Shrinking Cities
New Consensus in Detroit Behind Shrinking
The mayor, non-profits and a growing section of Detroit residents are getting behind the idea of making Detroit smaller by demolishing buildings and cutting off dead sections of the city.
Families and Children Fleeing Cleveland
As Cleveland, Ohio has lost population over the last decade, a disproportionate number of those leaving town are families with children. Today, only 10% of the city's population is nuclear families.
Can Mass Demolitions Save Detroit?
In this video report from CNN, Detroit politicians and residents voice both opposition and support for the plan to demolish up to 3,000 abandoned homes and densify remaining housing.
Shrinking Cities: Urban Renewal Revisited?
The theory that shrinking ailing cities is going to cure them is unproven and wrongheaded, says Roberta Brandes Gratz -- and is fueled by the same forces behind the urban renewal practices of the mid-20th century.
Solution for Shrinking Cities: Art and Parks
After unification, many East German towns began losing jobs and population. In 2003, the government formed a group to study how these cities could best recover. The results are in.
Is My City Shrinking?
Justin B. Hollander at Tufts University looks at the increasing shrinkage of cities like Flint, Michigan and Youngstown, Ohio and the myriad strategies these cities are taking to shrink effectively.
Detroit Makes Big Hire to Aid Downsizing
Urban planning expert Toni Griffin has been recruited to help Detroit downsize and recover -- thanks to an infusion of money from a private philanthropic foundation.
Mayor Bing Says It's Time to Downsize Detroit
"If we don't do it, you know this whole city is going to go down," said the Mayor. A new study by the mayor's staff shows that roughly one in three parcels are vacant lots or abandoned homes.
Detroit Mayor Warms to Downsizing
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is reportedly open to the idea of downsizing the city, and is looking for other fresh ideas to help the city's economy return to a sustainable place.
On Remaking Shrinking Cities
This week's Smart City features discussions with Harvard economist Ed Glaeser about shrinking cities, and with urban design critic Randy Gragg about interactive art and urban design projects.
Next Steps for Shrinking Cities: Results of the Planetizen Brainstorm
Bulldoze? Densify? Walk away? There are many ways cities can react to shrinking populations and abandoned neighborhoods. Planetizen readers decide which ways are the best.
Brainstorm: Can Cities Shrink Gracefully? Should They? How?
As the recession digs in, cities across the country are left with large swaths of abandoned or vacant places. Can these cities shrink gracefully? Do they even need to? Vote on ideas submitted by the Planetizen community, or suggest your own.
Against the Bulldozer
Struggling cities are increasingly looking at the idea of bulldozing vacant properties and "shrinking". But two columnists argue it might not be such a good idea.
Making Do with Shrunken Cities
Population shrinkage in cities like Flint, Michigan can be the perfect opportunity to employ 'smart decline' to make such cities denser and more livable.
Shrinking Cities, On Purpose
Flint, Michigan is another ailing city that is considering demolishing entire neighborhoods and returning them to nature as a way to save the rest of the city from blight.
Shrinking City Planning
Detroit's population is rapidly declining, but the answer to revitalizing the city may lie in part in urban farming.
A Shrinking City is Not a Failed City
Once New Orleans comes to terms with the fact that it is a shrinking city, the city's culture and geographic location can help bring it back.
Taking The “Short View” On Shrinking Cities
I’m not basing this quick observation on any specific historical research or book, so bear with me. Cities grow and shrink; in effect they change rapidly (although sometimes it doesn’t seem rapidly enough and at other times all too rapidly). Where we operate in that continuum I think shapes much of how we see our role as professionals. Planning to address either shrinking cities or growing ones can seem, at times, like totally different professions. A colleague of mine remarked that planning for shrinking cities is definitely a niche market. With so much discussion surrounding growth and how we grow, there is much less dialog that defines the opposite.
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