Actor constellations and uncertainties in decision-making for accommodating shrinkage

The challenge of shrinkage is a ‚complex urban governance process‘ (Hospers, 2014: 1514). This means that addressing shrinkage requires the involvement of many stakeholders, as these processes transform and affect all parts of people‘s lives (ibid).  Administrative barriers and rigid bureaucraties can be hindering when trying to involve various actors in the regeneration process. However, leaving specific actors out of the planning process can cause a loss of sense of belonging and identity in already challenging circumstances. The question of power relations within governance structures in shrinking cities therefore arises
and needs to be discussed critically. Simultaneously, national and/or local policy Frameworks and urban development plans set the necessary formal foundation for actions. From an actor-network perspective, such broad frameworks need to be analyzed in order to
discuss to what extent actors on the local level are affected by those.