ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN FACTORS THAT LEAD TO LEAVE TOWNS

FUTURE TREDS , REGARDING CURRENT POPULATION DECLINING AREAS

Francisca Molina

24 / 04 / 2013

In the past two centuries, urban growth has

increased at a rapid pace, mainly driven by

the demographic impact of industrialization.

Besides urban growth, effects of

industrialization have likewise intensified

urban shrinkage (decrease).

Hashima

Chernobyl

Prypiat

Detroit

San Zhi, Taipei (Taiwan)

Birao (Africa Central)

REPOSITORY OF

GHOST CITIES, LOST TOWNS AND

REMOTE SETTLEMENTS

ANCIENT VS. PRESENT

LOCATIONS

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Cities of the industrial age have:

experienced unprecedented economic

crises followed by waves of out-migration;

suffered from violent destruction, made

possible by the mechanization of war;

they have been drained by

suburbanization driven by an industrialized

building sector and increasing private car

ownership;

they have undergone processes of

deindustrialization followed by losses of

workplaces and population.

INTRODUCTION

KEY WORDS:

SHRINKING CITIES-SUBURBANIZATION-DEINDUSTRIALIZATION- URBAN GROWTH

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Factors of Abandonments of

Settlements around the World• WORLDWIDE EXEMPLES

• MOST RELEVANT CAUSES OF SHRINKING CITIES AND

ABANDONEMENT

◦ Considered Unforseeable

◦ Earthquakes

◦ Unstable slopes

◦ Forseeable IN THE LONG TERM by climate changemitigation

◦ Floods

◦ Hurricanes (Katrina)

◦ Stormy coasts

◦ Volcanoes (Monserrat)

ENVIRONMENTAL

FACTORS

The Caribbean island

of St. Montserrat,

buried in 1995

We are entering an era

where the potential for an

environmentally migration of disasters is rising

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Human or Antropogenic Factors

INDUSTRIALISATION

◦ Leveraging [obtaining] of

resources

◦ Mining & Exploitation

◦ Resource Depletion

(i.e. Coal)

◦ De-Industrialisation

[decline of Capitalism?]

TERRITORY [Land Property]

◦ War Conflicts [devastation]

◦ [unsustainable] development

◦ Housing Oversupply [soaring

housing prices or artificial land

boom]

REPOSITORY OF GHOST CITIES, LOST TOWNS AND REMOTE SETTLEMENTS6

abandonement byNUCLEAR D ISASTERS

FACTOR: EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

1986 at the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

in Ukraine

(then officially Ukrainian SSR)

NUCLEAR DISASTERS

FORSEEABLE OR

UNFORSEEABLE?

Prypiat City 8

abandonement by1. RESOURCE HARVESTING [OBTENTION]

2. DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES [SHORTAGE]

Hashima - Gunkanjima(軍艦島)

As coal became obsolete in 1960s Japan, the mines on the island were shut down

Harvesting gold or diamonds

ACTUAL LOCATION

FACTOR:LEVERAGING OF

RESOURCES

• Rush diamond drilling

reflects the wealth

• By German miners who sought their fortunes there

German imperial gov.jealous

Against others to get their loot (diamonds)

1959- one of the most densely populated cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants

HASHIMA:

ABANDONED ISLAND

OFF THE COAST OF

MACAO

835 people lived on a square meter and a half of land per person.

SKYFALL SHOOTING

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abandonement byPROCESSES OF DE- INDUSTRIALIZATION

With its dependence and traditional center of the automotive industry (companies based General Motors, Ford and Chrysler), the Detroit area is more vulnerable to economic cycles than most large cities.

‘Swiss cheese’ pattern of neighbourhood abandonment

800,000 out-migrants since 1950s;

In red colour:

Surface parking lots and underutilized demolished building sites shown in red.

ACTUAL LOCATION:DETROIT-MOTOR CITY

FACTOR:DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION

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A rise in car manufacturing using robot technology, inexpensive labor in other parts of the world, and increased competition has led to a transformation of certain types of jobs in the region.

Economy is currently in a prolonged dead spiral: Houses for close, then abandoned, neighbourhoods died.

Accelerated by recession. Deindustrialisation.

Increasing unemployment rate in the metropolitan Detroit

Recently local government seeks to demolish abandoned homes, re-zone land use

ACTUAL LOCATION:DETROIT-MOTOR CITY

FACTOR:DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION

Ruins of civilization – A dying city.

Listed as the most dangerous city in

USA

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reports that a recent landmark survey has found

that a third of Detroit’s residential parcels are

either vacant lots or abandoned homes.

Results portray a city of

contrasts: deep in distress in

many areas, but surprisingly

strong in others.

The survey, found more than

30,000 vacant residential

structures, with more than

10,000 of them open to

trespass and in dangerous

condition.

ACTUAL LOCATION:DETROIT-MOTOR CITY

FACTOR:DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION

John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press

results provided by the Detroit Data Collaborative

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Solutions?to do something about the city’s plan to formally abandon these neighborhoods by

turning them into something more fun and constructive

http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/abandoned-parts-of-detroit-may-be-turned-into-a-zombie-theme-park/

ABANDONED

PARTS OF

DETROIT MAY BE

TURNED INTO A

ZOMBIE THEME

PARK!!!

