Call for Papers Thematic Issue 32: Shrinking Cities
Shrinking cities are certainly not a new research topic, especially in the context of the so called “global North”. Urban settlements experiencing economic, demographic and cultural decline or stagnation have been attracting the attention of urban planners, urban sociologists, economic and social geographers, and other scholars for decades now. Even if to a lesser extent, post-industrial towns with “fading functions” in the post-socialist “global East” have also become a subject of research in recent years (e.g. Haase, Rink and Grossman 2016, Wu, Gunko, Stryjakiewisz and Zhou 2022, Gunko 2025). The focus of research, however, has most often been the policy-making and urban planning perspective, taking a look from above at the factors accountable for urban shrinkage, and, accordingly at the strategies for “saving” shrinking cities, including specific measures to promote demographic and economic growth, policies for urban regeneration and development, etc., whereas the anthropological perspective – the view from below at the stories, everyday life and experiences of the inhabitants of shrinking cities – has been largely overlooked. This is precisely the direction we would like to pursue in the next thematic issue of the journal.
We look forward to receiving original research articles making empirical and/or theoretical contribution and discussing a wide range of research questions related to the anthropology of shrinking cities, such as, for instance: How do the inhabitants of these settlements meet and adapt to the challenges associated with the demographic collapse, economic stagnation, neglected infrastructure, deteriorating quality of the urban environment, limited cultural and social life, and shrinking educational opportunities? How are the symptoms of urban decay experienced, rationalized, and interpreted: on an individual level – in the everyday life and personal biographies of the inhabitants, as well as on a community level – in the collective images, representations and visions of the town? Which are the main narrative schemes upon which personal accounts of living in a shrinking city are built? To what extent do these stories reflect the romantic notion of living in a “withering” city, on the one hand, and its negatively stigmatized image, on the other? How are the utopian visions for the town’s prosperity inherited from the socialist past being reworked in the present and with what new horizons for the future development of the town do they coexist? Is it possible that the difficulties faced by people living in shrinking cities could mobilize grassroots civic initiatives or “do-it-yourself” solutions to specific problems? Does the town’s present give rise only to pessimistic stories and visions? Can a shrinking town be seen also as an opportunity – for example, for a better quality of life and sustainable development in line with the concept of “smart shrinkage”?
This, in fact, is also an invitation to continue the discussion on a number of topics raised in past issues of the journal which mark the lasting engagement of cultural studies with the city as a particularly fascinating research terrain: “Do It Yourself City” (Issue 2), “Small Town Stories” (Issue 5), “The City as a Stage” (Issue 10A), “The City as a Front” (Issue 10B), and “Urban Nature” (Issue 30).
Issue Editor: Svetla Kazalarska
References:
Gunko, Maria (2025). ‘Postsocialism through the lens of shrinking cities and urban infrastructure’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 66 (6), 697-704.
Haase, Annegret, Dieter Rink and Katrin Grossman (2016). ‘Shrinking cities in post-socialist Europe: What can we learn from their analysis for theory building today?’, Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 98 (4), 305-319.
Wu, Chung-Tong, Maria Gunko, Tadeusz Stryjakiewisz and Kai Zhou (eds.) (2022). Postsocialist Shrinking Cities. London and New York: Routledge.
Deadlines and guidelines:
Deadline for submitting articles: September 15th, 2026
Expected publication date: December 31st, 2026
We encourage authors to register on the platform and submit their articles directly through this link, or to e-mail them to: seminar_bg@phls.uni-sofia.bg.
The journal also accepts research articles on free topics. The submitted manuscripts are reviewed at any time (regardless of the deadlines for the thematic issues) and after undergoing a double-blind peer review process, they are included in a separate section of each issue.
