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Essay, 23 pages (6000 words)

Shrinking of cities is a phenomenon history essay

Chapter-1

Introduction

Background

Shrinking of cities is a phenomenon that is gradually attracting attention from urban and regional planning researchers and practitioners all over the world. Much research has not been done in this area though and it can very well be termed as a blind spot that needs attention and it is only within last ten years that a body of inter and trans-disciplinary expertise on shrinkage has developed(Kabisch et al., 2006). German planners are the Harbingers of the current shrinking cities debate, and are expected to take it to a newer level in research. But the discussions taking place in Germany are centred on a German epistemic community, with little consideration of cities or scholars elsewhere. Nonetheless, efforts are being made to improve an international deliberation on this topic Pallagst (2008). A recent phase of shrinkage in cities started after 1945 and urban growth has been replaced by status and/or shrinkage processes in many countries. It is demonstrated in the Atlas of Shrinking Cities (Oswalt and Rieniets, 2006) that in the 1990s more than a quarter of the world’s metropolises shrank and that this will eagerly augment, regardless of the ongoing parallel urbanization development in many countries. Kabisch et al. states that despite having started in Europe’s old industrial regions like Northern England, the Scottish Clyde side or Lorraine, and the Rustbelt2 in Northern America, shrinkage affects city-regions throughout Europe and world-wide, including Eastern European, Japanese and South African cities.

Shrinking cities in the XX and XXI Century

Since 1900, the overall population of the world has grown at an unprecedented rate. This growth has put an enormous pressure on the resources availability for its sustenance. This pressure is considered to be one of the major factors for the economic crisis witnessed since September 2008. Though it is still not known for sure if this factor was indeed as prominent as we think, if this is true the we are in a downturn economic period and also in a stepping point for our society(Ayres, 2006; Heinberg, 2011). The most recent United Nations surveys predicts that for the next 100 years the growth rate of the World population will slow down strongly compared to the twentieth century population progression. The average annual growth rate will reduce by 47% if we compare the period between 1960/2000 and the high variant prediction for 2000/2100 (Nations, 2010). As per the United Nations this deceleration is predicted to occur heterogeneously, wherein the developed countries of the northern hemisphere will begin show the shrinkage and their relative demographic weight is expected to encounter a 25% cut, compared to the rest of world’s population until 2050. This can be observed in the number of cities with depopulation patterns since 1950, most prominently in many OCDE OECD countries, namely United States of America and Canada, several European countries and Japan. Phillip Oswalt (2008) tracked 350 cities worldwide suffering population declines, temporarily between 1950 and 2000 and mapped them.(Fig. 1)Fig. 1 . Shrinking Cities Worldwide In: Oswalt, P., 2008. Shrinking Cities. Berlin: Project Office Philipp Oswalt. This phenomenon was initially considered as an exception or at most a transitional phase but it can no longer be dismissed. Serious discussions on shrinking cities happened for the first time during the 1980s, when analyses started to be drawn for the same with works such as ” Urban Decline and the Future of American Cities” by Katherine Bradbury, et al (1982). Since then, discussions on the topic have seen light of the day and interest has been generated with research productions in the last decade. Wiechmann gave the definition of a shrinking city in 2007 which has been adopted by many authors investigating into this problem. The definition given was as follows: ” a densely populated urban area with a minimum population of 10, 000 residents that has faced population losses in large parts for more than two years and is undergoing economic transformations with some symptoms of a structural crisis.” (Wiechmann, 2007, p. 50).