That should give you a taste of what the show is like

Detroit Dry Docks complex

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ABANDONEMENT BY WAR CONFLICTS

AND HISTORICAL MEMORIES

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But in 2007 came to the town rebels brought violence and destruction against government troops, leaving Birao almost completely burned to the ground.

Only a few years ago Birao served as the capital of Vakaga, one of the 14 prefectures of the Central African Republic.

ANCIENT LOCATION

FACTOR:WAR/BELIC CONFLICTS

Birao, prefecture of Central African Republic

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

Commemorate sites where ◦ WWII battles took place,

◦ Concentration camps stood.

Convey powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic.Abandoned Yugoslavia

Monuments that look like

they're from the Future:

These structures were

commissioned by former

Yugoslavian president in the

1960s and 70s to

In the 1980s, these

monuments attracted

millions of visitors per year.

After the Republic dissolved

in early 1990s, they were

completely abandoned,

and their symbolic meanings

were forever lost.

ANCIENT LOCATION

FACTOR: WAR MEMORIES LOST

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ABANDONEMENT BY OTHER PHENOMENA

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A mysterious series of

accidents led this would-be

tourist town to go unused

upon its completion.

Further, regional beliefs also

kept the abandoned

settlement from demolished

- for fear of angering spirits

dwelling in the complex.

ANCIENT LOCATION

FACTOR: SOCIAL FEARFULNESS

San Zhi, Taipei (Taiwan)

Abandoned settlement on the outskirts / sububs

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HOUSING BUBBLE STILL

BURSTING IN SPAIN

VALDELUZ CITY (GUADALAJARA)

• Stop on the high speed rail

• Built to house 30,000 people;

• only 1,000 people took up residence.

SESEÑA (TOLEDO)

Apartments selling:

• 2008 - 221,000 €

• 2013 -65,000 € (markets floors below cost since March 2012)

Due to the economic downturn, never finished

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MACROURBANIZATIONS

Despite the scarce population, the town is a reminder of the economic downturn and how easy it is for towns to be abandoned.

Not even entirely populated area

Causes: Due to the changes in State Land Legislation: 1996–2008

PRESENT LOCATION

VALDELUZ CITY

FACTOR: UNSUSTAINABLE

DWELLING SITES

Our national currently cause – PRIORITY

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Consequencies: As a result, the construction sector, encouraged by the residential-infrastructure tandem, steadily increased its share of the Spanish GDP.

’

‘YOUR HOPES MEET

OUR HOPES MEET OURS

EVERY DAY’

Valdeluz City (Guadalajara suburb near Madrid)

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‘Current trends in population growth

and global environmental change will

result coming decades to

◦ population displacements,

◦ forced migrations, and

◦ abandonment of settlements

on scales previously unseen.’

McLeman, 2011:

CONCLUSIONS

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Development of Artificial LandPotential for environmentally related migration is rising.

Population growth rates are highest in regions where are acute:

• resource depletion,

• land degradation,

• and the expected impacts of

anthropogenic climate

change.

As the number of settlements experiencing a heightened state of vulnerability grows, increasing numbers of people will undertake adaptive migration. In some locations this will lead to population decline

PRESENT LOCATION

FACTOR: POPULATION

GROWTH

City of

Almere

HOLLAND

‘In the context of the long time-scale, the abandonment of inhabited locations may be seen as just one stage in the ongoing cycle of human settlement and land use.’

Stage 1 Rising vulnerability

Stage 2 Population decline

Stage 3 AbandonmentCameron, 1993:

PROCESS OF

ABANDONMENT

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Overexploitation

Resource Depletion(i.e. Coal)

Soaring housing pricesor artificial land boom

Housing Oversupply

COMMUN FACTORS

OF ABANDONEMENT

OPINION

As an architect, I think the old abandoned sites after the hegemony of the industrial age should be preserved as cultural heritage.

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WHAT CAN YOU DO AS A CITIZEN?

ACTIVE CITIZEN - TOP 7 WEBSITESFOR CREATING THE FUTURE CITY

A collaborative

platform for sharing ideas about: ◦ urban development,

◦ urban transformation,

◦ engage in dialogues

GIVE A MINUTE,

EIGHBOURLAND, THE CITY 2.0,

WALKONOMICS, WALK YOUR

CITY, SPACEHIVE

A crowdfunding

platform for

neighborhood

improvement projects.

LEARNING CITIZEN – BOOKS, ARTICLES

I. R. Register. Ecocities-Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature. 2006, New Society Publishers

II. R.A. McLemanSettlement abandonment in the context of global environmental change. Global Environmental Change (2011)

III. Pérez, J.M.G. The Real Estate and Economic Crisis: An Opportunity for Urban Return and Rehabilitation Policies in Spain. Sustainability 2010, 2, 1571-1601.

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What can we do with our abandoned airports and thematic centres that carry public debts that will last for decades to the citizenship?

OUR PARTICULAR

ABANDONED

INFRASTRUCTURES

UNCOMPLETED LARGE-SCALE ENDEAVOURS

Culture City (GALICIA)

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