Depopulation and shrinkage are a common socio-spatial phenomenon in many Northern localities and are frequently accompanied by a stigmatization of the affected localities and their populations. This editorial introduces the special issue on depopulation and shrinkage in a Northern context that takes its point of departure from the Nordic Geographers Meeting 2022 on multiple geographies and its keynote lecture by Josefina Syssner on the question: What can geographers do for shrinking geographies? The special issue displays a range of contributions from Northern context that discuss and evaluate the heterogenous processes of shrinking localities from multiple perspectives within and beyond geography. Through broad, yet empirically detailed and multiscalar focused assessments it stresses that shrinkage as a phenomenon is a fundamental character of Nordic and other societies, which requires a rethinking and should be acknowledged as a ‘natural’ development trajectory in planning and development.

This paper aims to contribute to practice and research by discussing the potential of place-based policies in public goods provision in areas facing long-term population decline. In the paper, it is argued that local governments in shrinking communities ought to develop explicit and transparent local adaptation policies, but that such policies must be embedded in state goals of territorial equality and cohesion. It is also argued that these policy objectives must be integrated with local policy goals of economic sustainability. Four ideal types of place-based interventions are presented - structural interventions, financial interventions, interventions that enable place-based innovation, and interventions that specifically address human capital needs. In the paper, it is concluded that these interventions need to be designed to be mutually reinforcing, even if they are implemented by different actors at different levels of government and pursuing different policy goals. The paper draws on an extensive reading of the international literature on long-term population decline and on field studies conducted in a Swedish, Nordic, and to some extent Northern European context. 

For parts of the sparsely populated areas, the trends of globalisation, urbanisation and deindustrialisation constitute difficult circumstances. Population decline, escalating dependency ratios, lack of human and financial resources, and diminishing commercial and public services form part of lived experience in many of these areas. This paper discusses what geographers can do for these territories. The paper suggests that geographers can aid in understanding and demonstrating (a) how resources have been distributed in space over time and (b) why patterns of resource distribution take the shape they do. Geographers can also illuminate (c) what it means to live, work, and operate in shrinking, rural territories. Geographers could also (d) make implicit geographical imaginations explicit, (e) elucidate how shrinkage is dealt with by various policy actors, and (f) point to alternative policy directions. The paper also suggests that geographers in the Nordic countries could enrich an international research field of studies of shrinkage by (g) providing case studies or comparative studies from a Nordic context

Citizen dialogues and other participatory practices are basically the norm in contemporary spatial planning. Nonetheless, what happens to citizen input after it has been collected – how it is handled and utilized by planners in the continuation of the planning process – has been described as a ‘black box’, where most stakeholders lack insight. The aim of this explorative study is to open this black box and examine how citizen input is handled by local planning professionals. This practice lacks a common language and form among the studied municipalities, but the analysis reveals that it takes the form of a ‘sorting process’ in which input is categorized, evaluated and structured in preparation for its integration into final plans. The paper outlines the basic logics and considerations that guide this sorting process, and distinguishes between two modes, which have been termed ‘inclusive’ and ‘selective’ sorting. These modes determine how input is categorized and assessed. The analysis indicates that multiple micro-decisions are made throughout the sorting process, and that these decisions influence the input that reaches formal decision-making bodies, and in what form. The results reveal the power exercised by municipal planning actors and how they affect the destiny of the received citizen input.

Den här rapporten följer det särskilda statsbidrag som Tillväxtverket fördelat till 39 kommuner inom Stödområde A, som består av gles- och landsbygdskommuner i Norra Sverige. Det riktade statsbidraget innebär att kommunerna under perioden 2018–2020 får drygt fem miljoner vardera som ska användas till att utveckla företagsklimatet och det lokala näringslivet. Kommunerna har stor frihet att bestämma hur pengarna ska användas. Rapporten syftar mer specifikt till att fördjupa förståelsen för vilka problem som kommunerna vill lösa med hjälp av det statliga bidrag de tilldelats. För att uppfylla detta syfte, besvaras följande forskningsfråga: Vilka problembeskrivningar kan urskiljas i kommunernas ansökningar och lägesrapporter, och i de åtgärder och initiativ som presenteras där? Det empiriska materialet utgörs i huvudsak av kommunernas projektmedelansökningar från 2018 och lägesrapporter för verksamhetsåren 2018 och 2019.

Vår analys visar att kommunerna sammantaget ger uttryck för att de har att hantera 1) kännedomsproblem, 2) kompetensproblem, 3) bemötande-problem, 4) tillgänglighetsproblem, 5) identitets- och attitydproblem och 6) normproblem – och att dessa problem utgör hinder för näringslivs-utveckling i kommunen. En slutsats är att de problem som kommunerna identifierar ofta hänger samman. Demografiska utmaningar i form avvikande befolkningsunderlag leder bland annat till problem med kompetens-försörjning. Ytterligare en slutsats är att de problemformuleringar som ligger till grund för kommunernas insatser ofta är vaga och outtalade. Vi hittar många utsagor som beskriver de insatser som gjorts, men färre utsagor om varför insatserna görs, eller vilka problem som de ska lösa. Här bidrar vår genomgång till att lyfta fram och tydliggöra de problemföreställningar som förefaller ligga till grund för det lokala näringslivsarbetet.