The Shrinking City Concept

Cities throughout history have gone through cycles of growth and stagnation. Shrinking cities are characterized by a significant decline in population and economic activity (Oswalt 2005). The phenomenon of the shrinking city is global in scope and in recent years has begun to draw the attention of policymakers and planners who have started to view the shrinking city as presenting a set of unique challenges requiring alternative policy and planning strategies. Hollander, et al. (2009) reports that in the last 50 years, 370 cities worldwide with populations over 100, 000 have shrunk by at least 10%. Furthermore, many other cities in the U. S., Canada, Europe, and Japan are projected to see double-digit population declines in the future. Shrinking cities are also an emerging area of research, particularly in the United States. The term ” shrinking cities” has become well known in recent years as a result of the Shrinking Cities International (SCI) project, a research effort funded in part by the German government to look at the incidence of shrinking cities around the world (Axel-Lute 2007). In the United States, however, interest in shrinking cities is a much newer development as urban planning has traditionally focused on managing urban growth as opposed to decline. The propensity for planners to equate population loss as the acceptance of an unhealthy decline has also deterred research (Pallagst 2008, Hollander et al. 2009). Studying shrinking cities is important since this long-term trend seem unlikely to be reversed in the foreseeable future. As a result, traditional policy and planning strategies geared toward population growth may no longer be appropriate (Mallach and Brachman 2010). As such, Hollander, et al. (2009) notes that urban policymakers and planners must begin to view urban shrinkage as ” a unique position to reframe decline as opportunity: a chance to re-envision cities and to explore non-traditional approaches to their growth at a time when cities desperately need them.”

Research Scope

The main focus of the research is to identify the causes and results of the shrinkage of a city but it efforts will also be directed towards highlighting shrinkage as a positive or negative phenomenon. The literature for the shrinkage of the city is not as clear as it should be regarding urban development. The concept of an urban growth is expected to be directly proportional to the increase in population, but it is also very clear that just because of population decline the shrinkage of a city does not take place. This factor of population decrement emerges as an unexpected disease of city shrinking issue. There has to be a clear explanation regarding the role played by shrinkage that if this could also be taken as a positive aspect in a city urban development. A growth can be understood as a vertical or horizontal expansion, and the development should not be a consistent mode of city growth, but also try to change from one form to another, resulting in the new form to be more fresh and functional. Thus, there is a consideration that urban development can have several spatial demonstrations, such as growth, slow growth, stagnation and shrinkage. Although on the other side of the phase, compact form, dispersive character, sprawl and/or polycentrism, may also appear.

Limitations

Chapter- 2

Literature Study

The phenomenon of shrinking cities

The Institute of Urban and Regional Development at the University of California, Berkeley launched a worldwide group of interdisciplinary specialists in 2004, called the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCIRN) that gave the definition of shrinking cities as ” a densely populated urban area with a minimum population of 10, 000 residents that has faced population losses in large parts for more than two years and is undergoing economic transformations with some symptoms of a structural crisis.” (Wiechmann 2007). This definition has been accepted both for the United States as well as internationally. It was because of the post-industrial shift from manufacturing to service industries that many shrinking cities came into existence as a consequence of the resulting unemployment and outmigration. While suburbanization, war, natural or human-induced disasters, an aging or low-fertility rate population, and the dissolution of socialist systems can be counted in as other contributing factors specially in Eastern Europe and Russia. As a result of this ‘ shrinking’, many urban areas have been drained of their essential resources, leaving the cities in poor economic health. History of Shrinking cities can be traced deep into the past. If we consider the case of collapse of Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods several factors such as diseases, war, fire and recurrent agricultural crises left their mark on European and Asian cities that were never completely abandoned and usually got resettled with time. By the late 19th century, the period of industrialization and the development of railroads created larger cities (and regions), shrinking the already existing ones. If we study the situation today, the main European sites of shrinking cities are the post-socialist countries (Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and eastern Germany), the northern ones (Finland and Sweden), and the Mediterranean ones (Italy and Spain). It was only after World War II that large-scale shrinkage of large- and medium-sized cities became clear in the United States. Beauregard (2003) shows that between 1820 and 1930 only a few American cities lost population and all of them were ports. It is probable that their decline occurred either because of the growth of railways at other places/regions or disasters like fires or droughts. To fight the situation, conventional U. S. planning responses to shrinkage over the last half-century consist primarily of revitalization of distressed city centres. Despite the effort, shrinkage in the United States arises primarily from relative growth in the suburbs, which cuts off city growth and leads to decline. While all of this is happening, American urban planning continue to concentrate on either managing urban growth or addressing redevelopment in a fragmented and non-regional way that shows trends contrary to shrinkage. Even though there has been increase in popularity of the revitalization approach (usually focused narrowly on city centres), shrinking cities has never been an active topic of discussion(Popper and Popper 2002, Pallagst and Wiechmann 2005).

