Growing shrinking cities

ABSTRACT

Shrinking cities have been touted as an opportunity to rethink unsustainable growth-centric policies, but to what extent have they abdicated from the pro-growth urban agenda? We explore one of the most overtly growth-oriented ‘solutions’ to urban shrinkage: housing construction. Our nationwide analysis of Spanish cities illustrates the widespread emergence of shrinking cities following the Great Recession and the disconnect between population and housing dynamics. Our findings highlight the continued demographic decline of Spanish shrinking cities despite considerable spatial growth. This depiction of growing shrinking cities expands conceptualizations of urban shrinkage and advances discussions regarding the growth imperative in planning cultures.

KEYWORDS:

• shrinking cities
• demographic change
• pro-growth policy
• regional disparities

JEL:

• R00
• R30
• R58

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The INE defines vacant housing as ‘uninhabited’; http://www.ine.es/censo_accesible/es/glosario.html/.

2. The INE defines secondary housing as temporarily occupied; http://www.ine.es/censo_accesible/es/glosario.html/.

3. The situation on the Mediterranean coast (Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia) has radically changed since 2011. Upon consultation with a local planning practitioner, it was noted that housing in these areas grew considerably following the 2011 census. Moreover, the annual population registers show that all the coastal municipalities in La Nucia declined in population between 2011 and 2016.