class 4.2 Flashcards
WHAT IS SLOW GROWTH OR SHRINKING CITIES ALL ABOUT?
Declining population over time.
What year we use as a baseline for measuring change over time?
What time frame is relevant?
* Population change over 5 years? 10 years? 50
years?
Categorizing slow growth or declining cities based on population alone is just one part of the picture.
DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION
De-industrialization refers to re-organization of global manufacturing starting in the 1970s and the rise of the knowledge economy.
Companies start outsourcing production to countries that have lower labour costs.
New free trade agreements facilitate this spatial re- organization.
This shift has a strong physical impact on de-industrializing cities.
- Vacant industrial buildings, abandoned lots, brownfield sites
WHAT CHALLENGES DOES DE INDUSTRIALIZATION CREATE FOR CITIES?
The central challenge for de-industrializing city is overcoming industrial disinvestment.
Physical challenges:
* Property vacancies
* Abandonment
* Blight
Social challenges:
* Unemployment
* High rates of poverty
* Poor health outcomes
DETROIT’S DECADES OF GROWTH
Centre for auto manufacturing in the United States from the start of the 1900s.
Great Migration of Black Americans north to cities like Detroit.
Arrival of new immigrants
By 1920s Detroit is one of the biggest cities in America
- Population doubles between 1910 and 1920
- Another 400,000 move to Detroit during WWII
DETROIT REACHES A PEAK POPULATION OF 1.8 MILLION PEOPLE - BECOMES THE 5TH LARGEST CITY IN AMERICA
DETROIT’S FORTUNES START TO CHANGE
Racial discrimination in housing and employment White flight
Highway expansion
Oil crisis in the 1970s & growing popularity of non-America car makers
Subprime mortgage crisis
Detroit’s population drops from 1.8M in 1950 to 640k today (a quarter of this loss occurred around the Global Financial Crisis!)
DETROIT LAND BANK
Carries out demolitions on buildings that are considered beyond repair.
Auctions off banked properties to residents and speculative buyers.
City filed for bankruptcy protection 2013.
Unemployment hovers around 25%
URB AN DECLINE IN POST-INDUSTRIAL CANADA
Ssmall and medium-sized cities are experiencing population decline.
De-industrialization has been particularly acute in southwest Ontario.
Cities like Hamilton and London, ON are re-inventing themselves with an emphasis on the knowledge economy.
This carries risks, e.g. gentrification!
THE CITY AS A “GROWTH MACHINE” HARVEY MOLOTCH, 1976
“I speculate that the political and economic essence of virtually any given locality, in the present American context, is growth.”
Argues that in our economic system, land is fundamentally a commodity.
Elites are incentivized to keep generating growth, because it increases their own wealth.
Characteristics:
* Intensification of land use
* Higher population densities
* More financial activity
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CITIES STOP GROWING?
Psychologies of failure – if urban growth is success, then decline is failure.
Stigma is being a declining city can be very strong, such that decision-makers avoid talking about it altogether.
Or it can encourage a mindset of “growth at any cost” – planning for decline can be perceived as defeatist.
Default response is often to attempt to
reverse decline:
* Identify new economic sectors or sources of employment.
* Leaning into service/knowledge-based economy.
* Bring in new STEM facilities
THE CREATIVE CLASS
Richard Florida argues that the ”creative class” drives growth in post-industrial economies.
Thus, cities need to draw on their human capital to create growth.
Who is the creative class? Highly educated workers in the knowledge economy and creative industries.
So cities should focus on competing for highly skilled workers in creative and managerial jobs.
ECONOMIC STRATEGY OF THE CREATIVE CLASS CITY
Make low-cost changes like building cycling networks, commissioning public art, creating new uses for empty space.
* E.g. abandoned factories can become new arts districts. Abandoned lots can host farmer’s markets.
Create new arts districts to attract and connect members of the creative class.
Foster a culture of social tolerance.
In the end: create value in disinvested areas by re-branding industrial areas for cultural consumption.
CHALLENGING THE CREATIVE CLASS THESIS
- It distracts us from much-needed and costly investments in basic services like improving public education systems, providing affordable and high-quality housing, and increasing job availability in marginalized neighbourhoods.
- It prioritizes a privileged economic class in urban policy – those who are in least need of support.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE DETROIT FUTURE CITY FRAMEWORK?
Re-centralizing neighbourhoods, replacing blighted neighbourhoods with green and blue infrastructure, walkable neighbourhoods, and transforming abandoned industrial spaces into
creative hubs.
Little attention to systemic racism in the framework – but property foreclosures and land title seizures disproportionately affect Black
communities.
Growth of urban farming – opportunities and tensions
SO HOW SHOULD WE DEAL WITH SLOW GROWTH OR DECLINE?
Start planning for shrinking cities, instead of trying to reverse shrinking.
Implement alternative sources of revenue for cities.
Develop specific planning tools to managing shrinking cities.
Focus on filling infrastructure/service gaps in existing built-up areas, instead of expansion.
Re-balance resources between growing and shrinking regions and challenge the logic of city competition.
Throw away the idea that growth defines success - e.g. the slow cities movement