Shrinking Cities Origin

The term shrinking cities comes from the German term ” schrumpfende Städte”(” Shrinking Cities”). Thus, it is very possible to talk about shrinking cities in a German context. This German deliberation covers the linguistic development of the term and also the idea of comprehensively presenting different kinds of urban decline into one united term. This focuses much on the demographical decline of Germany. Shrinking cities refer to cities with a declining demography and/or a declining economy due to a variety of reasons. This decline creates a surplus of built structures, which makes the city get fragmented and become remnants in the future. One of the first mentions of city shrinkage in a German context subject can to be found in the book New Urban from 1987 by Hartmut Haeussermann and Walter Siebel. In one of the first contributions to a debate on the phenomenon can be found in this book. They elaborate on the decline by discussing the relation between growing, stagnating and shrinking cities. The debate about shrinking cities can further be studied in their paper ” Die schrumpfende Stadt und die Stadtsoziologie”(” The shrinking city and urban sociology”) from 1988. In this paper Haeussermann and Siebel, have discussed the structural changes of the 70s and 80s de-industrialization processes and the effect it had on the industrial cities in the form of shrinkage. It is here that Haeussermann and Siebel talk about that a new object – shrinking cities that seemed to have entered the city-sociology. They further establish that even though the shrinking city does not look very different from a growing city it would develop a certain economic, social and cultural profile (Haeussermann and Siebel 1988). This new object is observed in the context of negative urban growth that has been experienced since 1970s especially by industrial sites in West Germany. As a consequence there was substantial loss of workplaces and population. Haeussermann and Siebel provide us with two main causes for this development. First cause according to them is suburbanization which means that inner-city areas decline at the expense of growing areas in the periphery, whereas other areas experience decline due to depletion of their industrial basis, which gives them a less favourable developmental perspective (Haeussermann and Siebel 1988). In recent years, the German Shrinking Cities project has taken the context of ” Schrumpfende Städte”(” Shrinking cities”) and translated it into the English term shrinking cities entering the former debate into a broad context influencing the international urban planning scene. Thereby, the topic of shrinkage came to world’s notice and has attained renewed focus and awareness, highlighting the need to comprehend research and mitigate urban shrinkage.

Shrinkage in Europe and the United States

The causes of shrinkage in Europe are found to be more complex and overlapping to some extent. After the socialist movement, changes in economic patterns led to migration (e. g., eastern Germany, much of the rest of Eastern Europe, and Russia). This kind of migration usually favours the capital or larger cities, causing population decline in remote and peripheral cities. This is also happening in much of northern Europe. To magnify the problem, many European countries have low birth rates — as in Germany, where population decline and economic change amplify each other. C: UsersharatDesktopUntitled-1. jpgSchilling and Logan (2008) define shrinking cities in the United States as a group of older industrial cities that have experienced significant and sustained population loss (amounting to a loss of 25% or more) since the middle of the 20th century. Based on this definition, half of the 20 largest cities in the United States in 1950 are now shrinking cities: Table : Shrinking Cities in the U. S. 1950 Rank by PopulationCity1950 Population2010 Population% Change in Population2012 Population2Chicago, IL3, 620, 9622, 695, 598-25%2, 707, 1203Philadelphia, PA2, 071, 6051, 526, 006-26. 30%1, 547, 6075Detroit, MI1, 849, 568713, 777-61. 40%706, 5856Baltimore, MD949, 708620, 961-34. 60%621, 3427Cleveland, OH914, 808396, 815-56. 60%393, 8068St. Louis, MO856, 796319, 294-62. 70%318, 1729Washington, DC802, 178601, 723-25. 00%632, 32312Pittsburgh, PA679, 806305, 704-54. 80%307, 48415Buffalo, NY580, 132261, 310-55. 00%261, 02516New Orleans, LA570, 445343, 829-39. 70%369, 250Source: U. S. Census BureauScholars have noted a definite pattern among shrinking cities in the United States. Characterized by the post-industrial decline of major urban centres that leads to a ” hollowing out” of city centres, shrinking accelerated in the years after World War II as city residents migrated to outlying suburban areas (Hollander, et al. 2009, Pallagst 2008). This pattern of development known as urban sprawl created a situation in which suburban areas continued to grow, but at the expense of growth in cities. One of the few studies to analyze the history of urban population loss, Beauregard’s (2009) research highlights the specific aspects of shrinkage. The author notes that urban areas in the U. S. have faced significant population growth from 1820 through 1920. This was immediately followed by a process of heavy population loss that began in the 1950s and continues through the present day. Furthermore, incidences of urban population loss are concentrated in the Rust Belt, a region which Beauregard (2009) characterizes as stretching from Maine to Maryland, Ohio to Nebraska, and Minnesota to Kansas. Finally, there are several key factors contributing to urban population loss, which are discussed further.

