Abstract

Cultural strategies have been commonly used to address the consequences of urban shrinkage, particularly in a post-industrial context. Proliferated growth-oriented models, such as “creative city,” have threatened the sustainable development of shrinking cities. Alternative cultural models that prioritize social inclusion, local sensitivity, and affordability are thus urgently needed. Using Riga as a case study, this paper explores the process of transformation to an alternative cultural strategy in a post-socialist shrinking city and identifies planning and governance tools that stimulate its development. Employing qualitative interviews and document analysis, the relations between emergent and deliberate cultural strategies are investigated. The results show how the organization of the European Capital of Culture 2014 during the severe shrinkage and economic crisis led to five elements of an alternative cultural strategy: (1) a shift from investing in cultural “hardware” to “software,” (2) a locally sensitive approach, (3) cultural decentralization, (4) strengthened civic engagement, and (5) inclusiveness. These elements of an emergent strategy were recognized by local authorities and stimulated changes in the deliberate cultural strategy. This study supports the idea that urban shrinkage offers municipalities an opportunity to reimagine traditional planning practices and emphasizes the important role of civic actors’ participation in coproducing public services and governance strategies.

Highlights

  • Urban shrinkage is not a new urban phenomenon, it occurred with renewed vigor at the end of the 20th century

  • We analyze the process of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) organization and implementation as the emergent strategy, and we describe its consequences for the deliberate strategy

  • Based on the case study of Riga – a post-socialist capital city that lost over one third of its population – we investigated a) how the consequences of urban shrinkage were addressed in the emergent and deliberate cultural strategies and b) what planning and governance instruments were used for this purpose

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Summary

Introduction

Urban shrinkage is not a new urban phenomenon, it occurred with renewed vigor at the end of the 20th century. In Europe, the industrial recession was accompanied by natural demographic decline, political restructuring, suburbanization, and environmental pollution (Wiechmann & Bontje, 2015). As a result of the urban shrinkage, cities faced significant financial, environmental, social, and infrastructural challenges. Research on the population trajectories of European municipalities suggests that one in five has faced significant population decline between 1990 and 2010 (Wiechmann & Wolff, 2013). Post-socialist European countries are affected by urban shrinkage. In Latvia and Lithuania, more than 90% of municipalities experienced population decline between 1990 and 2010 (ibid). This trend is not expected to cease in the near future. According to the European Commission (2020), its member states will face progressive demographic decline after 2030, further threatening post-socialist states

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