Coping with shrinkage in Germany and the United States: A cross-cultural comparative approach toward sustainable cities

Although existing research tends to focus on the causes of shrinkage and on specific best practice strategies to overcome it, our project suspends this view by exploring how planners and administrators throughout all government levels generally go about developing 'new visions' for shrinking cities. The article involves a phenomenological analysis of cases and approaches to shrinkage within the cities of Magdeburg (Germany) and Cleveland (USA). The findings point to four conceptual constraints that shape how the shrinking city is re-imagined: connotations of shrinking, actors involved, strategic focus (project or comprehensive level), and tools and techniques. Due to the structure of the system, American cities are often left with having to re-imagine themselves as growing places because they are competing regionally, nationally and internationally for project funding. German cities were found to have a similar goal but in terms of being competitive as a region and state. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.