Causes and effects of shrinkage in a historical perspective

Apprehension the current phenomenon of shrinking cities starts with a probe of the relevant developments in urban history. The intent of this section is to render a circumstance of shrinkage through history.

The rise and fall of ancient cities

Human settlements have at all times apprehended with certainty the modification of booming periods with periods of decline. Even in pre-industrial times many cities faced a gradual decline of population. Oswalt & Rieniets (2006) created a historical map that furnishes a general summary of this pre-industrial urban shrinkage. It results out that the shrinkage of cities in ancient times was preponderantly the consequence of five types of causes:- Wars.- The loss of significance.- City fires.- Natural disasters.- EpidemicsEach category in this classification of causes of pre-industrial urban shrinkage is briefly elucidated below and in order to emphasize the historical engraftedness of urban shrinkage, a list of some examples of pre-industrial shrinkage is provided in the box below.

Wars

Throughout history war has mostly been a force causing destruction that resulted in the indirect or direct prostration of cities. Vehement destruction causes many deaths and other human ruefulness, which inexpertly means a direct decline of the population. Indirect urban shrinkage due to wars does for example occur when cities are inhibited or detached by a new ruler. Refugee flows are likely to leave the city, especially when the new ruler refuses to keep indispensable urban requirements. A dramatic example is the prostration of Angkor, which lost 100 percent of its once 1 million inhabitants. In 1431 the Khmer was forced to establish a new location of their capital due to a subjugation by the Thai who henpecked the western regions of Cambodia. This resulted in calamitous floods and droughts, which was fateful to the production of rice. Due to these developments the capability of normal growth and development of the city vanished very rapidly and in the late 1400s all inhabitants of Angkor had left the city (Herresthal 2006a).

Loss of significance

Economic, financial or political implication often leads to prospering urban centres. Especially in ancient times, the modern nation-state was not yet developed and cities were the most powerful entities according to trading routes and political power. The economic and political power of dioceses, cities, duchies and other independent entities remained prevalent even within great empires like the Roman Empire. These junctions prevailed until approximately 1500, the year after which Europe slightly started to develop territorial states (Taylor & Flint 2000: 153 – 163). Oswalt & Rieniets (2006) stated several ancient cities that shrunk due to the loss of their political or economic importance (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27). One of these examples is Bruges, which lost its substantial power in the circumstance of the complex European political history.. Political agitation as a outcome of the declining wool industry attenuated the power of Bruges. Economic as well as political ascendance of the region was now located in Antwerp. At the end of the sixteenth century Bruges had lost around 60% (around 60, 000 people) of its population compared to the glory days in the late fifteenth century (Schirmel 2006).

