Shrinking cities and their urban impacts: the case of Matale, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Shrinking is not a new occurrence. Literature shows that it results serious social and economic issues leading to population decline and in the worse cases, complete abandonment of blocks of housing, whole neighborhoods or entire towns have happened. Analysis of urban shrinkage takes into the consideration of built and spatial forms of cities and this is a global and multidimensional phenomena. However, little is understood of true manifestations of this process. Thus, as the world’s population increasingly becomes urban, the accepted view of urban decline needs greater understanding. It instantly expresses on built structures and later spatially. The understanding of the urban decline though which is not a common occurrence in the Sri Lankan context is important to explore how the physical and social structures of the city changes in the process of its decline and its negative effects, outcomes and the underlying causes. Matale City in Sri Lanka is a case for this.