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Urban Science
Special Issues
Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns
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Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns

A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2020) | Viewed by 16870

Special Issue Editors

Dr. David Bole

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Gosposka ulica 13, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: urban geography; small and medium-sized towns; industrial culture; post-industrial development; participatory research; economic and cultural transformations
Dr. Simo Häyrynen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 2, 80200 Joensuu, Finland
Interests: environmental policy; cultural politics; arts sociology; post-industrial transformation; sustainability transitions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smaller industrial towns in Europe are hardly seen as a place of positive future development, and are rarely presented in the scientific literature. Smaller towns in general are seen as “losers”, as they cannot compete with larger metropolitan and global cities in terms of economy. They could easily fit to the category described by Rodríguez-Pose (2018) of “the places that don’t matter” to the policy and research makers, and are unjustly labelled to “have no future”. Culture-led development initiatives, large flagship projects, and similar revitalization activities are the main modus operandi for tackling the issues of those towns, despite mixed results (Cruickshank et al. 2013). However, smaller- and medium-sized industrial towns in the European context are represented by a specific collective identity, which is connected closely to their industrial tradition and presented by the specific “working class” and “small town” culture. Interestingly, those and other (positive) expressions of industrialism are rarely used in revitalization or general developmental strategies of those towns.

The main aim of the proposed Special issue is to investigate this duality of “re-imaging”/”re-branding” efforts in small- and medium-sized industrial towns (SMITs). We wish to explore how new re-branding and re-imaging strategies are related to the real collective memories of industrial small-town communities, and whether or not such strategies (arguably more tailored to large service-oriented cities) are successful. This is particularly important since there is growing interest and evidence of re-industrialization in parts of Europe through Industry 4.0 and other similar initiatives.

We can contribute to various theoretical debates in academia, and focus especially on the intersection of urban economic/cultural/policy fields. We seek articles discussing:

Industrial marginality (industrial towns and communities in a post-industrial world; dominant narratives of re-branding, re-imaging strategies implemented in traditional SMITs and conflict in existing collective industrial identity and external re-branding efforts, etc.). The spatial marginality of industrial towns (the “small town” and “single-industry town” perspective: how “homogeneous” are SMIT communities; rise off populism and extremism; changing role of the nation state in SMITs development, etc.). Regional determinism vs. territorial autonomy perspective (how much influence do individual SMITs have in steering their endogenous development? Are they completely dependent on regional/national and global re-branding and re-imaging policies?). Place-sensitive development (the often-overlooked collective strengths of industrial communities are under researched: the new article by Rodriguez-Posé (2018) has established a need to study not only the shortfalls of the “losers” in globalization, but also their place-specific strengths).

Dr. David Bole
Dr. Simo Häyrynen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • industrial towns
  • industry
  • Industry 4.0
  • small- and medium-sized towns
  • industrial culture
  • post-industrial development
  • revitalization strategy
  • city branding
  • dominant narratives
  • place-sensitive development
  • marginal towns

