Small towns in peripheral regions of Germany

• Authors: Kühn Manfred
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper summarizes the main findings of a study on small towns in peripheral locations in Germany. In its first part, the results of the data analysis are presented and the spatial distribution of shrinking and growing small towns in Germany is described. The majority of them in peripheral areas are currently shrinking, which includes an assemblage of demographic, economic, infrastructural and fiscal problems, leading to a danger of a negative downward spiral. The second part deals with specific challenges and problems of the shrinking towns. In qualitative case studies, main disadvantages of peripheral location and peripheralisation processes of four selected towns are outlined, which narrow the scope of action for local politics. Part 3 provides a short analysis of the main strategies of those four towns coping with peripheralisation. In the last part, an outlook is given in a more general matter, which shows possibilities to turn the ascribed deficits of peripherality into strengths.

Keywords

EN

Germany; local politics; peripheral location; peripheralisation; small towns

• Publisher: Instytut Geografii Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
• Journal: Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia Geographica
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 8 Small Towns’ Development Problems
• Pages: 29-38

Contributors

author

Kühn Manfred

• IRS – Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, Department Regeneration of Cities and Towns

References

• BBSR – Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (Hrsg. 2012). Klein- und Mittelstädte in Deutschland. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, Analysen Bau.Stadt.Raum. Band 10, Bonn.
• Burdack, J., Kriszan, A. (eds.) (2013). Kleinstädte in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Perspektiven und Strategien lokaler Entwicklung, Leipzig (Forum IfL 19).
• Giffinger, R., Kramar, H. (2012). Kleinstädte als Wachstumsmotoren ländlich-peripherer Regionen: Das Beispiel Waldviertel. In: disP 189(2), Zürich, 63–76.
• Jones, G., Leimgruber, W., Nel, E. (eds. 2007). Issues in Geographical Marginality. General and Theoretical Aspects (Grahamstown: Rhodes University).
• Knox, P.L., Mayer, H. (2012). Europe`s internal periphery. Small towns in the context of reflexive polycentricity. In: A. Lorentzen, B. van Heur (eds.), Cultural Political Economy of Small Cities, 142–157.
• Kriszan, A. (2013). Urbane Regimes in Kleinstädten Mittel- und Osteuropas. In: J. Burdack, A. Kriszan (eds.), Kleinstädte in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Perspektiven und Strategien lokaler Entwicklung, Leipzig: (Forum IfL 19), 97–105.
• Kühn, M., Sommer, H. (eds. 2012). Peripherisierung. Peripheralization, Themenheft der Zeitschrift disP, 189(2), Zürich.
• Kühn, M. (2015). Peripheralization: Theoretical Concepts Explaining Socio-Spatial Inequalities, European Planning Studies, 23(2), 367–378.
• Lorentzen, A., van Heur, B. (eds. 2012). Cultural Political Economy of Small Cities, London and New York.