In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Cleveland had lost nearly 20,000 residents in just five years. The city’s population of 458,684 was the lowest in nearly one hundred years.

Now, a cutting-edge global investigation brings light to the consequences of suburbanization, de-industrialization, and a number of other factors contributing to the growing issue of shrinking cities. Researchers investigate and document the changed cultural reality of urban population decline as they highlight themes including neglect, appropriation of spaces, changed practices of daily life and survival strategies.

Shrinking Cities examines the worldwide phenomenon of urban population decline. Part one (Research), which will be on display at the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, explores the global patterns of shrinkage, as well as the change in urban landscapes, everyday practices and political implications. Part two (Interventions), appearing at SPACES Gallery, features alternative models of intervention and self-empowerment strategies for action.

Shrinking Cities is a project of the German Federal Cultural Foundation under the direction of Philipp Oswalt and in cooperation with the Project office Philipp Oswalt, Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and magazine archplus.

The project website is at www.shrinkingcities.com.

The Shrinking Cities exhibition tour is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation [Kulturstiftung des Bundes].

The Shrinking Cities exhibition and programming at SPACES and CUDC is supported by the Cleveland Colectivo; The Cleveland Foundation; Cleveland Public Art; The George Gund Foundation; Levin College Forum Program at Cleveland State University; Look Up to Cleveland; Kent H. Smith Charitable Trust; Neighborhood Progress, Inc.; the Ohio Planning Conference/Cleveland Section; with major support from the the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties.