ABSTRACT
This book examines a rapidly emerging new topic in urban settlement patterns: the role of shrinking cities. Much coverage is given to declining fertility rates, ageing populations and economic restructuring as the factors behind shrinking cities, but there is also reference to resource depletion, the demise of single-company towns and the micro-location of environmental hazards.
The contributions show that shrinkage can occur at any scale – from neighbourhood to macro-region - and they consider whether shrinkage of metropolitan areas as a whole may be a future trend. Also addressed in this volume is the question of whether urban shrinkage policies are necessary or effective.
The book comprises four parts:
- world or regional issues (with reference to the European Union and Latin America);
- national case studies (the United States, India, China, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Romania and Estonia);
- city case studies (Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Naples, Belfast and Halle);
- and broad issues such as the environmental consequences of shrinking cities.
This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners working in the fields of urban studies, economic geography and public policy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|50 pages
Global and regional
part II|146 pages
National issues
chapter 6|11 pages
The landscape of population decline in the United States
chapter 7|16 pages
Are large German cities really shrinking?
chapter 11|17 pages
When growth grinds to a halt
part III|93 pages
Case study cities
chapter 16|15 pages
Innovation and shrinking cities
part IV|27 pages
General issues