Tackling human capital loss in shrinking cities: urban development and secondary school improvement in Eastern Germany

Selective migration, and the loss of highly qualified employees that it implies, is frequently mentioned as a major problem related to urban shrinkage [Fol, S. (2012). Urban shrinkage and socio-spatial disparities: Are the remedies worse than the disease? Built Environment, 38(2), 259–275.] However, despite the fact that research conducted on the issue of shrinking cities has increased, urban development strategies targeting human capital loss are rarely discussed in the literature on urban decline. This paper addresses this research gap. It focuses on the investment in secondary school infrastructure in Eastern Germany and presents the findings of an empirical study that observed how the issue of secondary education improvement was integrated into the urban development strategies of shrinking cities. Two case studies will be discussed in order to highlight initiatives for educational advancement, which directly targeted the problem of human capital loss. On the basis of this ‘reality check', the paper argues that an investment in secondary education is part of a potentially rewarding strategy in dealing with urban shrinkage that may be linked to the concept of social innovation.     

城市收缩现象、过程与问题

城市并不总是增长。在人口峰值过去后人口收缩将是部分城市面临的一个不可避免的趋势。这将是我国和全球城市发展的新议题。根据国际上的最新进展,阐释了收缩城市的概念、起源和影响因素,描述了城市收缩的过程及表现,介绍了国外城市的应对措施;指出国内研究主要还集中于资源型城市的衰退方向;强调城市收缩作为客观的城市发展过程,具有不可避免性,也有别于城市衰退,需要更加客观科学地对待。初步介绍和探讨了国外城市在人口减少时采取的城市规划和管理方法,包括如何通过公众参与、产业转型生态环境保护、土地利用规划调整和交通住房改造等措施,来促进城市发展和提高居民生活质量,为我国的城市发展和转型提供有益启示。     

中国收缩城市土地利用效率及其影响因素研究

依据人口统计数据与NPP-VIIR夜间灯光影像识别出2013-2017年中国收缩城市,运用超效率SBM模型测算收缩城市土地利用效率,并构建Tobit模型分析其影响因素.结果发现:①2013-2017年,收缩城市土地利用效率均值降低了1.44％,且各年份均低于增长城市与全部城市.实现土地有效利用的收缩城市占比较小,大多数...     

Decline and sprawl: an evolving type of urban development – observed in Liverpool and Leipzig1

Much of the empirical research on urban sprawl has been carried out in North America and most theoretical studies on this problem have been concerned with expanding urban areas. This study differs, firstly in that it is concerned with sprawl in two European cities, Liverpool in England and Leipzig in Germany, and secondly because both these cities are in decline. This presents an opportunity to explore whether the process of urban sprawl is somehow specific in a situation of urban decline and what its outcomes might be for both urban form and urban policy.     

发达国家城市收缩现象及其对中国的启示

城市收缩是发达国家在工业化与城市化过程中普遍存在的现象,城市收缩对发达国家经济社会转型、城市空间结构转变产生了深刻影响,在对城市收缩有效治理过程中形成的精明收缩与弹性城市理论对快速发展的工业化国家具有积极的借鉴意义。本文对发达国家城市收缩的现象与事实进行了系统梳理与分析,分析了城市收缩的特征与空间模式,探讨了城市收缩的形成机制和城市收缩的应对措施,并对西方发达国家城市收缩现象对我国的启示形成了几点认识。     

我国城市收缩测度与影响因素分析——基于人口与经济变化的视角

当前,世界上一些城市的收缩现象逐渐得到关注,但是我国城市是否呈现收缩现象,以及城市收缩的空间特征和主导因素等仍缺乏系统的分析。基于此,基于地级市尺度的人口、劳动力、经济、空间扩张和财政状况等数据,建立综合评价体系测度城市收缩现象,并建立回归模型理解城市收缩的影响因素。研究发现,我国一些城市开始呈现收缩,而东北、中部等城市比较明显。在影响因素上,劳动力、经济增长和就业规模有助于促进城市增长,而空间扩张、失业和财政收支状况等会加剧城市收缩。应谨慎判别不同城市收缩的特征和影响因素,强化复兴导向的城市化策略。     

