|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Coping withg City Shrinkage and Demographic Change - Lessons from around the Globe
Round table discussion
|
|
Left to right: Sylvia Fol, Cristina Martinez-Fernandez, Bernhard Müller, Tobias Robischon, Dong-Shun Shin and Clemens Deilmann |
|
 |
|
|
|
Panellists:
Sylvie Fol, Paris X - Nanterre University (France)
Cristina Martinez-Fernandez, University of Western Sydney (Australia)
Dong-Chun Shin, Ministry of Construction and Transport, Seoul (Republic of Korea)
Clemens Deilmann, IOER Dresden (Germany)
(Chairs: Karl-Dieter Keim, Bernhard Müller)
At the end of the International Symposium Sylvie Fol, Cristina Martinez-Fernandez, Dong-Shun Shin, Maros Finka as well as Clemens Deilmann were making final annotations in a round table discussion about the Symposium but also about the process of shrinking in different parts of the world.
|
|
Sylvie Fol |
|
Urban decline does not necessarily go along with demographic shrinkage. Therefore, not shrinking but urban decline is the problem. What is needed are political programs, like the Federal and State Governmental Program "Stadtumbau Ost", to stop the process of decline. There is also need for programs and strategies against unemployment because the process of shrinking is mostly linked with social and economic aspects.
In general there is still a lack of awareness about the process of shrinkage and its various problems. That is why the debate should continue on an international level.
|
|
Cristina Martinez-Fernandez |
|
It is difficult to adopt political programs from other countries. However, what is the same in most countries independent of there strategy in dealing with urban decline are the effects on the people living and working in shrinking regions. The reason is the correlation between shrinkage and economic decline. Thus, we need a more intense theoretical debate on shrinkage, that focuses not only on economical rationalism.
|
|
Dong-Shun Shin |
|
From a Korean point of view, there is a need for a definition of shrinking with a special emphasis on infrastructure. However as shrinkage is a slow process of decrease, there is still enough time to react. Most important of all is a better communication between all participants: government, companies, local people and workers. More case studies could also be helpful.
The process of globalization causes a co-existence of growing and shrinking cities.
|
|
Clemens Deilmann |
|
It is true that there is no clear definition of shrinkage. But maybe there are various causes that have similar effects - the effects of shrinkage. Therefore it is questionable how many more case studies will be needed. There has always been an alternation between shrinkage and growth. One reason why there is no clear definition of shrinkage are different points of view. However, there is no doubt that we need strategies to prevent shrinkage.
One final aspect of the round table was that the future discussion should try to focus on improving the quality of life. When doing so, the participation of locals was considered a crucial point, as well as the implementation of (new) regional innovation systems and a rethinking of institutional set-ups. From the research point of view, the theoretical debate needs to be intensified as well as the effort to communicate the results. Finally, "soft" factors of planning need to be linked with economic questions and the "hard" infrastructure.
The symposium provided a good international comparison of shrinking cities. Despite of different cultural and socio-economic settings, the effects on the cities/regions as well as their local people are similar. There are still unanswered questions such as which is a promising strategy to stop the process of shrinkage or whether the "rebuilding" of vacancies makes sense. However, the discourse illustrated that some of the problems can be solved by changing urban planning policies. There is a need of change in the debate of growth in general; and constructors, housing companies and politicians take aspects of demographic change into consideration when planning. In any case, the discussion showed that shrinkage can also make room for creativity and innovations.
|
© 2001 - 2010 Schader-Stiftung. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Letzte Änderung: 12.05.2006 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