City fires

A third reason of urban shrinkage in ancient times is city fires that took the lives of many people in urban history. Likewise that, city fires damaged important buildings like churches, libraries and political centres. The reconstruction of a city takes many years, especially in times of ancient building techniques. An example is the ” Great fire of London” in 1666, which took place only a year after around 100, 000 dwellers of London lost their lives due to an epidemic eruption of the plague. The city fire continued for four days and scourged around 80% of the mainly wooden London City. The reconstruction process led to a significantly different spatial balance, which in the end also conveyed positive aspects like a new financial centre around the new ‘ Bank of England’ (founded in 1694 by William Paterson). The city of London redeemed completely and is now a global power in the world economy (Jokinen 2001).

Natural disasters

Just like wars and city fires the wallop of natural disasters on the capability of normal growth and development of a city can be catastrophic. In history earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions devastated several urban centres. An example is the city of Istanbul that is well known for its complex urban history. As a result of its imperative location Istanbul (or in early times Byzantium and Constantinople) matured into an important economic and cultural centre. Several emperors circumvented the city and Istanbul did oftentimes recovered from sieges and wars. However, another important fulmination of Istanbul is the seismological activity that loaded the city with earthquakes every 120 to 150 years. One of the most conspicuous earthquakes took place on the 10th of September 1509. About 5, 000 people were killed and the physical affliction was colossal. Many houses were devastated just like hundreds of buildings of cultural and religious significance. Istanbul was reconstructed (on command of Sultan Beyazit II) but the seismological activity remains an abiding threat to the city whose buildings are mostly not able to confront an earthquake (Rieniets 2006b).

Epidemics

The commotion of an epidemic fervently endangers an urban centre, especially in cities with begrimed living conditions. In the pre-industrial stage various cities agonized from the (bubonic) plague, or ” black death”. An example is the eruption of the plague in Riga in 1710. In ancient times Riga developed into a significant trading city as it profited from its imperative location. However, the collision between Sweden and Russia, which concluded in the Great Northern War (1700 – 1721), afflicted the city. In amalgamation with the break-up of the war, the eruption of the plague in 1710 had a destructive effect. On a total of around 10, 500 dwellers, Riga lost about 61% of its population in a time frame of one year (Herresthal 2006b). However, Riga was able to recover from its unfortunate situation and gain from international trade. The population of Riga incremented rapidly after the war and attained the number of 20, 000 in 1767, which is a doubling of the number of dwellers before the plague grieved the city (Herresthal 2006b). Information taught from these ancient instances is that growth and shrinkage cannot be seen autonomously. Cities rise and cities fall. In the pre-industrial age the reasons of urban shrinkage were mainly devastative: wars, city fires, natural disasters and epidemics. The loss of important economic and/or political power, consistently caused by the above-mentioned devastative forces, position a bit alongside of these devastating causes of urban shrinkage. With a glance on the ages of industrialisation and de-industrialisation, particularly the loss of economic importance will prove to be a appropriate factor of urban shrinkage. This will be elucidated in the next section. This box provides an insight in the numerous examples of preindustrial urban shrinkage. It is important to notice that urban shrinkage is not a new phenomenon and these examples emphasise that even the greatest cities of the present have faced periods of decline. This historical timeline is sorted by the five categories of preindustrial shrinkage, Wars: Troy (1200 BC), Jerusalem (587 BC, 135 BC), Mycenae (468 BC, 3rd century BC), Rome (390 BC), Carthage (149 – 146 BC), Pergamum (133 BC), Petra (31 AD), Palermo (5th century AD), Timgad (5th century AD), Nineveh (612 AD), Kalach/Nimrud (614 AD), Baalbek (634 AD), Babylon (689 AD), Haithabu (1050 AD), Chizén Itzá (1200 AD), Baghdad (1258 AD), Mayapán (1450 AD) and Tenochtitlán (1519 AD) (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27). Loss of significance: Ur (1950 BC), Knossos (1628 – 1520 BC), Jericho (1250 BC), Hatussa (1200 BC), Mohenjo-Daro (1200 BC), Thebes (715 – 332 BC), Priene (4th century BC), Memphis (320 BC), Alexandria (206 BC), Gordium (200 BC), Ostia (3rd century AD), Rome (324 AD, 1347 AD), Baalbek (4th century AD), Damascus (7th – 13th century AD), Petra (747 AD), Córdoba (8th – 15th century AD), Copán (820 AD), Paestum (9th century), Tikal (9th century AD), Baghdad (10th century AD), Pergamum (1453 AD), Venice (15th – 17th century AD), Macchu Pichu (after 1500 AD), Timbuktu (16th and 17th century AD), Palermo (1848 AD) and Potosí (19th century AD) (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27). City fires: Rome (64 AD) and Uppsala (1702 AD) (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27). Natural disasters: Pompeii (79 AD), Petra (363 AD, 551 AD), Thera (17th century AD), Baalbek (17th and 18th century AD) and Lisbon (1755 AD) (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27). Epidemics: Syracuse (728 AD), Astrakhan (1346 AD), Genoa (1347 AD), Messina (1347 AD), Marseille (1347 AD, 1720 AD), Gdansk (1427 AD), Paris (1466 AD), Rome (1527 AD), Moscow (1570 AD), Lyon (1572 AD), Venice (1576 AD), London (1603 AD, 1625 AD, 1665 AD) and Naples (1665 AD) (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 26 – 27; 34).

