Urban Development through Shrinkage

Date/Time:	Monday, 28 Mar 2011 from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Location:	Room 130 College of Design
Cost:	Free
Phone:	515-294-5289
Channel:	College of Design
Categories:	Lectures
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"From Boom to Bust: How Smart Shrinkage Can Help Formerly Growing Places Manage Decline," Justin Hollander, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and planning, Tufts University. He will present his research into the formerly booming cities of the Sunbelt and argue that urban development can actually be achieved through shrinkage.

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In recent years there has been a growing focus on addressing the challenges of shrinking cities. In the planning, policy, and design fields, the response to depopulation has almost always been to pursue growth policies to attempt to reverse that decline. The track record of growth policies has been mixed at best. In this lecture, Hollander presents his research into the formerly booming cities of the Sunbelt and how they might be able to learn some of the hard lessons of the Rustbelt about what shrinkage means.

Offering a positive outlook, Hollander will argue that growth for growth's sake is not beneficial for communities, suggesting instead that urban development could be achieved through shrinkage. Case studies on Phoenix, Ariz.; Flint, Mich.; Orlando, Fla., and Fresno, Calif., support the argument, and an examination into the numbers, literature and individual lives affected and how they have changed in response to depopulation.

Hollander is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and a research scientist at the George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University. He is the author of over 50 publications, including three books and more than 20 journal articles. His most recent book is Sunburnt Cities: The Great Recession, Depopulation, and Urban Planning in the American Sunbelt (Routledge, 2011).