This book offers an essential introduction to the phenomenon of shrinking cities in China, highlighting several case studies, qualitative and quantitative methods, and planning responses. As an emerging topic in urbanizing China, cities experiencing population loss have begun attracting increasing attention. All chapters of the book were contributed by leading researchers on the subject in China. Richly illustrated with photographs for a better visual understanding of the topic, the book will benefit a broad readership, ranging from researchers and students of urban planning, urban geography, urban economics, urban sociology and urban design, to practitioners in the areas of urban planning and design.

This book examines a rapidly emerging new topic in urban settlement patterns: the role of shrinking cities. Much coverage is given to declining fertility rates, ageing populations and economic restructuring as the factors behind shrinking cities, but there is also reference to resource depletion, the demise of single-company towns and the micro-location of environmental hazards. The contributions show that shrinkage can occur at any scale – from neighbourhood to macro-region - and they consider whether shrinkage of metropolitan areas as a whole may be a future trend. Also addressed in this volume is the question of whether urban shrinkage policies are necessary or effective. The book comprises four parts: world or regional issues (with reference to the European Union and Latin America); national case studies (the United States, India, China, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Romania and Estonia); city case studies (Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Naples, Belfast and Halle); and broad issues such as the environmental consequences of shrinking cities. This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners working in the fields of urban studies, economic geography and public policy.

The shrinking city phenomenon is a multidimensional process that affects cities, parts of cities or metropolitan areas around the world that have experienced dramatic decline in their economic and social bases. Shrinkage is not a new phenomenon in the study of cities. However, shrinking cities lack the precision of systemic analysis where other factors now at work are analyzed: the new economy, globalization, aging population (a new population transition) and other factors related to the search for quality of life or a safer environment. This volume places shrinking cities in a global perspective, setting the context for in-depth case studies of cities within Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, France, Great Britain, South Korea, Australia, and the USA, which consider specific economic, social, environmental, cultural and land-use issues.

This book provides a comparative analysis of shrinking cities in a broad range of postsocialist countries within the so-called Global East, a liminal space between North and South. While shrinking cities have received increased scholarly attention in the past decades, theoretical, and empirical research has remained predominantly centered on the Global North. This volume brings to the fore a range of new perspectives on urban shrinkage, identifying commonalities, differences, and policy experiences across a very diverse and vivid region with its various legacies and contemporary controversial developments. With chapters written by leading experts in the field, insider views assist in decolonizing urban theory. Specifically, the book includes chapters on shrinking cities in China, Russia, and postsocialist Europe, presenting comparative discussions within countries and crossnational cases on theoretical and policy implications. The book will be of interest to students and scholars researching urban studies, urban geography, urban planning, urban politics and policy, urban sociology, and urban development.

Over the past hundred years, the global motto has been "more, more, more" in terms of growth - of population, of the built environment, of human and financial capital, and of all manner of worldly goods. But reality is changing from the population boom of the 1960s and 1970s, as the earth's population begins to decline. In Smaller Cities in a Shrinking World, urban policy expert Alan Mallach seeks to understand how declining population and economic growth, coupled with the other forces that will influence their fates, particularly climate change, will affect the world's cities over the coming decades. Mallach has woven together his vast experience, research, and analysis in this fascinating, realistic-yet-hopeful look at how smaller, shrinking cities can thrive, despite the daunting challenges they face.

