Shrinking Cities

Did you happen to catch this article on the cover of USA Today?

Slowly, old American cities that have been in a downward population spiral for a half-century or more are reinventing themselves as, well, smaller cities. They’re starting to adopt — many, like Richmond, do it unknowingly — tenets of the burgeoning, European-born “Shrinking Cities” movement. The idea: If cities can grow in a smart way, they can also shrink smartly.

“Everybody’s talking about smart growth, but nobody is talking about smart decline,” says Terry Schwarz, senior planner at Kent State University’s Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio. The center runs the Shrinking Cities Institute in Cleveland, a city that has lost more than half its population since 1950. “There’s nothing that says that a city that has fewer people in it has to be a bad place.”

Richmond, VA’s version of the Partnership says,

We don’t as a region aspire to be the next Atlanta or the next Charlotte,” he says. “It’s about quality. It’s not about growing for the sake of growing.”

As a country – as a society, we are averse to decline. We reject defeat. We won’t embrace it. Yet, in a way, the shrinking cities people say we need to change that mindset.

Many such cities are starting to capitalize on what they still have rather than what they’ve lost — whether it’s historic neighborhoods, cultural amenities or waterfronts. “Their aspirations should be to build on their strengths and to assume that they’re not going to be as big,” says Eugenie Birch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has documented the resurgence of downtowns.

“Cities that measure success by population growth have an outdated view of what success is all about,” says Carol Coletta, head of CEOs for Cities, a non-profit alliance of mayors, executives and other urban leaders based in Chicago.

That group’s research has shown that population growth doesn’t always bring cities wealth. Bakersfield, Calif., grew 35% in the 1990s, the second-fastest gainer; per capita income, however, declined 7%. Las Vegas was No. 1 in population growth but 38th in income growth last decade.

Youngstown, OH is one of the former steel cities that has gotten with the shrinking cities program.

Every sixth city in the world is shrinking,” Pallagst says, from Australian mining towns to Korean industrial centers. “Even a city that’s prospering today can be a shrinking city tomorrow.”

“European cities are grappling with how you deal with shrinking cities more forthrightly than we are,” says John Accordino, urban and regional planning professor at Virginia Commonwealth University here. “(U.S. cities) are still trying to figure out how do we get our piece of the metro growth.”

Youngstown, Ohio, is an exception. It has fully embraced its shrinkage. The population, now about 83,000, is less than half what it was when the steel industry collapsed in the 1970s.

“You look at the facts and come up with solutions,” chief planner Anthony Kobak says. “The first step the city has come to terms with is being a small city.”

Youngstown approved a 2010 plan. The goal: “A safe, clean, enjoyable, sustainable, attractive city,” Kobak says.

The city long was better known for gritty steel mills than green space. Now that the mills are gone, there is plenty of space. With the help of a grant, Youngstown preserved 260 acres. It’s targeting neighborhoods and redesigning them with the help of residents who stayed.

The city may let homeowners buy abandoned lots next door to create gardens. It’s considering relaxing zoning rules to allow small horse farms or apple orchards. It’s offering incentives for people to move out of abandoned areas.

“If you had three or four square blocks that at one time had 40 homes per block and now have maybe five homes total, we could relocate those people across the street and convert the vacant area into a large city park,” Kobak says.Residents would live be living across from a park rather than being surrounded by decrepit homes and lots overgrown with weeds.

In Richmond, VA:

Shells of Greek and Georgian Revival, Queen Anne and Italianate houses, many adorned with elaborate ironwork and cast-iron porches, could be had for $30,000 to $40,000 10 years ago. They’re selling for more than $250,000 today.

Ronald Stallings, a native, is a star player in the revival. His father amassed 140 pieces of real estate before the area declined. His company, Walker Row Partnership Inc., is converting an old insurance company building into lofts, building homes and rehabilitating historic structures. He has renovated 47 properties. Jackson Ward’s population jumped 70% in less than five years, he says. One of his most ambitious goals: Bring the Hippodrome back as an entertainment venue.

“Either older people or younger people are choosing a lifestyle other than cutting grass every Friday evening,” he says. “There are way more housing units. Your population is going down but units are going up. Dual income, no kids isn’t a bad thing.”

Buffalo, I think, is just beginning to realize that the steel and heavy manufacturing heyday is over, and isn’t coming back. We’re also starting to slowly explore what we can do to build on our strengths and attract people. The city should be looking very carefully at the shrinking city movement and begin planning and implementing some of what’s described here.