evidence: Regionally, the Northeast and Midwest will most likely be the most heavily affected by depopulation, the authors found. And on a state level, Vermont and West Virginia will be the hardest hit, with more than 80 percent of cities in each of these two states shrinking. Illinois, Mississippi, Kansas, New Hampshire and Michigan could also see about three quarters of their cities decline in population. [...] He appreciates, though, that the paper calls attention to future depopulation in general, which he agrees the data do support. "These are not isolated problems to the Detroits of the world," he says. "Depopulation is everywhere, and the paper is right to demand that cities face this fact and begin to honestly prepare for this possible future." The authors hope that their paper serves as a wake-up call to policy makers to begin moving away from growth-based planning and to start finding place-specific solutions for cities that are likely to depopulate in the years ahead. "We should see this not as a problem but as an opportunity to rethink the way we do things," Derrible says. "It’s an opportunity to be more creative."