In
urban planning in the
United States,
planned shrinkage is a controversial
public policy of the deliberate withdrawal of city services to blighted neighborhoods as a means of coping with dwindling tax revenues. This should not be confused with
shrink to survive, which demolishes already empty neighborhoods to return them to rural use. Planned shrinkage involves decreasing city services such as police patrols, garbage removal, street repairs, and fire protection, from selected city neighborhoods suffering from
urban decay,
crime, and
poverty. While it has been advocated as a way to concentrate city services for maximum effectiveness given serious budgetary constraints, it has been criticized as an attempt to "encourage the exodus of undesirable populations" as well as to open up blighted neighborhoods for development by private interests. Planned shrinkage was mentioned as a development strategy for the
South Bronx section of
New York City in the 1970s, and more recently for another urban area in the
United States, the city of
New Orleans. The term was first used in
New York City in 1976 by Housing Commissioner Roger Starr.