Managing Population Decline in Europe's Urban and Rural Areas

Hospers, Gerrit J.; Reverda, Nol

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12412-4

Cited by 50 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Here, resources should be seen not only in the physical sense (for example: finances and infrastructure), but also in social terms. Social aspects have a fundamental impact on an area [4,14,15,[46][47][48] and as such are equally relevant in the urban shrinkage discussion. Some attention has been paid to the social aspects of urban shrinkage [15,41,45].…”

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social aspects have a fundamental impact on an area [4,14,15,[46][47][48] and as such are equally relevant in the urban shrinkage discussion. Some attention has been paid to the social aspects of urban shrinkage [15,41,45]. For example, Cortese, Haase, Grossmann, and Ticha [45] point to two major problems confronting shrinking cities in their social development: ageing and the brain drain, on the one hand, and socio-spatial differentiation (a concentration of disadvantaged people in certain areas), on the other.…”

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach contributes to the identification and exploitation of local resources [17,49]. However, it is important to note that shrinkage can weaken, or even dissolve, social networks in an area [15] due, for example, to out-migration.…”

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forrest and Kearns [71] offer aspects of social capital that are relevant to the urban context: resources (such as trust and belonging) as well as empowerment and participation (in formal and informal activities). Based on these indicators, and Colantonio and Dixon's [65] and Bramley and Power's [62] indicators of social sustainability [72] as well as studies looking at social capital in the context of shrinking, [15,17,18,46] we identify three social capital indicators in the context of shrinking: resources, empowerment, and participation (Figure 1). Obviously, in real life, these indicators overlap and impact each other.…”

Section: Social Capital Measurement and Indicators In The Context Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These aspects [13] contribute to sustainability in shrinking cities, but so far have received limited attention [14][15][16]. Some studies on the social aspects of urban shrinkage focus on the importance of social capital as a resource for maintaining quality of life in an area [17,18] but most of the literature focuses on examples of good practice in civic action [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Searching for Social Sustainability: The Case of the Shrinking City of Heerlen, The Netherlands

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shrinkage is a relevant phenomenon for many cities and this trend is predicted to continue in the future. Although urban shrinkage is well recognized in academic discourse, little research has been undertaken on its social aspects. This paper explores the concept of social capital in the context of urban shrinkage and elaborates on how it contributes to social sustainability in shrinking cities. After defining the concepts, we identify resources, empowerment, and participation as key indicators of social capital in the context of urban shrinkage. The paper analyzes these indicators in the shrinking, old industrial city of Heerlen, the Netherlands, based on 24 in-depth interviews with citizens, policy-makers, and entrepreneurs, as well as secondary data. The findings reveal the prominence of three interrelated issues: the importance of local culture, subjective experiences of shrinkage, and a lack of trust between citizens and politicians. We conclude that social capital can facilitate social sustainability in the context of urban shrinkage. However, trust and empowerment are not guaranteed in a shrinking context. In shrinking cities more investments should be made to foster cooperation between civil society and politics and the development of mutual trust.

show abstract

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shrinking Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Capital Measurement and Indicators In The Context Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Searching for Social Sustainability: The Case of the Shrinking City of Heerlen, The Netherlands

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

An ecological perspective for analysing rural depopulation and abandonment

Lloret,

Escudero,

Lloret

et al. 2024

People and Nature

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Population loss in rural areas is rapidly increasing in high‐income countries, raising concerns and debate, given its socio‐economic consequences. Despite the evident environmental dimension of the phenomenon, ecological knowledge has been neglected in the analysis of actions aiming to reverse rural depopulation. Particularly, cultural landscapes reflect memories of ecological processes that have configured current patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on ecological principles, we present a conceptual procedure to assess the behaviour of social–ecological systems subjected to depopulation, projecting their expected trajectories through time within a framework defined jointly by demographic and environmental–ecological dimensions (in our case, biodiversity, carbon storage, pollution control, water resources and soil conservation). We applied this procedure to various alternative interventions designed to confront depopulation in Spain: (1) non‐intervention, (2) maintenance of the historical landscape configuration, (3) active conservation, (4) extensive, sustainable land use and (5) intensified land use. We conclude that extensive, sustainable land use better optimizes criteria of demographic consolidation, environmental impact, resilience and implementation of actions confronting depopulation. We highlight the need to incorporate ecological knowledge into the assessment and application of actions confronting rural depopulation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

show abstract

Demographic and Economic Change in Small Towns in New Zealand and the Responses to Marginalisation

Nel

Stevenson

2019

Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Managing Population Decline in Europe's Urban and Rural Areas

Cited by 50 publications

References 0 publications

Searching for Social Sustainability: The Case of the Shrinking City of Heerlen, The Netherlands

Searching for Social Sustainability: The Case of the Shrinking City of Heerlen, The Netherlands

An ecological perspective for analysing rural depopulation and abandonment

Demographic and Economic Change in Small Towns in New Zealand and the Responses to Marginalisation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About