Vacancy in town. Shops, houses, public facilities.
Many windows in smaller german towns are veiled, behind them yawning void.

The phenomenon of „Shrinking Towns“ that I covered through the example of the Lower Saxony town Stadthagen, occurs in many german areas. The dying retail industry is an important factor through which the cities loose attractively as well as economic strength. Not only through the rise of online trade, but also because of the so called donut-effect, where people and stores move to the newly built developing areas at the fringe of town, leads to the dying of city centers.

What stays are empty stores and apartments, poorly plastered with foil or close-drawn curtains. In the windows reflects is left: A shrinking town.

* GER, 2017