The Concept of Urban Hibernation

Abstract

Today, as a result of fast-paced societal transformations, many small towns face severe developmental challenges and an uncertain future. Departing from the broader theory of developmental disequilibrium, we launch the concept of urban hibernation to explain the process of periodic small-town regress. The concept—along with its key stages and turning points—is presented to the background of urbanization processes encountered in Poland. At the same time, the focus on small towns offers an alternative and more context-sensitive explication to eclectic development models inherent to larger cities. As such, we argue that the concept of urban hibernation is apt to serve as a more precise research and planning tool in the context of small towns, and particularly in the critical moments of rise and recession. By applying a historical perspective, we address the importance of proper identification of the various and ever-changing city-forming factors, including their role for spatial planning at different scales. Urban hibernation should thus be considered as an intrinsic part of the geographic environment, which, due to the volatility of its socio-economic components, transcends the traditional rural–urban divide. Our conceptual contribution may thus serve as a background for a fuller understanding of the variability and dynamics of intra-urban structures.

Keywords:

• settlement geography
• urban development
• urban geography
• urban landscape
• settlement history
• Poland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Not all towns in Poland deprived of urban status were actually in a state of decline; this is particularly true of those having lost urban status in the second half of the nineteenth century. For many, the act of deprivation had political overtones associated with repression exerted by the then occupying Russian authorities and their administrative politics (although this theory has later been contested; cf. Dymitrow, 2013; Sokołowski, 2014). Most of them regained urban status already in the first half of the twentieth century. More than half of the towns degraded in the second half of the nineteenth century still do not fulfil some (or any) criteria of urbanity according to contemporary standards. Contrarily, many of them do live up to those standards without being granted formal urban status due to lack of social movement in that direction. On the other hand, there are also some formal urban towns whose urban potential does not meet contemporary standards of urbanity. The reason for keeping them urban should be sought for in their longevity of urban traditions and the unwillingness to deploy the once common yet socially unpleasant act of degradation.

2. In Poland, examples of this abound. One famous example is the town of Sławków, which in 1977 was forcibly incorporated into the distant city of Dąbrowa Górnicza, despite their many functional, morphological and social differences. Loss of independence let this small yet hitherto increasingly vibrant town slowly fade into obscurity. Spatial peripherality, diminished resources and general marginalization ultimately spawned local protests. Only then (in 1984) was urban status reinstated, and the town has ever since reassumed its interrupted state of dehibernation. Another, less satisfying, example is the former inconspicuous town of Lubycza Królewska, which after the redrawing of Poland's boundaries in 1945 has gradually gained importance and serves today as a thriving cross-border post along EU's eastern frontier. During the past 30 years, it has increased manifold on account of its demographic, spatial and functional potential, which eventually led to a much delayed application for urban status. Nevertheless, the pettiness of governmental clerks regarding minor errors in the geodetic documentation resulted in outright rejection. Such dismal cases of bureaucratic fads and egregious measures of (mis)evaluation are largely dependent on the failure of proper reconnaissance of a small town's delicate condition.

3. Inspired by Science and Technology Studies, such an approach assumes that conceptual inquiries are easier to study when they are “hot” and talked about (cf. Venturini, 2010).

4. Theoretically, location near a major city may enhance the development of a stagnating small town or a degraded town (known Polish cases include Daleszyce near Kielce and Boguchwała near Rzeszów). However, the vast majority of cases of suburbanization apply to villages that have never been urbanized before, and whose recent increase is merely a display of urban growth in the context of the more general phenomenon of suburbanization. As such, suburbanization should not be confused with the process of (de)hibernation.

5. The decision to build the cement factory was made between 1972 and 1973 (Kiryk 2009, p. 604).

6. Instances of hibernation in relation to settlements subject to permanent abandonment in Poland are scarce (cf. Krzysztofik et al., 2014).

7. Towns having experienced an increase in endogenous functions are similar to some new cities that emerge in the suburban zones of large urban areas (so-called satellite cities), and in relation to the concept of hibernation, they should be primarily considered entering the state of hibernation.

8. Such actions (both granting and deprivation of urban status) are known to sometimes have been done “in anticipation” of an upcoming development scenario, thus not always reflecting the actual state of urbanity.

9. In all these cases, the proportions between external shocks and endogenous innovations are equalized.

10. It should be noted, however, that there are many other towns that fail to meet one or some criteria of assumed urbanity. This is particularly true of agricultural towns (cf. Krzysztofik, 2007).