ABSTRACT

A citys growth relies upon its production; when a citys production efficiency starts to decline and loses its comparative advantage, it may become challenging to substantiate the citys economic growth and hence population. Because the population of many industrialized cities has peaked, increasing attention has been paid to the study of urban decline. Population is a fundamental measure of shrinking cities, which have a decline in population and therefore in urban activities. In an attempt to understand shrinking cities in China and to enlighten the design of sustainable development policies for their cities in the future, this chapter will examine the population and economic development of prefecture-level, resource-depleted cities. Resource-depleted cities are traditionally more reliant on secondary industry and less so on primary industry. Resource-depleted cities usually follow the boom and bust cycle of their major industry. The exhaustion of natural resources to some degree makes the declining phase of the cities predictable.