Sunburnt Cities: The Great Recession, Depopulation and Urban
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Hollander, Justin B., PUBLISHER: Routledge, In recent years there has been a growing focus on urban and environmental studies and the skills and techniques needed to address the wider challenges of how to create sustainable communities. Until the first decade of the twenty-first century, decline was assumed to be an issue only for former industrial cities a " the so-called Rust Belt. But the sudden reversal in growth in the major cities of the American Sunbelt has shown that urban decline can be a much wider issue. Hollander addresses the reasons and statistics behind these "shrinking cities" with a positive outlook, arguing that growth for growtha (TM)s sake is not beneficial for communities, suggesting instead that urban development could be achieved through shrinkage. Case studies on Phoenix, Flint, Orlando and Fresno support the argument and Hollander delves into the numbers, literature and individual lives affected and how they have changed in response to the declining regions.