Governance and Peripherisation in Shrinking German Cities

1. Matthias Bernt, 25/01/2013 ESRC Seminar „Small Cities in the Big Society“ Grant machines, instead of growth machines – What drives governance in shrinking German cities?

2. Outline • Theoretical background • Research Design • Responses to Peripherisation Sangerhausen • Conclusions

3. Theoretical Background • Debate on “shrinking cities” (Osswalt 2005, Turok/ Mykhnenko 2007, Pallagst et.al 2011) which focuses on adapting cities to a smaller population size • Concepts of „growth machines“ (Logan/ Molotch 1987), „entrepreneurial cities“ (Harvey 1989), „neoliberalization“ (Brenner/ Theodore 2003), „austerity urbanism“ (Peck 2012) which argue that an orientation of city politics towards business interests has become the dominant model of urban development politics

4. Core questions • How does peripherisation impact on governance? • Which are the implication of governance structures for dealing with peripherisation ? Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten

5. Shrinkage and Peripherisation in Sangerhausen Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten

6. Revenues in Sangerhausen‘s Municipal Budget (Euro/capita)

7. Revenues and Expenses in Sangerhausen‘s Municipal Budget Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten

8. Major development projects • Economic develoment: designation of business parks (early 1990ies), development of a rose-exhibition, designation of an area for industrial development (2008), highway access (2009) • Urban renewal: Renewal of the historical inner-city (until 2001), demolition of housing oversupply (since 2001) • Territorial reform: incorporation of surrounding municipalites with the aim of safeguarding the status of a county capital (2007) Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten

9. Governance structures • Proactive development approach and highly competitive development politics, yet targeted on raising state ressources • Small group of decision-makers, mainly from different levels of government • high relevance of „connections“ with decision-makers at the state-level (intra-governmental networks) • Strong orientation towards long-term relations of trust and reliability Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten

10. Interview SGH 12, former politician „Here, in Sangerhausen, we were unified and we had a strong will, so that not even the Green Party would dare to disagree with the highway (plans). … and it was this unity that made it finally possible to win … Money was there, in the 1990s and so it had to be burned. And for this you need the right plans, and you need the right resolutions and you can‘t allow much room for manouvre. If you start the whole thing with discussions and arguments, it will only become an annoyance for everybody. That‘s logical. Thus, only unity leads to arriving at your goal.“

11. Conclusions: • Deindustrialisation and population loss have led to an orientation towards upper state scales, with the aim of „channeling“ ressources to the cities • This nexus impacts on local governance structures with the result of „grant machines“, instead of growth machines“ • The actual functioning of these depends both on national state support , and on local social capital and networks • Chances for creative and strategic approaches are limited Leitprojekt Abteilung Regenerierung von Städten