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Wiechmann, Thorsten (2008). Errors Expected - Aligning Urban Strategy with Demographic Uncertainty in Shrinking Cities. International Planning Studies, 13(4), 431-446. Abstract: "At the beginning of the 21st century, the majority of Europe's cities experienced a population decrease. Dealing with the results of demographic, economic and physical contraction processes and planning for the future of considerably smaller but nevertheless livable cities presents some of the most challenging tasks for urban Europe in the near future. This article highlights the example of Dresden in Eastern Germany, where the breakdown of the state-directed economy caused economic decline, industrial regression, and high unemployment rates. Due to out migration and decreasing birth rates, the city lost 60,000 of its 500,000 residents within one decade. As a consequence, there were housing and office vacancies as well as infrastructure oversupplies. Yet the administrative system was still directed towards growth objectives throughout the 1990s. Only after 2000 this situation changed dramatically. The new strategic plan for Dresden is no longer growth oriented. Instead, it focuses on a model of the compact 'European city', with an attractive urban centre, reduced land consumption, and a stable population. However, in another unexpected turn of events, within the last seven years the city has experienced an unexpected growth of 25,000 residents. Surprisingly, processes of suburbanization have turned into processes of reurbanization. Today in Dresden, areas of shrinkage and decline are in close proximity to prospering and wealthy communities. The strategic challenge is to deal with this patchwork while accepting that the future remains unpredictable. Hence, strategic flexibility becomes more important than the strategy itself. To a certain extent rational analysis and error prevention is displaced by preparedness, robustness, and resilience as key qualifications of planning in shrinking c

Bontje, M. (2004). "Facing the challenge of shrinking cities in East Germany: The case of Leipzig." GeoJournal. 61, 13-21. Abstract: "In the early 20th century, the East German city of Leipzig seemed well on its way to become a metropolis of international importance. The city was expected to grow towards over one million inhabitants in 2000. Seventy years later, Leipzig's population has shrunk to less than 500,000 inhabitants instead. The German partition after World War II took away most of its national administrative and economic functions and much of its hinterland. The socialist GDR regime worsened the long-term development perspectives and living circumstances of the city. The German reunification brought new development chances, but like most East German cities, Leipzig's hopes soon became disappointed. The local politicians faced a difficult redevelopment task: apart from the question how to revive the local and regional economy, they also had to deal with a housing vacancy rate of 20%, a huge need for renovation in the older neighbourhoods as well as in the socialist high-rise areas, the negative effects of urban sprawl on the city core, and various environmental pollution problems. After briefly describing the development path of Leipzig until the 1990s, the paper will discuss the current attempts of the city government to give Leipzig a more positive post-industrial future. On the one hand, Leipzig is developing a strategy to 'downsize' the city's built environment and infrastructure to adapt to a probably lastingly smaller population. On the other hand, many growth instruments well known from the international scientific and political debate are tried to put Leipzig back on the (inter)national map. The paper will discuss these development strategies in the light of the international debate on the question 'how to fight the shrinking city', with specific attention for post-socialist cities."

Hasse, Dagmar (2008). Urban Ecology of Shrinking Cities: An Unrecognized Opportunity? Nature and Culture, 3(1), 1-8. Abstract: "Whereas environmental and social impacts of urban sprawl are widely discussed among scholars from both the natural and social sciences, the spatial consequences of urban decline are nearly neglected when discussing the impacts of land transition. Within the last decade, "shrinkage" and "perforation" have arisen as new terms to explain the land use development of urban regions faced with demographic change, particularly decreasing fertility, aging, and out-migration. Although shrinkage is far from being a "desired" scenario for urban policy makers, this paper argues that a perforation of the built-up structure in dense cities might bring up many positive implications."