Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

In our 2011 paper “The bounds of smart decline: a foundational theory for planning shrinking cities,” we outline five propositions for just planning processes in cities losing population: inclusion, deliberation, recognition, transparency, and scale-appropriateness. Each proposition addresses a perceived weakness of planning processes in shrinking cities, and with each we list a set of actions planners can take in “moving the dial” toward more just outcomes. In this article, we test this theory to what we call Baltimore’s Abandoned Housing Strategy, a series of citywide policy interventions intended to facilitate the productive reuse of vacant and abandoned properties. Through a …