Strategies for dealing with urban shrinkage: Issues and scenarios in Taranto

Shrinkage has increasingly become a “standard pathway” of urban and regional development in many European cities and regions. Shrinking is generally seen in the literature as a negative phenomenon: certain strategies may, however, trigger-off positive effects, such as social networking opportunities, affordable housing, and an increased sense of identity and opportunity change. Focusing on the effects of urban development should be seen as a priority, attempting to seize opportunities for the integration of a range of urban policies, making the most of scarce resources. This paper begins with a short introduction, a sort of “reading guide” clarifying in which steps the document’s argument is developed in the following sections; then it presents a theoretical framework with some central questions on strategies for shrinking cities and neighbourhoods, with a short review of the literature. An empirical section follows describing the case of Taranto as a de-industrialized city and the main features of its shrinkage, attempting to understand the effects of regeneration policies and urban planning strategies already put into place to tackle shrinkage at various administrative levels. This is followed by an evaluation of existing theoretical knowledge, comparing key points with the main features of shrinkage in the case of Taranto. This is carried out to contribute to a better understanding of the questions addressed, highlighting various unsolved problems that are then dealt with in the concluding section, as research challenges that remain open-ended.