Smart Shrinking Sado: Development Strategies in Shrinking Cities

Rapid urbanisation has resulted in shrinking cities around the world, and Japan is no exception. This thesis endeavours to understand the causes and consequences of, and prospects for, shrinking cities in Japan through a case study: the city of Sado. Sado faces the shrinking city phenomenon following deindustrialisation, deagriculturalisation and Japan‘s structure of high concentration. Within Sado, suburbanisation and peripherization is observed, draining the younger generation from the central areas they were traditionally found. For the revitalisation of Sado, this thesis proposes combined strategies of smart growth within the context of a shrinking city—potentially called ‗smart shrinkage‘—and a city branding campaign.