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3399 KiB  
Article
Cooperation, Proximity, and Social Innovation: Three Ingredients for Industrial Medium-Sized Towns’ Renewal?
by Marjolaine Gros-Balthazard and Magali Talandier
Urban Sci. 2020, 4(2), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci4020015 - 4 Apr 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4157
Abstract
Over several decades, medium-sized industrial towns have suffered from a combination of economic and political processes: Deindustrialization, metropolization, and withdrawal of public services. After two decades in which they have been somewhat neglected (in favor of metropolises), there have recently been State and [...] Read more.
Over several decades, medium-sized industrial towns have suffered from a combination of economic and political processes: Deindustrialization, metropolization, and withdrawal of public services. After two decades in which they have been somewhat neglected (in favor of metropolises), there have recently been State and European public policies aimed at them. Medium-sized cities are not homogeneous and present several trajectories. Based on quantitative approach in France, we highlight the very diverse socio-economic dynamics of French medium-sized industrial towns. Thus, far from widespread decline or shrinking dynamics, some of these cities are experiencing an economic rebound. This is the case of Romans-sur-Isère, a medium-sized town located in the south-east of France. Focusing our qualitative analyze on this city, we try to understand this type of process. In this medium-sized town, former capital of the shoe industry, local stakeholders, private, and public try to support a productive renewal. The results of our case study highlight the role that cooperation, spatial and organizational proximity, and social innovation could play in the renewal of productive economy in medium-sized industrial towns. Even if the economic situation remains difficult for many medium-sized cities in France as in Europe, we argue that they could have a productive future making and ultimately take advantages of their “medium-sized” attributes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns)
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14 pages, 469 KiB  
Article
Revitalizing the Successful Past in the North: Narratives of Change in the Peripheral Post-Industrial City of Kajaani, Finland
by Simo Häyrynen and Jussi Semi
Urban Sci. 2019, 3(4), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040110 - 8 Dec 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3454
Abstract
Finding a new destination for declining industrial communities is a common European trend, wherein local, national and EU interests are intertwined and sometimes contested. New meaning is sought, among other things, in economics, political activity, and images of the past. This article analyzes [...] Read more.
Finding a new destination for declining industrial communities is a common European trend, wherein local, national and EU interests are intertwined and sometimes contested. New meaning is sought, among other things, in economics, political activity, and images of the past. This article analyzes local development narratives in the case of the “northern periphery”. This paper highlights how the shrinking town of Kajaani, Finland, reacts to the state’s changing role in regional industrial strategies by comparing different local interpretations of future expectations. The research material comprises interviews, city strategies, and editorials from a local newspaper. This paper suggests that the previously dominant narrative of decentralization still holds sway in the minds of the local advocates. However, it is flavored by the narrative of the knowledge-based economy forming three interrelated local narratives: the narrative of the small town; the narrative of closure; and the narrative of traction. The analysis shows that a northern model city of former industrial policy is seeking to reform and develop its original strengths. However, strong links to previous doctrines of state regional policy still frame the potential of local interpretations and make them specifically Nordic development narratives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns)
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16 pages, 1358 KiB  
Article
Path Renewal or Path Dependence? The Role of Industrial Culture in Regional Restructuring
by Franziska Görmar and Jörn Harfst
Urban Sci. 2019, 3(4), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040106 - 26 Nov 2019
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 3683
Abstract
In recent decades, manufacturing industries in Europe have undergone a deep transformation due to global market competition, automation, and adaptation to globalized production patterns. The impact of deindustrialization and regional restructuring has been particularly strong on regions outside of metropolitan areas, which may [...] Read more.
In recent decades, manufacturing industries in Europe have undergone a deep transformation due to global market competition, automation, and adaptation to globalized production patterns. The impact of deindustrialization and regional restructuring has been particularly strong on regions outside of metropolitan areas, which may be locked in their specific development path and cannot benefit from agglomeration effects. However, scholars are increasingly shifting their attention to processes of regional renewal, emphasizing the strengths and potentials of such regions. Such potentials holds the concept of Industrial Culture which is defined as a particular cultural setting made up of certain intangible assets, such as skills, attitudes, traditions, tangible monuments, and artefacts. Based on the case study of the district of Zwickau, the authors identify three dimensions of Industrial Culture. These cultural, social, and economic aspects can be underscored by different—albeit often overlapping—actions, opening up new development options for the region if embedded in a broad network of regional actors. Industrial Culture can thus be perceived as a strategic concept to form a coherent approach of regional development by integrating various existing activities in a region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns)
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21 pages, 3550 KiB  
Article
Between Industrialism and Postindustrialism—the Case of Small Towns in a Large Urban Region: The Katowice Conurbation, Poland
by Robert Krzysztofik, Iwona Kantor-Pietraga and Franciszek Kłosowski
Urban Sci. 2019, 3(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3030068 - 12 Jul 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4790
Abstract
The socio-economic transformation of (post)mining towns takes different forms and follows varied pathways. This obvious fact acquires a different significance in a region that is a polycentric urban conurbation whose growth was based on coal mining and industry. Particularly as concerns small towns, [...] Read more.
The socio-economic transformation of (post)mining towns takes different forms and follows varied pathways. This obvious fact acquires a different significance in a region that is a polycentric urban conurbation whose growth was based on coal mining and industry. Particularly as concerns small towns, which are a minority in it in terms of numbers. This paper attempts to present the issue based on the cases of two small towns, Lędziny and Radzionków, located in the Katowice conurbation in southern Poland. While having similar mining origins, the towns currently represent two radically different paths of economic development. Both mentioned towns are developing relatively well. However, certain threats to their growth are also revealed: social functional, environmental and even political. A closer inspection of both is important in that the two small towns are examples of two extremities in the region, between which other types of towns undergoing socio-economic transformation are situated. The selected examples also indicate that a small (post)mining town does not necessarily have to be ‘the place that don’t matter’. Additionally, an important conclusion is that despite many objective barriers, a small town in a mining region can follow a line of development based on the industry 4.0 concept. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative Futures of Small Industrial Towns)
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