Self-responsibilization, the municipality, and the state: Peripheralization shaping local initiatives in shrinking small towns

Author(s)

Katrin Großmann, Ria-Maria Adams, Alla Bolotova, Johanna Lilius, Maria Gunko, Sven Messerschmidt, Leona Sandmann

Abstract

The literature on shrinking cities often portrays local initiatives in two contrasting ways: either as marginal, powerless, and somewhat backwards-oriented actors, or as human capital, a resource for development, and even as the hope for a more democratic development. However, there is a risk that scholarship unintentionally contributes to local initiatives being included in neoliberal development agendas. During our field research in two small, shrinking, and peripheralized towns in Finland and Germany, we discovered that both perspectives are misleading. They distract from the actual conditions of the initiatives' work, the causes of their financial or demographic precarity, and the self-responsibilization that is common among such initiatives. Scarcity motivates a DI(F)Y approach, organizing services and amenities on limited resources to enhance the quality of life in the area. This limited availability may seem like a natural result of population decline. By comparing the German and Finnish cases, we can see how state policies towards peripheral areas affect the work of local initiatives. This demonstrates that precarity in shrinking places is a result of policies rather than demographic development trajectory.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Aalto University, University of Oxford

Journal

Cities

Volume

150

Pages

1-10

No. of pages

10

ISSN

0264-2751

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105067

Publication date

07-2024

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

507015 Regional research

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Development, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management, Sociology and Political Science, Urban Studies

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/selfresponsibilization-the-municipality-and-the-state-peripheralization-shaping-local-initiatives-in-shrinking-small-towns(6dd6d2dc-8ad5-4c7f-aa6f-c410a6560474).html