Causes for urban shrinkage

Cities have always been either growing or declining. Wars, epidemics and natural disasters have earlier accrued in the decline or at worst, the downfall of cities. Today wars and natural-disasters are still causes for cities to shrink. But in the last decades several reasons have come up on the scene, concluding in the shrinkage of cities. Apart from above reasons, the German shrinking cities project characterize four reasons that can be exemplified as the main reasons for post world War II urban shrinkage; these are: de-industrialization, change of urban structures (de-centralization and sub-urbanization), demographic changes (birth rates etc.) andpolitical changes (post-socialism) (Oswalt 2006). In addition, the above exhibit that the term urban shrinkage is, thus, a long lasting course of action which has been under way for quite some time; it is not just a phenomenon emerging in the last 10 years, even though there is a restored limelight on the phenomenon, in recent years. This signifies that the shrinking of areas is not a entirely surprising or variable incident. This phenomenon has been seen at least in the last four decades in North America and the part of Europe, where it was mainly generated by de-industrialization, in the beginning (Christi ne Hannemann 2003). But since 1990 (with the fall of the Berlin Wall) there has also been a rise in the materialization of shrinkage in the former communist countries in Eastern Europe(Shrinking Cities 2004-2008).

De-industrialization

One banal character is that globalization has an important impact on the growth of shrinking cities; many of the reasons for shrink are side-effects of the elevating globalization and neo-liberalization and the evolution from the industrialized society to the propaganda and knowledge-based society. For some cities, the globalization course of action has resulted in the loss of employment opportunities due to the post-industrial shift from manufacturing to service industries and the move of industries to areas where the cost of labour is considerably lower, which has concluded in an additional relocation of the population. Erstwhile industrialized cities are noted by a deteriorating industry that results in a migration of the population.

Change of Urban Structures

Another determinant which clarifies the decline of some areas is the change in urban structures, which means the elevated consolidation into huge urban collection combined with an increased suburbanization. An increased centralization of the urban is taking place, creating huge mega-poles that are depleting necessary asset and resources from other urban areas, leaving the remaining cities with an ever-attenuating monetary base (The Shrinking Cities Group 2005-2008). Further Deindustrialization in Detroit, the increased sub-urbanization courses of action comprise another changed urban structure in which the centre of the city is deserted in trade for a life in the suburbs. Sub-urbanization does not indicate a total loss of dwellers but more a move away from the city-centre to the urban outskirts. This means that shrinking is entrenched in a larger course of action of growth. This kind of urbanization can be distinguished as a doughnut, with the empty city centre encircled by growing urban sprawl.

Political Changes

The change in the earlier socialist countries to post-socialism which, for example, took place in the former USSR and in Eastern Germany is surrogate reason for shrinking. Here, both the market and the political system bartered overnight, with considerable economical problems and a diminution in the population as a repercussion. The changes have concluded in the closure of Government owned companies and public institutions, compelling high unemployment and contraction in service with further migration from the East to the West, as an after effect.

