What can geographers do for shrinking geographies?

Abstract

For parts of the sparsely populated areas, the trends of globalisation, urbanisation and deindustrialisation constitute difficult circumstances. Population decline, escalating dependency ratios, lack of human and financial resources, and diminishing commercial and public services form part of lived experience in many of these areas. This paper discusses what geographers can do for these territories. The paper suggests that geographers can aid in understanding and demonstrating (a) how resources have been distributed in space over time and (b) why patterns of resource distribution take the shape they do. Geographers can also illuminate (c) what it means to live, work, and operate in shrinking, rural territories. Geographers could also (d) make implicit geographical imaginations explicit, (e) elucidate how shrinkage is dealt with by various policy actors, and (f) point to alternative policy directions. The paper also suggests that geographers in the Nordic countries could enrich an international research field of studies of shrinkage by (g) providing case studies or comparative studies from a Nordic context.

Mapping spatio-temporal variations of shrinkage in Finland

“…We map these above-mentioned indicators individually but also extent the analyses to follow the argument by Haase and others (2016), who have underlined that the utilisation of single indicators can oversimplify the process of shrinkage and overstate its severity. Further, the existing theoretical literature on the process of shrinkage (Syssner 2022) underlines its complex nature. As such, the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCIRN) has developed a definition that shrinkage is a combination of depopulation and structural crisis (cited in Hollander & Németh 2011).…”

“…Arguably, shrinkage is a complex process as indicated by Syssner (2022) in this issue. As defined by SCIRN it is a combination of population and structural crisis.…”

“…Statistics and particularly maps help us "to describe, understand and shape the world as well as to predict its future" and, thus, they can "be used to restructure the knowledge and awareness both of policymakers and society as a whole" (Solarz 2015, 169). The aim of this paper is to utilise statistical data and maps as powerful tools to depict the spatio-temporal aspects of a globally pressing regional planning and development challenge, namely shrinkage (see Syssner 2022), with illustrative data from Finland. Such an approach is relevant for increasing understanding of regional development and research-based spatial planning policies.…”

Young people as agents in regional shrinkage – commentary to Syssner

“…In her Fennia keynote lecture presented in the Nordic Geographers Meeting (NGM), Josefina Syssner touches upon the timely and societally relevant topic of shrinking geographies (see also Syssner 2022). With a focus on the Nordic states, Syssner brings to the fore various ways in which geographers and geographical inquiry could do for shrinking regions, for example, by providing information on what it means to live in shrinking rural regions and by making explicit the implicit geographical imaginations of shrinking and decline.…”

Depopulation and shrinkage in a Northern context: geographical perspectives, spatial processes and policies

“…In the Northern European context, the consequences of shrinkage and depopulation for localities -such as reduced tax bases, increasing dependency ratios, oversized and costly infrastructure, cuts in public service provision and the effects on local identities -have been studied to great lengths (see Syssner 2022). The challenges that derive from these socio-spatial processes provide reasons to address the topic more closely.…”