Shrinking Cities: Effects on Urban Ecology and Challenges for Urban Development

The studies compiled in this book cover various issues of urban ecology in shrinking cities. They include aspects of general concepts of urban ecology, botany, perception and urban planning. Since the impacts of shrinkage on urban ecology can be observed particularly on urban brownfields, a focus is set on these sites.

Cities in highly industrialised countries have grown over time, yet the phenomenon of shrinking cities occurs in many regions. Urban shrinkage has various impacts on urban ecology, which can be observed on urban brownfield sites in particular. The integration of brownfield sites with sustainable urban development must be managed, and this presents new challenges for urban planners. The introductory chapters of this publication give an overview of urban ecology concepts and how research in this field is affected by urban shrinkage. The following sections are concerned with botanical aspects of shrinking cities, perception of nature in the context of shrinkage and discussion of aspects of urban planning with reference to several regional examples. The book concludes with an examination of urban shrinkage during the life cycles of city archetypes.

Autorentext

Marcel Langner, born in Mutlangen (Germany), studied geoecology at the University of Karlsruhe (TH). After receiving his PhD with a thesis titled Roadside Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) - an Efficient Sink for PM10? at the University of Karlsruhe (TH), the author has been a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Training Group (Graduiertenkolleg) Urban Ecology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He currently works at the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt). Wilfried Endlicher was born in Heidenheim an der Brenz (Germany). He studied geography, meteorology, remote sensing and romance languages at the Universities of Freiburg (Germany) and Grenoble (France). He obtained his PhD at the University of Freiburg. The author has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Concepción (Chile) and the University of Florida in Gainesville (USA). He was Professor of Geoecology at the University in Marburg (Germany) and is now Professor of Climatology and Atmospheric Environmental Research at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Klappentext

Cities in industrialised countries have grown over time, yet shrinkage of cities occurs in many regions. This process has many impacts on urban ecology, which can be observed on urban brownfield sites in particular. The integration of these sites with sustainable urban development must be managed. This presents new challenges for urban planners. The first chapters give an overview of urban ecology concepts and how research in this field is affected by urban shrinkage. The following sections are concerned with botanical aspects of shrinking cities, perception of nature in the context of shrinkage and discussion of aspects of urban planning with reference to several regional examples. The book concludes with a study of urban shrinkage during the life cycles of city archetypes.

Inhalt

Contents: Wilfried Endlicher/Marcel Langner/Markus Hesse/Harald A. Mieg/Ingo Kowarik/Patrick Hostert/Elmar Kulke/Gunnar Nützmann/Marlies Schulz/Elke van der Meer/Gerd Wessolek/Claudia Wiegand: Urban Ecology - Definitions and Concepts - Miriam Fritsche/Marcel Langner/Hadia Köhler/Anke Ruckes/Daniela Schüler/Betka Zakirova/Katharina Appel/Valeska Contardo-Jara/Ellen Diermayer/Mathias Hofmann/Christoph Kulemeyer/Peter Meffert/Janneke Westermann: Shrinking Cities - A New Challenge for Research in Urban Ecology - Ingeborg Schinninger/Rudolf Maier: Urban Brownfields as Temporary Habitats: Strategies of Plants for Survival in a Changing Environment - Peter Werner: Urban Form and Biodiversity - Tobias Chilla: Shrinking Cities - New Urban «Socio-Natures»? - Uwe Altrock: Current Trends in Urban Regeneration and Restructuring in Germany and Their Effects on Sustainability - Matthias Bernt: Six Years of Stadtumbau Ost («Urban Restructuring East») Programme: Difficulties of Dealing with Shrinking Cities - Christiane Westphal: Density as a Tool to Guide Urban Shrinkage Concerning Public Works? - Stefanie Rößler: Shrinking Cities - Opportunities and Challenges for Urban Green Space Planning: Experiences at the Large Housing Estate of Leipzig-Grünau - André Mulder: Trams and the Regeneration of Brownfield Sites - Susan C. Wessman: Urban Shrinking in the Life Cycles of City Archetypes.