The governance of urban shrinkage in cities of post-socialist Europe: policies, strategies and actors

Shrinking Cities in Post‐socialist Europe: What Can We Learn From Their Analysis for Theory Building Today?

“…the following paragraphs summarize the main insights from our research that have been published in more detail elsewhere couch et al 2012;rink et al 2014;Haase et al 2016).…”

“…When we consider the geographies of shrinkage in europe in more detail, it becomes obvious that, currently, most shrinking cities can be found in eastern europe. In other words, the majority of large cities in the former state socialist countries have been affected by population loss -either in a moderate but constant way or in the form of dramatic, rapid losses as was the case, for example, in eastern Germany in the 1990s (Mykhnenko and turok 2008;rink 2011;Kabisch et al 2012;Haase et al 2016).…”

“…Many of the post-socialist cities fell into shrinkage after 1989; others started to shrink earlier but population losses accelerated after 1989. consequently, shrinkage can be interpreted as a more or less direct response to the changes brought about by the 1989 political turnaround with its far-reaching economic and social consequences (Mykhnenko and turok 2008, p. 332). the fundamental and dramatic change of urban population development and population movements occurred as the result of an overlap between different processes: a sharp drop in birth rates, suburbanization, and out-migration (abroad and, in the case of eastern Germany after unification: westward) that was a consequence of economic decline and job losses (Stanilov 2007;Sýkora 2009;tsenkova 2009;rink 2011;Steinführer et al 2010;Haase et al 2011). during the period of state socialism, population losses were not an issue of public debate, for ideological reasons, although they were occurring in many regions within the respective countries. Since the pathway of growth was thought of as inherent to state socialist development, shrinkage could not be seen as anything other than as a contradiction to the intended development (Kovács 1999;Sailer-Fliege 1999).…”

“…Shrinkage, in some cases, was a direct consequence of transformation (and the related economic decline, job-related out-migration, as well as breakdown in birth rates, evolving suburbanization, etc.). In other cases, however, it worked as a catalyst within the framework of the post-socialist transformation in that already existing processes, such as decline in birth rates or out-migration from economically stagnating regions, increased in their speed and scope (Steinführer et al 2010;rink 2011…”

Ageing Core-City and Rejuvenated Suburbia: Evidence From Riga, 2000-2016

“…Many studies on urban shrinkage and post-socialist transition usually conclude that these aspects have complex interlinkages [Couch et al 2012]. The concept of multiple transformations can be used as a way of explaining the postsocialist urban transition, especially temporal and spatial dynamics of demographic change and its implications on policy, planning and regional development [Sýkora, Bouzarovski 2012;Rink et al 2014] Similar to other CEE countries, in Latvia suburban development has contributed to demographic differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. Current demographic trends have raised the concern that an ageing population may increase demographic polarisation at both local and regional level.…”