Demographical Changes

A concluding determinant is the decline in birth rates, where the western countries are encountering a constant birth rate or one imperceptibly below the mortality rate. For example, Europe does not bequeath to the increase of the world’s population; the egression of young people pursuing opportunities in another place, both because the cities they live in are declining and there are no jobs opportunities for them in those cities, but also in the search for education and jobs in common, is bequeathing to the shrinkage of cities. Finally, the population in the western part of the world is ageing, due to the low birth rates, and the average age is high, particularly in the shrinking cities.

The Types of Shrinking

The consequence of industrialisations and de-industrialisation introduced several new elements to urban development as well as shrinking. A huge alteration in urbanism and its growth needs an adjusting typological strategy for reasons and results of the shrinking. According to Oswalt & Rieniets (2006) there are 4 categorised reasons for the shrinking of a city: Destruction, Loss, Shifting, Changes (Oswalt & Rieniets 2006: 39 – 127). As a result it gave an illogical junction and distinction of economy, demography, political and social-cultural developments into 4 categories which will be discussed later on. A brief description of categories are mentioned below: Economic development: According to some theorists, the world economy shifted to a network economy during de-industrialisation and thus finally resulted in the origin of shrinkage of cities. There has been a time for the cities during urbanisation that the city followed the path of increasing job opportunities in industrial areas but after sometime the same cities suffered lost their existence in the global economic competitions. It has been experienced that the economic value of a region is highly affected by de-industrialisation as well as world level fight for existence. Taking example of a social economical practice of labour involvement amongst females and migration of the population. Demographic trends: Basically the reason for the shrinking of a city is considered to be the demographical change of an area. Although, at one place economy fluctuate the demographical scale, the other reason is the several demographic trends for the downfall in the number of population. Ageing: Demographic changes completely depend on the area’s birth rate and the death rate. If there is any fluctuation in the above written rates, it can result in the ageing factor that finally concludes the shrinking process of a city. The declination in birth rate directly effects the educational arrangements made with the consideration of future growth. Also the earning is decreased although the price of education never changes. Selective Migration: Several analysis of any migration done from a city to another includes some interesting groups for example family along with kids searching for a comfortable, habitable society which should include facilities for primary education, university level education and most importantly a fair employment for high educated population. The migration of such groups may show a loss of number in labour group of the city. On the other hand immigration may result into the increment of incoming of refugees and skilled labours. But this process may result in some social complications for example integrating with the citizens of the area. Political Developments: The transformation by political declaration of several issues for example democracy, decolonisation, etc. helps in huge modification in a growth of a gid urbanism. Socio-cultural factors: The above described issue of selective migration shows that there is a huge requirement of residential facilities and public services. This requirement is further effected by socio-cultural factors such as individual interests and variation in living style and preference to the type of house. To fulfil these needs, the planners were advised to take the concept of green housing, in which the higher class families are given grand facilities, which again fails the idea and requires a lot of effort to balance the integration of the society. There are also some other factors, not so highlighted but important factors for the fluctuation in demographic scale such as the after results of wars, natural and ecological calamities and epidemic diseases. These factors showed up in pre-industrial period of urban shrinking. The cities facing industrial revolute ion also got the side effects of the above factors and resulted in the shrinking of the cities. Vanishing and unavailability of natural resources may also have a bad impression on the counting of residing people. For example New Orleans, which was hit by hurricane Katrina and an additional flood in August 2005. 1, 200 people were killed, and the hurricane destroyed about 66 percent of the circa 145, 000 houses. 500, 000 people had to escape the city and it is predicted that only 50 percent of them will return (Fontenot & Herresthal 2006).

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URBAN GROWTH AND DECLINE

In Greece, Rome and Byzantium, the processes of urban development and its turning down is not new, where innovations and destructions of these kind of cities were characteristics of the civilisation. Therefore, there has always been a change in the cities between growth and decline. There has always been an imbalance in towns, which are apt to rapid development when in prosperous conditions and to stagnation or compression when these conditions change. They can be measured on basis of economic change hardly still for long time. Therefore, change in relations between political and economic power in places have always made an uneven geography and a reconstituting of urban(Storper 1989).

