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

Abstract

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.

Notes

1. We admit that linking segregation to urban shrinkage is not an easy task, because it is easy to end up in a vicious circle, e.g. asking whether shrinkage led to specific patterns of segregation or whether existing patterns of socio-spatial differences, segregation, and cohesion affected how and where population losses occurred. We decided to focus on the first type of relationship, because shrinkage is the common condition (independent variable) for our case studies and we are interested in exploring different social impacts on cities (dependent variable) and how policy-making governs social cohesion in a shrinkage context.

2. For further details, see the official web site www.shrinksmart.eu.

3. The name “Ghetto” derives from the fact that Genoa's Jewish community had settled in this area in the seventeenth century.