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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Redefining the Urban Landscape

    A new movement for grappling with dying cities has emerged in recent years. Instead of just coping with the wreckage of decline, it focuses on intentionally shrinking cityscapes. Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors, has seen its population shrink from 200,000 in 1965 to just 110,000 people.

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    KCRW placeholderBy Sara Terry • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    A new movement for grappling with dying cities has emerged in recent years. Instead of just coping with the wreckage of decline, it focuses on intentionally shrinking cityscapes. Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors, has seen its population shrink from 200,000 in 1965 to just 110,000 people. Now it's taking charge of the urban landscape before it falls into ruins. It's created a land bank that allows government officials to act quickly on abandoned properties and to turn some of the land over to Mother Nature. What lessons can be learned from Flint? Can urban decline be turned into a new kind of urban renewal? Instead of planned shrinkage, should cities be planning for new kinds of growth?

    The full episode

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    Honey, I Shrunk the City: Bold Ideas for Declining Urban Centers
    1. 0:00UN Approves Tough New Sanctions for North Korea
    2. 7:51Redefining the Urban LandscapeYou’re reading this
    3. 43:33Hockey Just Doesn’t Get No Respect
    • KCRW placeholder

      Sara Terry

      The Aftermath Project

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

    • KCRW placeholder

      Christian Bordal

      Managing Producer, Greater LA

    • KCRW placeholder

      Dan Kildee

      Chairman, Genesee County Land Bank

    • KCRW placeholder

      Randal O’Toole

      Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sam Staley

      Florida State University

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Honey, I Shrunk the City: Bold Ideas for Declining Urban Centers
    1. 0:00UN Approves Tough New Sanctions for North Korea
    2. 7:51Redefining the Urban LandscapeYou’re reading this
    3. 43:33Hockey Just Doesn’t Get No Respect
    Back to To the Point