Challenges for the Resilience Capacity of Romanian Shrinking Cities

Alexandru Bănică, Marinela Istrate and Ionel Muntele
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Alexandru Bănică: Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700505 Iasi, Romania
Marinela Istrate: Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700505 Iasi, Romania
Ionel Muntele: Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700505 Iasi, Romania

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: In the context of deindustrialization and desurbanization, Romanian cities are confronted with issues related to natural demographic decline and out-migration, inducing apparently opposite, but complementary phenomena: slow-burn shrinkage and urban sprawl, which create peripheralisation processes both inside and outside the cities. The current approach acknowledges urban shrinkage within the context of post-communist transformations, but also as a “natural” process in the (adaptive) life cycle of cities. In this context, the study aims to explore the interdependencies between the causes and effects of shrinkage, on the one hand, and the operating feedback mechanisms which might lead to adaptation, on the other. It highlights the changes incurred by the territorial (un)balance combining the spatial analysis of urban shrinkage in relation to the diffused structures imposed by sub-urbanization or metropolisation processes. Using multi-criteria and time series analysis methods, the aim of the assessment is to determine and analyse the significant correlations and trends taking into account relevant demographic, social–economic as well as infrastructural and environmental indicators, in order to describe typologies of urban shrinkage in Romania and their adaptation potential. The results are interpreted in correlation with the need for sustainable strategies and planning, in order to tackle the issue of urban shrinkage in Romania.

Keywords: population loss; deindustrialization; job losses; multi-criteria analysis; adaptive cycle; urban trajectories; development opportunities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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