on 19 September 2022 with Ministerial
Decree no. 1089, which provides for the specific allocation of 300 million

15
   Amendments introduced by Article 64(8) of Law No. 108/2021 and Article 15 of Legislative
Decree No. 152/2021.
16
   Article 18, Law No. 221/2015 and Article 34, Legislative Decree 50/2016 (as amended by
Legislative Decree 56/2017).
                                                          URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024          82



euro (to be found within the 960 provided for by Reform 1.7 of the PNRR)
17
   .
This amount, previously included in Ministerial Decree 1257/2021, which
had increased the availability of the Fifth Call for Law 338 to € 467 million,
was removed from Ministerial Decree 1257/2021, bringing the availability
of the decree back to € 167 million.
The call retraces the structure of Law No. 338 and the implementing
decrees but, for the first time, introduces the possibility of financing
leases as long as they are more than nine years old and opens up the
possibility for private individuals to apply for financing following an
agreement with the public or private entities envisaged by Law No. 338.
In fact, with the aim of making accommodation immediately available,
the call is essentially aimed at purchases of existing facilities and leases.
The financing of the works, which can be carried out until March 2024
(without compromising the functionality of the residences) to achieve the
DNSH, as well as the necessary expenditure for the purchase of furniture
and equipment, are only possible at the same time as the purchase of the
property.
The call for funding also introduces significant reductions to the
minimum quali-quantitative standards required, reducing the minimum
surface areas of single and double rooms and toilet facilities by 20 per
cent, and eliminating the mandatory minimum surface areas of the
environmental units to be allocated to functional service areas.
Following the issuing of Ministerial Decree No. 1046/2022, 61 applications
for funding were submitted. At the end of the work, the commission
considered 44 interventions for a total financing amount of about 141
million euros and an involvement of more than 4,200 accommodation
places as eligible for financing. Of these interventions, 27 relate to over-
nine-year leases for more than 3,000 accommodation places involved.
The results of the preliminary activity and the list of those admitted were
published in Ministerial Decree no. 1246 of 28 November 2022.
Since the amount assigned with the first call for applications was less than
50% of the available resources, and thanks to the mediation with the
European Community, which allowed for the postponement of the time
for the commissioning of the accommodation places from 31 December
2022 to 28 February 2023, the MUR published a new call for applications,
Ministerial Decree 1252/2022. For this second issuance, 44 applications
were submitted and 37 were admitted for a state funding amount of more
than 135 million euro and about 4,700 accommodation places concerned.
24 successful applications concerned long-term leases for about 3,500
accommodation places and 93 million in funding granted. The results of
this second call were published in Ministerial Decree No. 77 of 14
February 2023.

17
  To identify the interventions eligible for this tranche of funding, the MUR, with Ministerial
Decree no. 1169 of 12 October 2022, appointed a special commission subsequently also confirmed
for the processing of applications received under Ministerial Decree 1252/2022.
                                               URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   83



In total, therefore, around 278 million euro was co-financed for more
than 8,900 accommodation places.
For the management of the remaining 670 million euros, the Ministry of
Universities and Research, with the aim, among other things, of
increasing the openness of participation in the financing to private
investors and public-private partnerships, appointed, with Ministerial
Decree no. 59/2022 of 13 January 2022, a specific working group to draw
up proposals aimed at a more structural revision of the current law itself
and, on 27 December, issued Ministerial Decree 1437/2022, which
partially clarifies the way in which this amount is to be used.
Starting in 2023, the same Ministry has undertaken a series of meetings
with public and private operators aimed at identifying appropriate
strategies to be able to achieve, with the support of these funds, the target
set for 2026, hypothesizing different ways of disbursing state funding that
also include support for management costs.
On the other hand, about the fifth call of law no. 338/00, Parliament, with
law no. 197 of 29 December 2022, The State Budget for the financial year
2023, approved the allocation of a further 300 million euros, offsetting the
share of the PNRR funds that had been cancelled and bringing the overall
availability, for the specific financing, to almost 500 million euros.

6.     Conclusions.
The reported data and elaborations attest to the effectiveness of a flexible
apparatus, capable of progressing in accordance with regulatory
developments and in line with a constantly evolving framework of
demands, of students and stakeholders.
Parliament's increase of annual resources and the inclusion of a specific
funding chapter within the NRP further contribute to certify the validity
of Law 338.
Rapidly increasing the availability of accommodation, through the
reduction of standards such as quantity, is, however, something to reflect
on.
The identification of minimum standards such as quantitative standards,
defined through research carried out by the inter-university Centre TESIS
at the end of the last century, represented an extraordinary innovation for
the sector: law 338/00 and the implementing decrees, in fact, although
born with the objective of increasing the number of university
accommodation and residences, were characterized by the importance
given to student welfare.
However, the continuous and steady reduction in the areas and functional
areas provided for, greatly accentuated by the decrees issued to reach the
target of 7,500 beds by December 2022, is beginning to undermine the
virtuosity of the law to the advantage of more properly economic and
managerial logics.
One of the goals achieved in recent years by the regulatory apparatus,
namely, to transform student housing from dormitories to full-fledged
                                                 URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024     84



social incubators, is clashing with a more pressing need, namely, to
achieve the highest possible number of beds by 2026. The priority,
therefore, shifted to quantitative, economic and managerial aspects,
leaving out architectural and social ones. The reduction of space has been
used, in fact, as a tool to justify the economic sustainability of financial
operations and increase the number of beds, generating an inevitable
lowering of the quality offered not only in terms of surfaces and
environmental units but also in terms of integration with the context,
space sharing, redevelopment of the existing building stock and urban
regeneration.
The reduction and in some cases elimination of specific functional areas
risks abruptly stopping an ongoing cultural process that puts the student,
and his or her well-being, at the center of the educational process, also
interrupting the urban and social regeneration processes undertaken so
far.

Thanks

Arch. Sandra Carlini, arch. PhD Mario Di Benedetto, arch. Andrea Sichi
and arch. PhD student Valentina Spagnoli for their support in data
collection.


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