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Rightsizing as Spatial Austerity in the American Rust Belt

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  • Jason Hackworth

    (Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada)

Abstract

‘Rightsizing’ is a planning paradigm currently being applied to shrinking cities in North America and Europe. The central idea is to avoid the trap of growth-oriented planning by restructuring the urban landscape around mixed-income, mixed-use clusters. By replacing the current sprawling inefficiency, proponents argue, environmental, equity, and infrastructure efficiency goals can be achieved. Some have worried however, that rightsizing is merely a newly packaged version of urban renewal. I argue that both framings are misplaced. Through a careful consideration of rightsizing plans in five US cities—Detroit, Flint, Rochester, Saginaw, and Youngstown—I argue that austerity urbanism is the more apt way to characterize actualized versions of the idea. Actualized rightsizing lacks the utopian modernism and Keynesian interventionism of urban renewal, and the progressive equity-oriented environmentalism idealized by its proponents.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Hackworth, 2015. "Rightsizing as Spatial Austerity in the American Rust Belt," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(4), pages 766-782, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:47:y:2015:i:4:p:766-782
    DOI: 10.1068/a140327p
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Justin B. Hollander & Jeremy Németh, 2011. "The bounds of smart decline: a foundational theory for planning shrinking cities," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 349-367, June.
    2. Betsy Donald & Amy Glasmeier & Mia Gray & Linda Lobao, 2014. "Austerity in the city: economic crisis and urban service decline?," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 7(1), pages 3-15.
    3. Renia Ehrenfeucht & Marla Nelson, 2011. "Planning, Population Loss and Equity in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 129-146.
    4. William K. Tabb, 2014. "The wider context of austerity urbanism," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 87-100, April.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Roundy, Philip T., 2019. "Back from the brink: The revitalization of inactive entrepreneurial ecosystems," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 12(C).

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