Inter- and Intraregional Patterns of Shrinking Places in the United States

Join the Department of Social Sciences for this Great Problems, Great Minds seminar series event featuring Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, director and professor of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University.

Shrinking cities have become almost ubiquitous during the long transition of post-industrial America. While many fear population losses to be a harbinger of economic decline, others have argued that the economic and demographic transition of a shrinking city need not be a death knell for those urban communities. Bagchi-Sen will discuss an analysis of more than 10,000 U.S. census tracts experiencing population loss and the variegated nature of population decline in the United States. The study’s findings show inter- and intraregional characteristics that are far from uniform, implying that public policy responses cannot be developed as a one-size-fits-all strategy, nor should the outlook of urban shrinkage be understood as a nationally uniform crisis.