TY - JOUR

T1 - Urban development beyond a centre-periphery dichotomy

T2 - An analysis of small and medium-sized towns in Denmark

AU - Fertner, Christian

AU - Hansen, Høgni Kalsø

AU - Winther, Lars

N1 - Funding Information: This study is based on the ESPON project TOWNS DENMARK, conducted in 2022 (https://www.espon.eu/towns%20Denmark). We want to thank the ARL Working Group Small Towns in Metropolitan Areas for organising a seminar on the topic and for providing valuable feedback on earlier versions of the study. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Politecnico di Torino. All rights reserved.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - There is growing European policy interest in the potential of small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) to contribute to more balanced territorial development. National policy in Denmark has only recently begun to address SMSTs directly. Often, the development of SMSTs is reduced to either being part of larger urban regions or, in the case of rural areas, hidden behind broader regional development agendas. A key research question is therefore which development paths can be detected beyond the growth–decline dichotomy. Against this backdrop, the ESPON TOWN DENMARK project (2022) juxtaposed general trends of growth and decline in population and employment in Danish SMSTs with other aspects such as demography, education, industry, service provision and regional position. We develop and apply an analytical typology adding more nuances to SMST pathways within and outside metropolitan areas.

AB - There is growing European policy interest in the potential of small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) to contribute to more balanced territorial development. National policy in Denmark has only recently begun to address SMSTs directly. Often, the development of SMSTs is reduced to either being part of larger urban regions or, in the case of rural areas, hidden behind broader regional development agendas. A key research question is therefore which development paths can be detected beyond the growth–decline dichotomy. Against this backdrop, the ESPON TOWN DENMARK project (2022) juxtaposed general trends of growth and decline in population and employment in Danish SMSTs with other aspects such as demography, education, industry, service provision and regional position. We develop and apply an analytical typology adding more nuances to SMST pathways within and outside metropolitan areas.

KW - demography

KW - employment

KW - regional development

KW - service provision

KW - Towns

KW - typology

KW - mellemstore byer

KW - mindre byer

UR - https://journals.polito.it/index.php/EJSD/article/view/338

U2 - 10.5281/zenodo.11387018

DO - 10.5281/zenodo.11387018

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85195556083

VL - 21

SP - 63

EP - 81

JO - European Journal of Spatial Development

JF - European Journal of Spatial Development

SN - 1650-9544

IS - 2

ER -