Shrink Smart - The Governance of Shrinkage

The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ is a recognised centre of environmental research in Germany. Its Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology investigates interdependencies between social action and its different environments and has a long-standing experience in research on shrinking cities in Germany.
In the context of the SHRINK SMART project, the UFZ is the project-leader.

Researchers:

Dipl. Geogr. Thomas Arndt

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is a large modern university with more than 20,000 students. The SHRINKSMART research team is situated within the Faculty of Technology & Environment and have a track record in comparative European urban research.

Researchers:

Prof. Chris Couch
Matthew Cocks, PhD.

The Department of Human Geography and Regional Development at the University of Ostrava is one of the leading research institutions on matters of regional development in the Czech Republic. Its research activities cover e.g. the fields of regional development, urbanization and suburbanization; trends of deindustrialization and reindustrialization, labour migration and transnational labour markets, tourism and secondary housing. The University of Ostrava has good experiences in empirical research and developed expertise on the Ostrava and Moravian-Silesian Region.

Researchers:

RNDr. Petr Rumpel, Ph.D
Iva Tichá
Ondrej Slach

The Department of Economic Geography is a branch of the Faculty of Earth Sciences (Geography and Geology) at the University of Silesia. Its research focuses on the explanation of urban development, spatial analyses on geographical elements of urbanized areas, social problems in metropolitan areas, urban historical geography and the geography of industry.

Researchers:

prof dr Jerzy Runge
dr Robert Krzysztofik

The New Economic Geography Group at the University of Nottingham research theme has a vibrant and dynamic research culture, advancing conceptual and empirical agendas in cultural and relational approaches to the analyses of economic phenomena in contemporary globalization.

Researcher:

Dr. Vlad Mykhnenko

University of Rome “La Sapienza” is the largest Italian University. The RiSMeS Departments use a well established approach of social research in which scientific methodology, empirical analysis and theory are strictly correlated. Points of particular strength are: urban studies, and research on local growth, environmental issues and urban security, multiculturalism and ethnic prejudice, social and activation policies evaluation, employment and new professions analysis, cultural studies and sociology of media.

Researchers:

Prof. Paolo Calza Bini
Alberto Violante, PhD
Caterina Cortese, PhD

The West University of Timisoara is in the first four academic institutions from Romania. The Department of Sociology-Anthropology was formed in 1990 and assures an academic specialization into two areas that did not have a relevant tradition into Romanian public space: sociology and anthropology.

Researchers:

Dr. Bogdan Nadolu
Dr. Dan Luches
Dr. Melinda Dinca

The Donetsk-based Industrial Economics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine originates is an independent academic research institution under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. The Institute’s major scientific research focus encompasses the following spheres of applied spatial economics: the stabilisation of financial and production dynamics in industrial firms in the Donbas region and beyond; industrial policy and mechanisms of its realisation; structural reforms in Ukraine’s industrial sector; innovative and investment processes; the government control of industrial development in a transitional economy; social labour relations and social consequences of market-oriented changes in mining and manufacturing.

Researchers:

Prof. Larysa Kuzmenko
Dr. Dmytro Medvedev
Myroslava Soldak