Metropolitics

Demystifying Urban Agriculture in Detroit

Flaminia Paddeu — 2017-12-14T05:30:00Z

Urban agriculture projects in North American shrinking cities have been the subject of much media attention in recent years. Taking the example of Detroit as her starting point, Flaminia Paddeu asks what the real benefits of this practice are for the residents of cities in decline.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities The French documentary Demain, showcasing a world tour of ecological alternatives and viewed by more than a million people to date, depicts the city of Detroit as a Mecca of

- From the Field / deindustrialization, Rust Belt, Baltimore, urban agriculture, agriculture, farming, Detroit, Philadelphia, vacant lots, urban decay, shrinking cities, urban decline, Cleveland, smart shrinkage, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, wasteland, revegetation, ecological transition, socio-ecological transition

Mitigating urban decline through the compact city? Reflections on 15 years of urban recentralization policies in Japan

Sophie Buhnik — 2017-12-07T05:00:00Z

To cope with a rapidly spreading and now pervasive phenomenon of urban decline, Japanese authorities have actively promoted “compact city” strategies. However, 15 years after the launch of the Urban Renaissance Special Measure Law, designed to rejuvenate the downtown areas of Japan's largest cities, the neoliberal-oriented rationale that underpinned many compact city projects is now met with mixed opinions in Japan, especially in light of its contrasting effects on seniors' access to urban

- From the Field / aging, periurban, downtown, city centre, Japan, shrinking cities, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, periphery, compact city

Who Stays and Who Leaves? Residential Flows in French Shrinking Cities

Mathilde Rudolph — 2017-11-01T06:00:00Z

In focusing on residential flows, Mathilde Rudolph seeks to shed light on the processes of urban decline at play in France. She emphasizes how these flows are socially selected and ultimately entrench differences in social composition between shrinking cities and growing cities, as executives appear to avoid shrinking cities while manual workers are more prone to stay.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities With the growing literature on the subject of shrinking cities, it has become easier to gain a

- From the Field / France, residential mobility, deindustrialization, blue-collar workers, manual workers, shrinking cities, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, executives

Shrinking to Survive? Demolition and Energy Transition in Small-Town France

Yoan Miot & Max Rousseau & translated by Oliver Waine — 2017-10-18T05:00:00Z

Faced with a process of advanced decline, public and private actors in the town of Vitry-le-François, in eastern France, have developed an original strategy built around the acceptance of their town's demographic decline. This strategy, focused on energy transition, shows that contexts of urban shrinkage can foster the emergence of alternatives to conventional business-redevelopment policies.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities Although urban shrinkage is still generally tackled through

- From the Field / deindustrialization, demolition, medium-sized cities, shrinking cities, urban decline, smart decline, smart shrinkage, Champagne-Ardenne, Grand Est, Vitry-le-François, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, energy transition, Champagne, Eastern France

Shrinking Cities in France: The Cumulative Effects of Decline

2017-10-04T05:00:00Z

In France, different shrinking cities have followed different trajectories. They nevertheless all have certain characteristics in common: specific types of ageing population, labour market and gender distribution that increasingly set them apart from growing cities, and could exacerbate their demographic decline in the medium term.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities Population decline currently concerns over a third of functional urban areas (FUAs) in mainland France and Corsica: using the zoning

- From the Field / France, deindustrialization, migration, population, shrinking cities, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, demographics, demography, fertility

Shrinking Networks, Growing Solidarities? How to Design a New Social and Territorial Contract

Daniel Florentin — 2017-09-27T05:00:00Z

Utilities operators in a number of European cities, faced with significant reductions in consumption levels across the networked infrastructures they run, are at the forefront of urban shrinkage management. Unlike numerous works describing a neoliberal process of territorial dislocation, Daniel Florentin demonstrates, through the case study of Magdeburg in Germany, that these dynamics of shrinking water and energy consumption can also foster new solidarities in the management of large technical

- From the Field / deindustrialization, energy, water, networks, utilities, urban public service, Germany, solidarity, shrinking cities, urban decline, Magdeburg, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, urban technical networks, urban services

From “Black City” to “Slum City”: The Importance of Image in Saint-Étienne

2017-09-20T05:00:00Z

In December 2014, an article in the French daily newspaper Le Monde painted a highly negative portrait of the city of Saint-Étienne, in south-eastern France, generating considerable controversy and intense mobilization. Vincent Béal, Christelle Morel Journel and Valérie Sala Pala place these reactions within the context of a long history of image-related stakes in local society and politics, and highlight the contrasting approaches adopted by inhabitants and local elites in response to the

- From the Field / France, media, image, Saint-Étienne, mobilization, shrinking cities, post-fordisme, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, stigma, stigmatization, post-Fordism

Urban Shrinkage in France: An Invisible Issue?

Rémi Dormois & Sylvie Fol & translated by Oliver Waine — 2017-09-13T05:00:00Z

Although the phenomenon of urban shrinkage affects a significant number of French towns and cities, it is an issue that has so far been the subject of no real debate or dedicated policy at national level. A series of interviews with some of the actors involved in urban policy in France sheds light on the reasons for this long-standing “oversight” – and also reveals signs that “low-pressure housing markets” and devitalized town centres may finally be making it on to the political agenda.
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- Essays / France, housing, housing policy, urban policy, urban renewal, deindustrialization, social housing, downtown, city centre, shrinking cities, urban decline, housing markets, urban shrinkage, devitalization, devitalization of town centres

American Shrinking Cities May Not Need to Grow

Deborah E. Popper & Frank J. Popper — 2017-04-25T05:00:00Z

Successful cities are expected to continually grow, and when this doesn't happen, city managers typically try to stimulate growth at all costs. But what if growth isn't the answer for shrinking cities? Deborah and Frank Popper argue instead for smart decline, where cities in difficulty accept their shortcomings and plan accordingly.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities For most of US history, cities were expected to grow, and they largely did. The nation celebrated economic growth, and cities were

- Essays / United States, Detroit, shrinking cities, urban decline, Buffalo, smart decline, growth, Youngstown, smart shrinkage

The Actually Existing Markets of Shrinking Cities

Joshua Akers — 2017-04-18T05:00:00Z

In a bid to halt urban decline, Michigan's state government sought to create incentives for the creation of urban homesteads by accelerating the tax-foreclosure process. But what happens when city and county administrations don't play ball—and what are their motivations for doing so? Joshua Akers examines the adverse effects of a market-centric public policy.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities In the late 1990s, the state of Michigan bet on markets and urban pioneers to reinvigorate its struggling

- From the Field / housing, Chicago, housing policy, Los Angeles, real estate, public policy, foreclosure, Detroit, evictions, Michigan, shrinking cities, urban decline, urban homesteading, housing markets, Flint, homestead