A third of the Danish municipalities experience decline in population and economic activities, which is especially apparent in the rural areas. The typical planning response is to apply growth-fixated strategies to attract citizens and businesses to counteract decline.
This project a case study is conducted to investigate the planning approach of Lolland Municipality and Hjørring Municipality, which have experienced decline in population since the Municipal Reform in 2007. These two municipalities apply planning approaches that differ from the approach promoted by the growth-fixated, predominant planning paradigm in the way they respond to decline. This study examines if there has been a paradigm shift that affects how municipalities experiencing decline plan for their rural areas.
This study shows that there has been a change in the municipalities to how they perceive and plan for decline. This change indicates that a new paradigm different from the predominant planning paradigm is evident in the municipalities’ approaches to planning for decline. The new paradigm is however differently implemented in the two cases with regard to who the municipalities plan for their rural areas. Furthermore, the paradigm is implemented to different degrees in the two municipalities, and the study concludes that even though a new paradigm is evident in how the municipalities plan for decline, it does not automatically change how they plan for rural districts