The disciplines of urban planning and urban design emerged in response to the rapid growth of cities in the late 19th and early-20th centuries, developing technical and legal mechanisms primarily intended to control and direct growth.

However, cities in many parts of the world have been losing population over the last several decades, due to economic restructuring and urban sprawl. These chronically shrinking cities present new challenges to political leaders and planners, but also new opportunities for reclaiming vacant land.

The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative's "Shrinking Cities" initiative is a practice-based program of research and public engagement focused on the aging industrial cities of Northeast Ohio. The initiative will include design charrettes, studio exercises, research into best practices, symposia, publications and international exchanges that place the region's cities in the national and international context of efforts to engage creatively with chronic urban population loss and disinvestment, as well as the design approaches emerging under the rubric of "landscape urbanism."

For more information, visit http://www.cudc.kent.edu/d-Service-Learning/Shrinking/index.html.

Charles Waldheim, Director, Master of Landscape Architecture and Associate Dean
Charles Fredrick, College of Architectural and Environmental Design
Shane Coen, Coen & Partners Landscape Architects
Patty Stevens, Chief of Park Planning, Cleveland MetroParks
Terry Schwarz, Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio