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Urban development in southern Europe differs from urbanization patterns observed in other affluent countries. Urbanization processes in the Mediterranean region reflect heterogeneous spatial forms and more similar socioeconomic dynamics. Rejecting a unique ‘Mediterranean city’ model, this study proposes a thorough analysis of post-war urban development in four southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) focusing on homogeneous patterns and possible sources of heterogeneity in spatio-temporal trends of individual city expansion. Urbanization without industrialization - boosted by the informal economy and the development of traditional services - has driven the growth of large cities through agglomeration economies enhanced by internal immigration. This trend has deflated shortly after the end of the baby boom, favoring slow dynamics towards spatially-balanced settlements and determining a recovery of medium-sized cities, which have been further consolidated with the economic crisis.

Whereas many cities in Europe experience a continuous process of urban growth, a considerable number of others have experienced long periods of urban shrinkage over recent decades. In many such cities this process is ongoing. However, in between these two poles of growth or shrinkage, there are cities with less pronounced trajectories. One such type is cities that underwent a phase of shrinkage but have more recently seen a recovery in population numbers. This 'turnaround' from shrinkage towards a stabilization, or even re-growth, has been increasingly reflected in the literature in recent years. Set against this background, the paper discusses and analyses the urban development trajectories of two European cities - Leipzig in Germany and Liverpool in the UK - cities of a similar size that underwent a phase of long-term shrinkage from the 1930s until the late 1990s (Leipzig), and even the 2000s (Liverpool). Recently, while both cities have stabilized their populations, and have seen a modest growth of some thousand people per year, this success has been heavily dependent on external public investment and cannot be explained simply by the assertions of popular urban development models.

Suburbanization has been a particularly significant process in transforming the metropolitan regions in Central and East European countries in the past two decades. Many critics emphasize the negative consequences of suburbanization, such as a low level of residential environment quality, and some of them anticipate that suburbanites' expectations would remain unfulfilled. Moreover, a growing body of literature describes the tendency for reurbanization and discusses the importance of back-to-the city moves. Few authors, however, have paid attention to the empirical evidence of the residential stability of suburban areas. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate the relationship between the quality of the suburban environment, the everyday life experiences associated with suburbia, and reurbanization tendencies. Various aspects of residential satisfaction and intentions to move in the medium term were analysed using data from a questionnaire survey which was carried out in three case study sites within Prague's hinterland. In addition, major differences between groups of potential \"stayers\" and \"movers\" were examined to reveal key factors which lie behind intentions to move from current suburban homes. The results suggested a relatively high degree of stability and a reasonable overall satisfaction of new suburbanites with their residential environment. They also indicated that trigger moments in the decision-making process were more closely related to the changing needs of households than the wider residential environment. Based on the research results, we were able to hypothesize that (1) a strong out-migration from the suburban zone is rather unlikely in the near future, and (2) only a small proportion of new suburbanites are likely to engage in the reurbanization process.

In recent years, land prices in Germany have skyrocketed to levels that were hardly thought possible. This has particularly affected prospering cities, where price increases of more than 100% have often been recorded since the turn of the millennium. The underlying causes are highly controversial. While some scholars point to the scarcity of developable land due to regulatory restrictions, others see the \"financialization\" of housing markets in the wake of the financial crisis and the massive influx of liquid capital into land and housing markets as the decisive driver. Against this background, this paper investigates the spatial patterns of land price dynamics in North Rhine-Westphalia during a phase of strong demographic and economic reurbanization. We used disaggregated data from the BORIS system for the years 2012 to 2024, which is available state-wide and georeferenced. Our empirical findings point to a significant trend of market polarization, with excessive growth rates in prospering metropolitan areas and real value losses in some rural areas. Overall, the paper offers new insights into the spatial patterns of urban land markets and possible driving factors explaining uneven developments. In den vergangenen Jahren sind die Bodenpreise in Deutschland in einer zuvor kaum vorstellbaren Weise gestiegen. Besonders betroffen sind prosperierende Großstädte, in denen sich die Preise seit der Jahrtausendwende häufig verdoppelt haben. Über die Hintergründe dieses Phänomens ist eine kontroverse Diskussion entstanden. Während einige Expertinnen und Experten auf die Knappheit an Bauland aufgrund von planerischen Restriktionen verweisen, halten andere Stimmen die \"Finanzialisierung\" der Wohnungsmärkte infolge der Finanzkrise und des Zustroms von anlagesuchendem Kapital für maßgeblich. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht dieser Beitrag die räumlichen Muster von Bodenpreisdynamiken in Nordrhein-Westfalen in der Phase einer starken demographischen und ökonomischen Reurbanisierung. Wir nutzen disaggregierte Daten des BORIS-Systems für die Jahre 2012 bis 2024, welche für das gesamte Land georeferenziert vorliegen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen einen signifikanten Trend einer Marktpolarisierung mit extrem starken Wachstumsraten in ökonomisch prosperierenden Stadtregionen und realen Wertverlusten in einigen ländlichen Gebieten. Unser Beitrag bietet einen neuen Einblick in die räumlichen Muster von Bodenmarktentwicklungen und mögliche Faktoren, die ungleiche Entwicklungen erklären können.