Vi lyfter även fram att få – om ens några – insatser riktas mot de äldre i samhället. Detta är intressant då en majoritet av kommunerna ger en nuläges-beskrivning som innefattar en åldrande befolkning och stora pensionsvågor. Med andra ord beskrivs de äldre ofta i problembeskrivningen, men sällan som en del av lösningen.

De insatser som vi uppmärksammat handlar om att göra saker som kan ske inom kommunernas handlingsram, det vill säga inom ett område som kommunerna har rådighet och kan verka. Vår genomgång bidrar därför till att öka förståelsen för vad kommuner i gles- och landsbygd uppfattar att de kan göra för att främja det lokala näringslivet. Samtidigt kan vår genomgång väcka en diskussion om huruvida kommunerna faktiskt har kapacitet att förbättra näringslivsklimatet genom lokala insatser. Kanske avgörs det lokala näringslivets förutsättningar här i huvudsak av externa – strukturella – omständigheter. Kanske behöver åtgärder också vidtas på regional eller statlig nivå.

This chapter reflects on the conditions, capacities and goals for innovative planning in depopulating rural areas. The first argument is that conditions and capacities for planning are place and context specific. The second argument concerns a broadened and context-sensitive interpretation of what planning capacity means. The final argument is that planning goals should differ between dense, expanding urban areas and those areas that have experienced long-term depopulation. Currently, most municipalities opt for a growth strategy. This chapter suggests that municipalities also should invest in plans for demographic adaptation. In conclusion, this chapter suggests that if the conditions for planning are recognised, the planning capacity is sensibly interpreted, and the goals of planning are reconsidered, more efficient planning strategies can emerge in depopulating rural areas.

Several studies have examined how local governments respond to the implications of shrinkage. This article add to this knowledge by focusing on local governmental communication in processes of demographic decline. Hypothetically, local governments can contribute to a greater understanding of the causes and consequences of demographic decline, to greater legitimacy for the political decisions made in response, and to a vivid discussion of what the future could look like in shrinking community. Our results, drawn from a study in Sweden and in Germany, however suggest that local governmental communication is an expertocratic practice used to avoid conflict about future developments.

This book builds on case studies in depopulating and shrinking areas in Northern Europe. While most contemporary literature on shrinkage focuses on these issues from a planning standpoint, this book uniquely applies a policy perspective when approaching the material. The book assesses the potential of demographic adaptation policies to manage depopulation, that is, policy programs aiming at managing depopulation through adaptation, rather than through growth policies intended to foster population growth. In 6 chapters, the book acts as an up-to-date resource on demographic adaptation for master and Ph.D. students, researchers, and practitioners working in local and regional development, governance, and planning. Chapter 1 gives an overview of recent demographic trends in Northern Europe and introduces the theoretical differences between growth policy and adaptation policy. Chapter 2 accounts for the policy concept and introduces a framework for how local adaptation policies could be systematically analysed. Chapter 3 suggests that the Nordic welfare states exhibit two characteristics that prove to be relevant when discussing the consequences and policy implications of demographic decline, i.e. an extremely sparse population structure and an ambitious welfare assignment that in many respects has been devolved to the local level of government. Chapter 4 suggests that whether shrinkage constitutes a problem or not depends upon the interpretations of those in power, but also upon political, economic and geographic conditions Chapter 5 seeks to understand why local level policymakers avoid developing strategies for how to handle long-term population decline. Chapter 6 summarizes the points of the previous chapters, and concludes that local governments in shrinking areas ought to develop local adaptation policies. These policies, however, also need to be subjected to critical analysis, and the chapter introduces a model for how local adaptation policy priorities could be assessed in a more structured manner.

Depopulation is a major drawback for local government when it comes to managing technical infrastructure. In water and wastewater systems management, overcapacity is not only a problem in economic terms. In addition, it brings with it serious technical problems and can also cause health problems for residents. In the context of Sweden, previous studies have recognised that shrinking municipalities fail to plan for or to maintain their fixed assets adequately, despite clear goals and guidelines stating that each generation should pay its legitimate share of what municipal operations cost. Despite these clear policy goals, many shrinking municipalities in Sweden have not prioritised the maintenance of fixed assets in water and wastewater. We know that these problems exist, but we know little about what lies behind them. This paper seeks to address this knowledge gap. By drawing upon theories of failure in public policy and administration and a case study of the municipality of Laxå, this paper seeks to arrive at a deeper understanding of policy failures in water systems management in shrinking municipalities in Sweden. The paper discusses three interrelated research questions: (a) What kind of failure are we dealing with here; (b) What organizational behaviours preceded the policy failure itself; and (c) What are the conditions that precipitated the observed failure(s)?