ABSTRACT
The dynamic relationship between growth and decline can happen at a city level where some places within a city grow and other shrink. The economy is less dependent on national regulation and the privatization of public services has increased. Furthermore, deregulation of the economic sector is the rule of the day, barriers to trade are broken down allowing a free flow of capital, and finally, labour unions and welfare states are under attack. Parallel with these changes, deregulation of public administration towards an increased neo-liberalisation has taken place, contributing to increased polarization. The shrinkage of cities has occurred both in North America and in Western Europe. Berlin shows us that both growth and decline can be seen as an interactive within a complex organism characterized by an ever changing dynamic process. Shrinking cities is a recently invented term originating from Germany. The growth of some urban territories in relation to population and economy might occur at the cost of others.
