We always think of urban planning as the preparation for population and job growth. But, should some cities plan for population and job decline?
Today, I was on NPR’s To the Point to discuss shrinking cities and the idea of planning for communities that are experiencing significant population decline. For today’s conversation, Flint, MI served as an intriguing case study. Some communities like Flint, MI are actively practicing land banking.
Take a listen.
NPR’s To the Point: Honey I Shrunk the City: Bold Ideas for Declining Urban Centers
“For years, urban planning has been all about growth. But in recent years, with the decline of American manufacturing, a whole new school of thought has emerged. It’s all about shrinking, not growing. As more and more metropolitan areas lose populations and healthy tax bases, guest host Sarah Terry looks at how are cities coming up with new solutions to control the change, instead of simply trying to cope with it.”
Listen here.
Profile here.
Should cities and communities plan for shrinking populations? Can this be part of a comprehensive economic development plan for declining communities?
June 12th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
The most prominent of the shrinking cities is Youngstown, OH.
June 13th, 2009 at 12:38 am
“how are cities coming up with new solutions to control the change, instead of simply trying to cope with it.”
Interesting how the same things come up for different problems. Portland is growing and projecting another million people in the region in the next 30+ years, and one of the strategies is putting aside land for parks before the new building happens. Flint is looking at shrinkage and putting aside land for parks as a way to cope with unused deteriorating housing and industrial buildings.
As the speakers, Steven & others, said this has to be part of a larger strategy involving people, transportation, businesses etc.
Places deteriorate in different ways. Appalachian Ohio is emptying out and nobody is moving in, leading to decay. Central California is growing in population but not coping with things like pollution, sprawl, loss of agricultural land and jobs, leading to declining quality of life. Some strategies, like creating open space could be the same, but others would be very different. Youngstown needs to encourage growth, Modesto needs to control it.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
This will be more common. Victorville, CA is another example. Naked Capitalism has a great article here
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/06/low-interest-rates-lead-to-overbuilding.html
Green shoots are sprouting indeed…thanks to new pastures replacing subdivisions.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Interesting NPR article. I did not see coming the Cato fellow criticizing the Government planners… Just kidding. I just wonder when they’re going to criticize the planning of roads, any military expenditure or the problems of sprawl.
June 15th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I was in Buffalo over the weekend. I was talking with my host about how 25% of Gary, Indiana’s property was abandoned as of 2006, and he said that in Buffalo it was 50%.
That is an incredible burden, but also an incredible opportunity. The nature of property taxes and tax sales are such that just about all the land reverts to the government (becuase it is not worth it to a third party to take over the property and pay the back taxes). The land is there, what is the government going to do with it?
Urban farming is one idea. More parks is another one. Tree farms? Get the carbon sequestering credits. Parts of Buffalo and Gary might make for good wind farms, being close to the lakes.
I do think that urban planning has been a massive failure, Carlos. Planners have a lot to answer for, more so than someone from the Cato institute.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:18 am
The willingness of Americans to get up and move (to where the jobs are) is nothing new, and in fact a part of the American fabric. As descendents of immigrants who made a cross-Atlantic/Pacific move, maybe there’s something in our DNA?
Definitely some consideration of how to deal with the abandoned cities is important, but this talk of “sprawl” is always overdone. After 2 centuries of unrestricted development, our country only has 5% of it’s footprint developed. With continued concentrations of our population, I don’t think there is any threat to expanding that footprint, and with smart planning (not usually led by government) we can reclaim the brown spots to more cleanly scenery.
June 15th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This article hits most of the big abandoned housing programs: Flint, Youngstown, Rochester, Buffalo.
Interestingly enough, Google Streetview is active on some of these East Side of Buffalo neighborhoods. The potential, and problems, of these abandoned properties are quite evident.