Shrinking Cities: Effects, Spatial Challenges, and Response Strategies

Urban shrinkage is no longer a phenomenon isolated to post-industrial regions—it has become a widespread urban condition affecting cities in both the Global North and South. Beyond demographic and economic indicators, shrinkage is increasingly recognized for its spatial dimensions, including growing vacancy, service underutilization, and territorial inequality. These spatial shifts often disrupt traditional planning paradigms and demand adaptive, place-based responses. Technological advances now allow for finer-scale mapping and monitoring of shrinkage, while bottom-up strategies are gaining traction in reframing vacancy not as failure, but as a resource. In light of growing policy attention and theoretical development, this Research Topic addresses the urgent need for integrative approaches that recognize urban shrinkage as both a challenge and a planning frontier.

This Research Topic aims to explore the spatial consequences, governance dilemmas, and transformative potentials of urban shrinkage. As cities across the globe face population decline, housing vacancy, infrastructure underuse, and spatial fragmentation, there is a growing need to rethink urban resilience and spatial justice in the context of shrinking urban environments. The goal is to examine how cities can adapt to these emerging spatial realities by implementing innovative strategies that support sustainable transformation. In particular, the Topic emphasizes the intersection of technological tools, such as AI, GIS, and remote sensing, with participatory and policy-driven responses including green infrastructure, adaptive reuse, and community-led planning. By synthesizing insights from interdisciplinary case studies and spatial analyses, this collection seeks to foster evidence-based strategies that turn spatial decline into opportunity.

Original contributions examining spatial patterns and governance strategies in shrinking cities are encouraged. Topics may include but are not limited to:

1. Spatial manifestations of shrinkage, such as vacancy, underuse, and fragmentation
2. Geospatial and AI-assisted tools for monitoring and modelling shrinkage
3. Temporary uses, adaptive reuse, and green infrastructure as interventions
4. Policy frameworks, governance practices across regions, participatory planning, community-driven responses, and social resilience
5. Methodological innovations for mapping, measuring, and interpreting shrinkage

Papers which focus on the effects of urban shrinkage on resource flows and urban metabolism, encompassing shifts in energy consumption, material throughput, water usage, waste production, and the efficiency of infrastructure systems, would be particularly welcomed

Original research articles, conceptual papers, policy reviews, methodological developments, and comparative case studies are welcome. Relevant disciplines include urban planning, geography, architecture, environmental studies, data science, and public policy.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Shrinking cities. Spatial Inequality. Vacancy. Adaptive Reuse. Geospatial Technology Participatory Planning. Sustainable Transformation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.