Confronting Out-Migration and the Skills Gap in Declining German Cities

High-skilled groups are regarded as a key asset for economic growth and urban development and are thus increasingly targeted by cities. Within this context, the paper analyses the effects of urban decline and intra-national migration trends on cities. The impact of both processes on population development varies considerably between cities and regions and calls for micro- and macro-level policy responses. The contribution focuses on the local impact of the (out-)migration of higher-skilled groups and addresses the research questions: how do local stakeholders and decision-makers evaluate the consequences of the out-migration of highly qualified residents and how are they responding? Our analysis combines the findings of two research projects and draws mainly on qualitative data. The case studies are located in Germany and comprise three medium-sized cities outside of major agglomerations and three large cities within metropolitan areas. The six cities share the common characteristic of urban decline as a result of structural change and have been experiencing population decline. While medium-sized cities lose the highly skilled after they complete schooling, larger old industrial cities lose them after they complete higher education degrees. The paper discusses the implications of intra-national migration for these cities.     

空间不匹配带来城市收缩的三重逻辑——制度空间位移、政策空间悖论与行为空间失衡

自改革开放以来，持续了近40年的飞速发展和规模扩张，我国的城市发展步入了“后城市化”时代。“快速扩张下”的城市收缩现象越来越引起理论和实务层面的关注，其中空间层面的资源不匹配和不协调是带来城市收缩的重要原因。基于“空间—行为”互动理论，尝试从“制度—政策—行为”层面的空间不匹配，解释城市收缩的逻辑归因。其中，制度空间通过“经济体制转型”和“社会结构变迁”，带来收缩城市在空间和社会上的两极分化；政策空间基于政治体制、社会政策带来城市发展的不平衡；行为空间嵌入个体、群体、家庭行为中，通过职住分离、就业环境等带来个体“空间—行为”的不匹配。最后，提出深化经济制度改革，促进收缩型城市再“更新”、关照区域政策平衡，扩大收缩型城市的公共服务供给、坚持“以人为本”，让城市成为“人”的“家”等治理导向与政策尝试。     

The migrancy of racial and settler imaginaries: British migrants in Auckland,Aotearoa New Zealand

The position of migrants within Eurocolonial settler cities has received growing interdisciplinary attention. Within the field of geography there have been calls for new avenues of research into the encounters of bodies with different histories of arrival and experiences of racialization in such contexts. However, there remains little research on the position of British migrants, despite their ethno-historical links, and the ongoing popularity of such destinations among British emigrants. The analysis draws on 12 months of qualitative research with first-generation British migrants to examine their reflections on the bicultural and multicultural landscapes of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper makes a number of contributions. First, it documents both the racial and settler imaginaries of British migrants. Second, it highlights the ways normative temporal and spatial assumptions shape encounters with difference in urban settler environments. Finally, through an examination of the heterogeneity of perspectives, histories and investments at work among British migrants, this paper seeks to complicate monolithic ideas of belonging, otherness and identity in racialized settler societies.     

城市发展指数指引下的我国收缩区域初步评判

城市收缩在全球范围内蔓延，致使以增长为假设前提的区域经济增长模型受到极大挑战。本文以县域单元为研究对象，利用2000年与2010年各县域单元的社会经济数据构建城市发展指数，在其指引下对我国城市收缩状况做初步分析。研究表明：①在城市化的快速进程中，我国县域单元出现收缩现象，特别是县、自治县、自治旗、旗出现较多数量的收缩。②发生收缩的县域单元共261个，大多数为人口较少的中小城镇；西部地区分布较多，且收缩面积较大。③收缩的县级行政区表现出一些共性特征：人口数量和密度下降、老龄化加深、医疗卫生条件较差、经济发展缓慢，财政赤字严重。这一结果有助于初步了解我国收缩区域整体格局，并呼吁研究者和政策制定者尽快针对这一问题展开研究，促进区域可持续发展。     

重庆市城市贫困空间特征和影响因素研究——兼论东西部城市的异同

中国城市社会经济转型与重构背景下,城市贫困空间特征是城市地理学研究的重要议题之一。本文以西部城市重庆为例,探讨贫困空间的分布、演变和影响因素,并兼论与东部城市的异同。研究显示,在重庆市层面,贫困空间分布差异扩大,都市区得到较大程度改善,渝东北偏远县城则逐渐恶化。在都市区层面,贫困空间分布非均衡性较强,与老城区、工业及其配套居住区耦合。这种特征受到"体制"和"市场"因素的系统作用,体制因素是历史空间继承、早期住房政策与分配制度、城市规划对保障住房的布局引导;市场因素体现在区域经济发展差异、基础设施投资建设、房地产开发和内城选择性更新等。根据西部城市的贫困特征,反贫困政策应该重点促进都市区局部地区和偏远辖县区的发展。     

