All rights reservedVancutsem, Didier2024-08-162024-08-162010978-83-7493-570-8https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/1837Book of proceedings: Urban change : The prospect of transformationThe most pressing problems in urban development in Germany today are the impact of demographic and economic change (decrease of population, ageing, diversification and immigration; globalisation, deregulation and internationalisation of markets, deindustrialisation, privatisation and rise in unemployment). Demographically, Germany’s 82.5 million population will soon be on the decline (Tab. 2). By the year 2050 it will fall to about 75 million, and assuming lower life expectancy and migration to around 67 million (about the population of the former West Germany including West Berlin). Despite calls to prevent these developments, demographic dynamics have inertia and make turning round impossible. The dramatic decline in household size means that half of them are single person households (most of them over 65) in large towns over 100.000 inhabitants. By 2020, there will be roughly an equal number of growing towns and towns with high population losses at the regional level of districts (Fig. 3). The number of young people (< 20 years old) will decline by almost 20% in the West by 2020, and in the East by 2010, while in rural areas the decline will be approx. 30%. The number of elderly people over 60 years will increase by 20% or more in the west and the east.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject246-259