Aligning policy incentives and establishing governance for “shrinking” cities: a profile of Łódz, Poland
Abstract
Why do cities shrink and what should be done about it? This paper explores this issue with a particular focus on the implications for spatial planning and land use in the city of Łódz, Poland. It focuses on the institutional structures which constrain and shape policy responses to urban shrinkage and offers comparative analysis of this phenomenon in metropolitan areas of the OECD. While Łódz has embarked on a strategy of investment and urban renewal in order to reduce the trend of population decline, a lack of metropolitan governance together with incentives for sprawl and peri-urbanisation threaten the fiscal viability, and economic, social and environmental sustainability of the metropolitan area. The national government has a critical role to play in creating the right incentives for shrinking cities like Łódz to be able to successfully adapt to its changing dynamics. The city cannot tackle this alone. The objective of this paper is to unpack the processes that are driving population shrinkage in Łódz and to recommend institutional responses and policy incentives to manage these processes.
Keywords:
Lódz, “shrinkage” of cities, spatial planning, metropolitan governance, central government policy, sustainable developmentReferences
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