The article examines the paradox of urban governance in Poland’s five largest cities (excluding Warsaw)—Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, and Gdańsk—where municipal authorities articulate policies aimed at population retention and growth while simultaneously experiencing persistent suburbanization and demographic decline. Drawing on 13 semi‐structured interviews with high‐ranking city officials, transcribed and coded according to a semi‐standardized protocol, the article analyzes how local authorities in these cities approach the challenge and aspiration of population retention and reurbanization within increasingly challenging demographic contexts. The findings reveal a significant implementation gap between aspirational policy goals and actual governance capacities. City authorities recognize population retention as vital for maintaining tax revenues and urban vitality, yet their policy toolkit remains severely limited by several interrelated factors (insufficient regulatory authority within the fragmented planning system; contentious relationships with suburban municipalities; weak leverage over real estate developers, and ambiguous national policies incentivizing suburbanization). The study contributes to debates on shrinking cities by highlighting how governance limitations transform reurbanization from a potentially transformative policy framework into merely aspirational rhetoric. This governance gap illuminates why potential “spaces of possibility” remain unrealized despite awareness of demographic challenges and knowledge of possible interventions. By analyzing the interplay between institutional constraints, market forces, and municipal responses, this research advances understanding of the specific governance challenges facing post‐socialist cities and their metropolitan areas attempting to navigate demographic decline in contexts of planning deregulation and weak metropolitan governance.

After having lost population for some decades, many cities are experiencing a new growth. This paper addresses this reurbanisation phenomenon in the case of Switzerland. It argues that the demographic evolution of cities is not adequately explained by the 'stages of urban development' model that tends to consider urban regions as closed systems. It should rather be analysed by unfolding the underlying mechanisms that include housing consumption as well as in- and out-migration flows. Swiss cities have gained inhabitants since 2000 thanks to international migrants, young adults, non-family households and some parts of the middle to upper class. From a demographic point of view, families' residential behaviour remains the driving force of suburbanisation so that the population growth is still higher in suburbs than in cities.

During the last three decades, the countries of the developed world have been engulfed by the 'second demographic transition', which involves new family relations, less and later marriage, declining fertility rates, population ageing, postponement of child-bearing and smaller households, among other trends. It is being increasingly argued that such population dynamics are having a powerful transformative effect on the inner city, by diversifying and redensifying its social landscapes, and creating a 'splintered' urban form. Based on the findings of a recent EU Framework 5 research project, this paper investigates the demographic contingencies of this process—also known as reurbanisation—in four European cities: Leipzig (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bologna (Italy) and León (Spain). Analyses of census and municipal registry data, as well as on-site questionnaire surveys and interviews, have revealed that the reviewed cities are being populated with, and fragmented by, multiple migration trends and new household structures connected to the second demographic transition.

During the last three decades, the household has become the focus of a wide range of sociodemographic processes, including the destabilization of traditional patterns of marriage, cohabitation and divorce; the growing fluidity of ties of kin and friendship; and increasingly complex transitions through the life course. However, these dynamics - which are often summarized under the common heading of the `second demographic transition' - have been marginalized in the mainstream geographical literature. In this paper, we draw attention to the extensive, albeit fragmented, body of sociological, economic, feminist and geographical insights into the changing social geometry of the household. Recent developments in these domains have affirmed the pivotal role of the household in shaping the geographies of gender, home and everyday life. We underline the importance of households as agents of urban transformation, arguing in favour of the further incorporation of household demography into the interpretation of contemporary urban problems and trends.