Paper short abstract:

To respond to the serious socio-economic challenges the city of Helen and region of Parkstad is facing, the authors of this paper dissect the morphology of the city to discern the causes of its current predicaments, dynamism and its future potentials.

Paper long abstract:

Historically the river Rhine and the Meuse have acted not just as frontiers of separation between Germany to the east with Belgium and the Netherlands to the west, but form a delta that is a melting pot of oral and architectural histories, cultures, people, and ways of life. The region of Parkstad and the city of Heerlen, belongs to this border geography characterised by a strong mining history, and an entrepreneurial past. Today, like many of its contemporaries shaped through mining and industrialisation, the region faces economic and structural difficulties, a shrinking population, and is looking to reshape itself within the knowledge economy.

To respond to the serious socio-economic challenges the city and region, the authors of this paper dissect the socio-spatial morphology of the city to discern its current predicaments, dynamism, and its future potentials. By looking at the city and region as a mosaic of borders and languages, uniqueness of geography, industrial and mining activity, religion and people, the paper explores the inherent qualities of place, the analytical relevance needed to address shrinkage contextually.

With economic developments being one of the key drivers of effective planning, the authors through this paper put forward planning and design ideas that can improve urban aesthetics and social cohesion of a shrinking city. The authors envision that shifts in traditional planning tools through small incremental changes such as urban agriculture and co-creative initiatives of re-use are needed to examine the new realities and challenges facing the city of Heerlen.