Lessons from U.S. rust belt cities for equitable low-growth futures

Walling, Dayne; Sadler, Richard C.; Lafreniere, Don

doi:10.1080/17535069.2021.1969730

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The comparison of the informal planning effort surrounding the Detroit Future City plan with the city's official initiatives demonstrates the challenges of enacting de-growth strategies within formalised planning structures. The findings from the literature also recognise how de-growth approaches are more likely to emerge from informal planning initiatives, observing examples of such efforts organised by community groups and civic networks in other Rust Belt cities (Walling et al, 2021).…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…However, as many cities have failed to reverse shrinkage, such an approach has not proven viable. The need to reframe it and develop more de-growth-focused strategies became evident, prompting local governments to explore alternative avenues (Pallagst et al, 2021;Walling et al, 2021). As an illustration, Schindler (2016) writes how public officials in Detroit abandoned the idea of pursuing economic growth in favour of stabilising the economy and improving the quality of life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Can Acceptance of Urban Shrinkage Shift Planning Strategies of Shrinking Cities From Growth to De-Growth?

Marjanović,

Sagot Better,

Lero

et al. 2024

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shrinking cities scholars claim that planning actors in the cities where shrinking is accepted are more likely to change the focus of planning strategy from pursuing growth to actively planning for de-growth. Considering this argument, this article investigates to what extent planning actors in shrinking cities seek solutions outside the dominant growth paradigm if they accept the reality of shrinkage. This is accomplished by examining the comprehensive plans of 18 shrinking cities in the Rust Belt area of the US and establishing relations between the interpretations of urban decline expressed in these planning documents and the resulting planning visions and strategies. The findings demonstrate that although planning actors in most analysed cases accepted urban shrinkage as a reality and adopted a vision of a smaller future city, they mainly devised strategies that facilitate growth. This suggests that urban planning may be far less impacted by specific interpretations of shrinkage, including acceptance, than what is popularly believed to be the case. Instead, growth remains a focal point of most planning efforts in shrinking cities, even when planning actors acknowledge it may not be realistically attainable.

show abstract

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%