Dunedin students say the flat party culture has grown in response to Otago University acting as the fun police and clamping down on student pubs and bars.
But a leading preventive medicine researcher says flat parties are driven by a proliferation of cheap alcohol and lax liquor laws.
Jennie Connor, from the Dunedin school of medicine's chair of preventive and social medicine, said any serious attempt to tackle problem drinking in Dunedin's student quarter would require reform of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, and a hard look at drinking culture throughout the country.
Her comments follow the death of second-year student Sophia Crestani, who was fatally injured as hundreds left a flat party on Saturday night.