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Do small towns benefit from shrinking rural regions?
Project
Project code: TI-LR-08-PID1404
Contract period: 01.07.2013
- 31.12.2016
Purpose of research: Applied research
Small towns are neglected by urban and rural studies alike, but as a specific type of settlement they have for centuries been of crucial importance as markets and centres in rural areas. Given the conditions of rural population decline and aging, small towns themselves usually lose population, too - yet, it might also be expected that their regional importance increases due to the consequences of aging. The project wants to provide in-depth evidence with regard to these contrasting hypotheses.
For centuries, small towns have been the historical centres of rural areas. This 'excess importance' (Christaller) used to be strengthened by market and other specific privileges. The German post-war planning system reinforced their status by often assigning the lowest centrality status to this type of settlement. Under the conditions of current population decline and collective aging in many rural areas, ambiguous or even contradictory paths of development can be expected: on the one hand, small towns are affected by negative migration and natural balances which might lead to long-term marginalization. On the other hand, they might be target locations of intra-regional amenity-led migration of older and oldest-old generations from surrounding villages. Selective in-migration and ageing in place thus reinforce the local aging process. Previous research provides evidence for both development paths. As small-town research itself is marginalized due to its “in-between” position as neither rural nor urban, the project also wants to enrich the general knowledge base concerning this specific type of settlement. Eight small towns in six German states are analysed in more detail. They were chosen because of their demographic development in the past 20 years (population decline and above-average aging) and their settlement structure (core town with a number of rural districts). Population registry, census 2011 as well as national survey data are used for secondary data analyses. This is supplemented and enriched by semi-structured interviews with local key persons, representatives of senior residents and social services.
First insights verify local concentration processes due to the centralisation of services and, in some small towns, selective in-migration of the elderly. Municipal housing companies, social services and charity organisations are relevant actors with new offers and functions. A further research question arising from these first findings relates to the integration of these (new) actors into existing structures and arenas of small-town development.
Section overview
Subjects
- Agricultural Sociology