The Role of Government Policies and Strategies Behind the Shrinking Urban Core in an Expanding City Region: The Case of Izmir

Over the last few decades, the term urban shrinkage has come to be accepted as a valid concept in international academic circles, and has gradually gained importance, with its causes the subject of well-documented discussion. While previous discussions of urban shrinkage have directed attention to cities shrinking as a whole, recent research started to recognize the case of shrinkage in growing cities and regions. As such, recent discussions of urban shrinkage indicate that patterns of shrinkage vary considerably from city to city, and from sub-region to sub-region, with the importance of local dynamics in responding to changing economic pressures given much consideration. Recent studies have tended to disregard the role of government policies and strategies put in place to facilitate the adaptation of the urban economies to the new conditions. Taking Izmir as an example, being a fast-growing metropolitan region in Turkey, this paper presents evidence of government policies and strategies aimed at enhancing the development of peripheral areas that have led to shrinkage of the metropolitan core. This paper focuses on this experience and discusses its implications.     

Coping with Peripheralization: Governance Response in Two German Small Cities

Urban governance processes and strategies in small cities in times of an integrated global economy have received little attention in urban research. However, in Germany as elsewhere they form the backbone of the urban system. On the basis of research in two small German cities—Pirmasens and Völklingen—this paper discusses local governance approaches in reaction to peripheralization. Peripheralization here is defined as a process of out-migration, dis-connection, dependency and stigmatization. The two case studies show quite different patterns of political governance. Pirmasens demonstrates a collective local project on how to deal with structural change, while Völklingen shows a more fragmented approach to overcoming peripheralization. These different political reactions are analysed and related to aspects of specific local settings. It is to be hoped that in future cohesion policy at the European level, but also on the respective national levels, more active policies will be targeted towards nurturing place-based opportunities for small cities.     

Perspectives of civil society on governance of urban shrinkage: the cases of Heerlen (Netherlands) and Blaenau Gwent (Wales) compared

In light of the ongoing urban shrinkage debate, planners stressed the need for new planning concepts and strategies. In this respect, the relevance of involving civil society in governance of urban shrinkage has been emphasized. So far, however these issues have received limited attention. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by investigating (1) how actors in civil society experience urban shrinkage and (2) their perspectives on the governance of urban shrinkage. We study this in two shrinking medium-sized cities: Heerlen (the Netherlands) and Blaenau Gwent (Wales). To answer these research questions, we make use of the concept of social capital. We follow a comparative case study design, primarily basing the analysis on data from 52 in-depth interviews. In the case studies, specific patterns of social capital can be observed: strong place attachment, strong informal participation and weak trust of civil society in local governments. However, the experience of urban shrinkage and the reaction to shrinkage differs. We conclude that understanding shrinkage and addressing it are predominately context related. Explanations based on historical developments and welfare state provisions are offered. The paper ends with reflections on the implications of these findings for governance of urban shrinkage.     

The urbanisation of Java, 2000–2010: towards ‘the island of mega-urban regions’

The mega-urbanisation process in Java is reflected in the spatial patterns of urban population growth between 2000 and 2010, although there has been a small deceleration in the rate of growth recently. This process is also clearly indicated in the significant increase in the number of urban localities, which reflects in situ urbanisation and rural–urban transformation in Java. Most districts and cities located adjacent to large cities experienced much higher population growth rates, compared to the core areas in cities. The formation of urban belts with a mix of economic activities connecting large cities is greatly expanding, while the small and medium cities, those with population sizes between 100,000 to one million, have tended to stagnate as their role and functions as centres of socio-economic activities are taken over by the large cities. Java’s mega-urbanisation appears unstoppable, and is largely uncontrolled at the present time. It is a daunting challenge for the central and local governments to manage the spatial urban growth in Java in the near future.     

