Abstract
Shrinking cities are widespread throughout the world despite the rapidly increasing global urban population. These cities are attempting to transition to sustainable trajectories to improve the health and well-being of urban residents, to build their capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to cope with major events. The dynamics of shrinking cities are different than the dynamics of growing cities, and therefore intentional research and planning around creating sustainable cities is needed for shrinking cities. We propose research that can be applied to shrinking cities by identifying parallel challenges in growing cities and translating urban research and planning that is specific to each city’s dynamics. In addition, we offer applications of panarchy concepts to this problem. The contributions to this Special Issue take on this forward-looking planning task through drawing lessons for urban sustainability from shrinking cities, or translating general lessons from urban research to the context of shrinking cities.
Highlights
Humans are rapidly becoming an urban species, with greater populations in urban areas [1], increasing size of these urban areas, and increasing number of very large urban areas [2]
Observations of past urban dynamics indicate that cities commonly undergo contraction phases (e.g., [19,20]); though there remains a need to identify what a sustainable trajectory is for shrinking cities
A strategy for countering shrinking in mid-size cities may be acknowledging and leveraging this reliance for greater flexibility. The contributions to this Special Issue add to the layers and nuance in understanding the dynamics of shrinking cities, information that is necessary to guide ongoing development along sustainable trajectories
Summary
Humans are rapidly becoming an urban species, with greater populations in urban areas [1], increasing size of these urban areas, and increasing number of very large urban areas [2]. The present trajectories of these urban areas undergoing contraction will continue to be modulated by social and economic forces, suggesting a great deal of potential for innovation and how to identify and deal with long-term contraction. Some of these papers are not focused on shrinking cities, per se, they collectively highlight the dynamism of urbanization, with lessons for getting to sustainable trajectories in shrinking cities
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