The aim of this publication is to look in depth at depopulation - a trend that is affecting an increasing number of cities worldwide. It has recently become a critical issue with a range of detrimental social, economic, spatial, and financial consequences. However, attempts by central and local governments to combat depopulation have yet to yield satisfactory results. Compelling evidence suggests that one of the reasons for this state of affairs is that the role of local (urban) leadership in devising solutions, mobilizing resources, and creating networks to address the problem has been underestimated. Moreover, according to the authors of this monograph, there is a significant positive correlation between urban leadership and the ability to effectively respond to and counteract the negative effects of depopulation. Without an understanding of the impact of urban leadership on the ability to address the negative consequences of urban depopulation, it is impossible to pursue effective public policies in this regard. This book presents a novel approach to explaining the ability of cities to combat depopulation through the prism of urban leadership quality. It compares domestic empirical research findings with international case studies, and offers a comprehensive review of valuable practices to counter urban shrinkage and depopulation, from both academic and practical perspectives. Further, the book provides a new interpretation of the processes associated with these trends. The magnitude of the phenomenon in question, the negative spatial, economic, and social consequences, as well as the relatively low effectiveness of policies aimed at its mitigation, will make this book an invaluable guide for researchers, and students from a wide range of disciplines including urban studies, economics, public management, leadership studies, local government, climate change and energy transition and urban movements. The audience will also comprise of policymakers and urban experts such as sociologists, planners, social geographers, economists, and architects.

This book presents the proceedings of CRIOCM 2022 (27th International Conference on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate), sharing the latest developments in real estate and construction management around the globe. The conference was organized by the Chinese Research Institute of Construction Management (CRIOCM) working in close collaboration with The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Written by international academics and professionals, the book discusses the latest achievements, research findings, and advances in frontier disciplines in the field of construction management and real estate. Covering a wide range of topics, including spatial planning and land use innovation, integration and application of BIM and GIS, low-carbon built environment, post-pandemic resilient cities development, housing and social governance, real estate market and urban policy, real estate finance and economics, intelligent construction and smart city, built environment for healthy living, and construction management in the post-COVID-19 era, the discussions provide valuable insights into the implementation of advanced construction project management and real estate market in China and abroad. The book offers an outstanding resource for academics and professionals

Compelling and engaging, this Handbook on Shrinking Cities addresses the fundamentals of shrinkage, exploring its causal factors, the ways in which planning strategies and policies are steered, and innovative solutions for revitalising shrinking cities. Chapters cover topics of governance, ‘greening’ and ‘right-sizing’, and regrowth, laying the relevant groundwork for the Handbook’s proposals for dealing with shrinkage in the age of COVID-19 and beyond.

At 5 percent, Canada’s population growth was the highest of all G7 countries when the most recent census was taken. But only a handful of large cities drove that growth, attracting human and monetary capital from across the country and leaving myriad social, economic, and environmental challenges behind. Quietly Shrinking Cities investigates a trend that has been largely overlooked: over 20 percent of Canadian cities shrank between 2011 and 2016, and twice that proportion grew more slowly than the national average. Yet continuous, ubiquitous growth is considered normal, and policy and planning professionals have had little success in managing the practical challenges associated with population loss. Declining birth rates and an aging population only compound the phenomenon. This meticulous work demonstrates that shrinking cities need to rethink their planning and development strategies in response to a new demographic reality, questioning whether population loss and prosperity are indeed mutually exclusive.

Since the late 1970s, China has undergone perhaps the most sweeping process of urbanization ever witnessed. This is typically understood as a story of growth, encompassing rapid development and economic dynamism alongside environmental degradation and social dislocation. However, over the past decade, China’s leaders have claimed that the country’s urbanization has entered a new stage that prioritizes “quality.” What does China’s new urban vision entail, and what does the future hold in store? Richard Hu unpacks recent trends in urban planning and development to explore the making and imagining of the contemporary Chinese city. He focuses on three key concepts—the “green revolution,” “smart city movement,” and “great innovation leap forward”—that have become increasingly influential. Through case studies of Beijing, Hangzhou, and Hefei, Hu analyzes how attempts to achieve greater sustainability, promote data-driven governance, and foster innovation have fared on the ground. He also considers the experimental city Xiong’an in terms of China’s idealized vision of the urban future and investigates how the recent experiences of Hong Kong relate to regional and national development projects. Reinventing the Chinese City provides a careful accounting of the ideas that have dominated urban policy in China since 2010, emphasizing key continuities underlying claims of novelty. Shedding light on the transformations of the Chinese city, this book offers a new perspective on the factors that will shape the trajectory of urbanization in the coming decades.