What is a shrinking CITY?

Are there advantages to concretizing the definition of shrinkage?

Eleanor Ailun Ding

Shrinking Cities

Claire Panetta

Fall 2022

During one of the first sessions of the course, Bernt introduced the concept of a “shrinking” city in a vague yet straightforward manner: one that has “lost considerable population” (Bernt, 2019). Despite this,t as acknowledged by both scholars and fellow students throughout the semester, the definition of shrinkage has remained conceptually and linguistically unclear. But perhaps the obsession with establishing accurate definitions of shrinkage can shed light on its other immediate and hidden purposes. This paper will attempt to answer the question, “Are there advantages to concretizing the definition of shrinkage?” by presenting arguments for both sides. The most straightforward argument in favor of concretizing the definition of shrinkage is that the fundamental premise of problem-solving is a thorough understanding of the issue at hand. But to claim this reasoning would be an over-simplification. In the same direction that Mumford’s 1937 “What is a City” demonstrated the importance of establishing principles for a city to position it appropriately within the sociological and urban fabric, the same is true of the significance of defining shrinkage. Though it may seem counterintuitive to draw parallels between the concept of the city and the concept of shrinkage (as their matryoshka doll-like relationship seems more to be a nested one, rather than an adjacent one), both concepts share the same core of fundamental logic. The core being the inhabitants of that specific urban environment. Further, if “the city fosters art and is art; the city creates the theater and is the theater” (Mumford 1937, 29), then the city experiences shrinkage and is thus the shrinkage. And hence, the city must be established properly in order to produce optimal “functions of social existence” (Mumford 1937, 31), and shrinkage must be viewed correspondingly in order to better exemplify the myriad possibilities of urban life. Despite this, it may also be proposed that there are difficulties in defining shrinkage in a consistent fashion. The first is the concept’s inherent nature. As previously mentioned, shrinkage is most conceptually alive within urban sociology, making it a dynamic that takes human and geographic factors into account and hence, making it inevitably fickle. Accordingly, one could argue that it is counterproductive and futile to assign a fixed definition to an ever-changing construct. And therefore, concretizing a definition of shrinkage may not only impede its adaptability to factors such as time and the natural and built environment, but also reduce it to a unidimensional universal concept applicable to all cities experiencing population loss.

A comparison between Detroit, a city in the upper midwestern United States, and Qiqihar, a city in northeastern China, illustrates this logic. Although both cities are seen as the symbol of urban shrinkage in their respective countries, it is flawed to use a broad definition of shrinkage (such as the one proposed by Bernt, which is primarily focused on population loss). This is due to the fact that it disregards race and politics, which are undeniably critical components of both cities’ narratives of rise and decline. In contrast to Detroit, where systemic racial discrimination permeates every aspect of its urban history, from industry to policy to culture, this cannot be said of Qiqihar. Even though there are variations within the Chinese ethnicity, contemporary China remains racially homogeneous East Asian, particularly in the northeast. Thus, factors such as disinvestment initiatives and government policies are not racially motivated. Furthermore, economically, the rocket trajectory of China’s economy over the past fifty years places Qiqihar in a completely different position relative to its country’s overall economic framework than Detroit’s position relative to the United States. Such considerations demonstrate the disadvantages of standardizing a solid definition of shrinkage. Finally the relevance of concretizing a definition can be contested conceptually and linguistically. One may then contend for the distinction between the principles of “define” and “interpret”. The act of defining shrinkage is arguably much more passive than its interpretation. Though a level of understanding is required for both in- stances, its functions are fundamentally different. Defining a term is more akin to labeling, and thereby categorizing, while interpreting calls for the process of genuine care and embodiment. Thus, one is in pursuit of understanding, while the other has understanding as their ultimate goal. Consequently, in the case of shrinkage, perhaps the focus should shift away from the concretization of the definition and toward the active interpretation and accompaniment of the concept, to better accommodate the issue’s physical and urban landscape repercussions. To conclude, it is evident that the concept of shrinkage is extremely nuanced and difficult to define and comprehend. By juxtaposing the terms “shrinkage” and “city,” structural similarities can be discerned, shedding light on the value of establishing an idea’s guiding principles. However, when the nature of both shrinkage and “definition” is questioned, it is possible to observe the volatility of both concepts and how this affects the perception of the urban dilemma. Although the aforementioned points attempt to provide plausible arguments for and against the concretization of the definition of shrinkage, the immaturity and sometimes speculative nature of the reasoning should not be overlooked. Because, perhaps ultimately, the respondent’s own views and opinions regarding the phenomenon may provide the only true meaningful definition of shrinkage. Similarly, the only people who can truly experience the effects of urban shrinkage are those who live in the city that is shrinking.

Works Cited

Bernt, Mattias. 2019. “Shrinking Cities.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies – 1st Edition, edited by Anthony M. Orum. Cary: Wiley-Blackwell.

Mumford, Lewis. [1937] 2015. “What is a City?” In The City Reader – 6th Edition, editewd by Richard LeGates and Frederic Stout. New York: Routledge: 110-114.