空间错位理论研究进展与方法论评述

空间错位理论是西方城市地理和城市规划研究的重要理论基础之一,自上世纪60年代提出以来引发了大量关注弱势群体居住和就业空间机会的实证研究。近年来中国城市快速空间重构背景下的职住分离现象也引起学者关注。本文首先回顾了空间错位假设的提出背景、基本假设和主要实证研究结论,重点评述了近年来美国空间错位实证研究的方法论进展及主要挑战,在此基础上探讨了空间错位理论对转型期中国城市空间重构研究的借鉴意义。     

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE AS A FUTURE CHALLENGE FOR CITIES IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE

Contemporary cities in East Central Europe (ECE) represent a hybrid type of urban development which is still generally considered to be a special case and is only exceptionally referred to in the recently intensified debate over the European city. Our paper argues that such exclusion is short‐sighted because ECE cities face structural problems similar to those of their Western pendants. Therefore, the contextual frame of urban research needs to be widened and can no longer be restricted to post‐socialist transition. In this regard, one of the main challenges for future urban development will be the consequences of demographic change. Ageing, new patterns of fertility behaviour and more diversified household structures in line with the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) will have significant implications for urban structures and housing markets, as already known for Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to work out new questions and hypotheses for future urban research with special respect to Polish and Czech cities. Besides West European experience, recent developments in eastern Germany are taken as a frame of reference, assuming that this specific transition case may, in many respects, be regarded as a forerunner for similar developments in its neighbouring countries.     

Creativity,Culture and Urban Strategies: A Fallacy in Cultural Urban Strategies

Two fields of knowledge have been of special importance for the emergence of culture-led urban planning in Norwegian cities: one concerns the understanding of the potential of culture as an economic driving force in urban regeneration, while the other focuses on the emergence of the concept of the “creative class” and has drawn attention to the importance of competence and creativity in urban development. Despite clear connections between the two fields, it may appear that false connections have been made in regeneration strategies in a number of cities. Based on analyses of the culture-led urban strategy of Kristiansand, a small Norwegian city, these knowledge fields are discussed and it is claimed that there seems to be a fallacy in how they are treated in the culture-led urban strategy. The fallacy concerns the way that creativity is equated with culture and further how theories about the emergence of the creative class are equated with a culture industry approach to urban planning. Questions are raised about the potential of culture industry strategies and it is argued that the potential for growth in small cities may not be as great as the public debate and research conducted in large metropolises might suggest.     

Governing Social Cohesion in Shrinking Cities: The Cases of Ostrava,Genoa and Leipzig

Social cohesion always appears more frequently as a policy goal of the European strategy that promotes the integration of spatial, economic, and social dimensions of growth. This comprehensive approach also has to deal with the social consequences of demographic change, tackle urban poverty, and guarantee access to amenities in isolated neighbourhoods. Such objectives represent specific challenges for shrinking cities, where processes of population decline, job losses and economic constraints as well as financial restrictions create a much more complicated starting position and might make the achievement of the social cohesion even more difficult than in non-shrinking cities. Set against this background, this paper analyses the efforts of three shrinking cities (Ostrava, Genoa, Leipzig) to promote social cohesion under the condition of urban shrinkage, and examines which policies are being promoted to solve problems such as ethnic segregation, ageing, and socio-spatial inequalities. The results show that even though shrinkage does lead to increased challenges for social cohesion, the attempts of policies to tackle them still appear to be secondary priorities, sectoral rather than comprehensive, and involve a certain delay.     

Contrasts between first-tier and second-tier cities in Europe: a functional perspective

Second-tier cities have been experiencing renewed interest within policy and research contexts, which is reversing a tradition of relative neglect due to the long-standing focus on large cities and capitals. This paper compares European second-tier and first-tier cities with regard to the presence of urban functions and how these are spread over their urban regions. The analysis shows the existence of a substantial ‘first city bonus’: a surplus of urban functions in first-tier cities which cannot be explained by their size or network embeddedness. We also show that second-tier cities are better served with urban functions in the absence of a dominant capital. In first-tier urban regions, the core municipality exploits the critical mass of the urban region to support its own functions, leaving that region functionally underserved. Second-tier cities lack this absorptive capacity, and their urban regions are endowed with more urban functions. These functional differences mean that second-tier cities demand a differentiated research and policy approach, in which city-regional integration becomes an important territorial development strategy. Rather than the dispersion process in first-tier cities leading to a ‘regionalization of the city’, integration in second-tier urban regions may be seen as a process of ‘citification of the region’.