Urban decline and shrinking cities: A critical assessment of approaches to urban regression

Abstract

Urban shrinkage as such is not a new phenomenon. It has been documented by an extensive literature analysing the social and economic issues that have led to flight of population, resulting in the worse cases in the eventual abandonment of blocks of housing and neighbourhoods. Á number of studies have also been dedicated to the analysis of the cycles of urban changes : suburbanization, decline of central cities and regeneration. Up to the 1970s, urban decline was an almost exclusive feature of developing countries, whereas today the number of cities in decline is reaching more than a quarter of the overall number of cities of over 100 000 inhabitants worldwide. While the contemporary globalization processes have been accompanied by new forms of de-industrialization and suburbanization, the period has also been one of profound demographic change in the developed countries, characterized by falls in fertility rates and the ageing of populations. This transformation obviously has repercussions on the development of cities. In this situation, it may be that urban growth should in no way be assumed, while urban decline, rather than being an exception or an aberration, could be analysed as a potentially global phenomenon. It is therefore worthwhile envisaging decline and urban shrinkage as durable, structural components of urban development. While urban decline is on the increase, placing the phenomenon in an increasingly global perspective, it seems opportune to review the paradigm behind the established views of urban growth and change. © Armand Colin.