The term studentification was coined by analogy with gentrification, a term used in the 1960s to refer to a middle-class invasion of areas which were formerly thought of as run-down, thereby causing the displacement of many working-class families. Among the first to use the term studentification was Dr Darren Smith of the School of Environment at the University of Brighton, who in 2002 undertook a groundbreaking study of the phenomenon in the Headingley area of Leeds. Smith argues that, with appropriate planning strategies, studentification could in fact have a positive impact in the regeneration of particularly undesirable areas.