THE MOVE FROM RURAL AREAS TO CITY AND THE DISCOVERY OF PLANNING

The late 1800 shift from an agricultural society to industrial society has been the major influence on the urban form, moving into the era of industrialization. During this time period capitalism and urbanism were connected, hence, the industrial city was connected to the industrial economy. This era was characterized by mass-production, the assembly –line and growth in welfare and mass-consumption, so was also depicted as ‘ modernization’. The duration of industrialization developed in different stages. The manufacturing plants were located in rural areas making textiles and metal products in the beginning of the industrial era. These manufacturing plants had the locations nearer to the raw materials which were used for the production. The cities originated in these areas, they developed quickly of the production was mixed with the trade possibility. For instance, Manchester is such a city which is sometimes considered as the world’s first industrial city. During 18th century, Manchester rose as a focal point for fabrication of and trade with cotton, from where the city derives the name ‘ Cottonpolis’. Many technological innovations were made in Manchester to increase the production of cotton. The city moved into a new phase from these inventions(Hohenberg 1985). The cities felt vast transformations due to this raised industrialization, where urban concentrations took place because of the industrial changes. The cities started developing, some of them a lot and rest not much, usually this era is characterised by both physical and economic growth of the cities. Even so, few cities could not adjust to these new ways of production and hence, experienced deindustrialization. For instance, the linen industry in Ireland broke down in the mid of 19th century. Nevertheless, this entire scene indicated exponential rates of growth. In order to get employed and work in the manufacturing industries people travelled from rural areas to the cities, manufacturing largely cotton, iron, textiles and steam driven machinery. This huge immigration to the cities lead to the high densities.

TRANSFORMATION FROM INDUSTRIALIZATION TO GLOBALIZATION

The powerful industrial countries were going through hard times in the 1970’s and as it approaches mid 1970’s the world economy had gone into its steepest fall since the Great Depression. Several industrial cities stopped developing and several inner cities started declining due to structural modifications in the economy. This turned into long time period of de-industrialization and not just a passing phase. The manufacturing plants were becoming more effective. New technologies and new demands came forth which originated the new economy making a new world order. The economy based on manufacturing with principles as such assembly line and the blue collar-workers transformed into knowledge based economy targeting on white-collar workers, knowledge and service. Edward W. Soja, a political geographer and urban planner, said that an urban restructuring began as a result of transformation from the industrial capitalist city to the post-industrial or information age city. This restructuring is a prime transformation away from the structures and logics of what Soja calls urban-industrial capitalism. A new era of capitalism gradually emerged in the late 1970’s – the globalization era. The oil crisis of 1970; s and the fall of the Berlin wall were also responsible for the development, apart from the transformation from manufacturing industry to knowledge based businesses. The growth of IT sectors and telecommunication technologies have eventually made the globalization the overall developmental guidelines for present day societies.

GROWTH AND DECLINE IN RELATION

This growth into slippery and awkward spaces shows that the emerging technological landscape has an uneven geography, with an inclination for the big metropolitan cities to keep growing and turn into entirely dominating. This makes the break between the mega-poles and the surrounding areas which are left behind. Graham sees a need for rethinking: ” the relationship between so called global cities and the traditional idea of the hinterland”. Despite the fact that Saskia Sassen(1991) majorly talks about global growing city regions, She also says how the contraction of few cities leads to the development of others. Sassen says that growth and decline are linked to each other. Growth and decline can be seen as an interactive organism characterized by an ever changing dynamic process between growth and decline. Hence, growth and decline cannot be indicated as two separate forms but can instead be shown as two prospects of globalization, depending on each other. This means that growth and shrinkage can be understood as a multi dimensional bipolar process. Decline seems to be a flipside of growth and development depending on the scale and scope of views. This development is going to increase, as it seems to be, in the future and it is not very likely for the growth and shrinkage to vanish.

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