History Main / DyingTown

* Winterhold in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' was once a grand, vibrant city that rivaled Solitude and Whiterun in sheer glamor and splendor. Then an earthquake sent 99.9% of the city (and indeed, the Hold itself) into the ocean. No one knows what exactly caused what became known as the Great Collapse, but many people, including the current Winterhold Jarl, believes that the Mage College is connected somehow. Ironically, the College itself is now the only reason anyone still cares about Winterhold. The replacement Jarl (if the Imperials win the Civil War) recognizes the reality of the situation and wants to foster good relations with the College.
** Ivarstead is also dying a slow death. One man is reluctant to allow his daughter to go to Riften with her new paramour partly because Ivarstead will have no future if more of the younger generation leaves. The main attraction of Ivarstead is that it is the closest settlement to the mountain where the legendary Gray-beards reside.

See also the WrongSideOfTheTracks.

The economy, meanwhile, probably hinges on monthly benefits payments, and the local Wal-Mart is likely the de facto town meeting place. The few jobs that do still exist are either part-time and pay minimum wage with little or no benefits, or full-time unskilled labor positions that pay poorly, and have limited opportunities for advancement that are largely contingent on who you are due to rampant nepotism and cronyism; unless they belong to or are associated with one of a select few dynastic local families, they simply do not have a shot at rising through the ranks. If there is a decent-paying job available that doesn't require higher education or specialized training, it's probably dangerous, unpleasant (mining or waste disposal), and likely to necessitate an early retirement due to the physical toll that it takes.

Easily spotted by the number of businesses that are shuttered or boarded up, particularly on its main thoroughfare. The streets are nearly empty of vehicles, and the few businesses still remaining are liquor stores, a pawnshop, a check-cashing/car title loan business, or fast-food places selling PovertyFood. The grass hasn't been cut around quite a few houses, which often have a barking dog tied to a cinderblock, inoperable, vehicles and/or appliances rusting on the lawn, along with litter. Some lawns have ornaments that are considered "tacky," or holiday decorations unironically left in place even though it's August, and [[LowerClassLout inhabitants]] who spend their days sitting out front in cheap plastic lawn chairs with a cigarette perpetually clutched between two outstretched fingers and a cheap beer in the other hand.

The economy, meanwhile, probably hinges on monthly benefits payments, and the local Wal-Mart is likely the de facto town meeting place. The few jobs that do still exist are either part-time and pay minimum wage with little or no benefits, or full-time unskilled labor positions that pay poorly, and have limited opportunities for advancement that are largely contingent on who you are due to rampant nepotism and cronyism - unless people belong to or are associated with one of a select few dynastic local families, they simply do not have a shot at rising through the ranks. If there is a decent-paying job available that doesn't require higher education or specialized training, it's probably dangerous, unpleasant (mining or waste disposal), and likely to necessitate an early retirement due to the physical toll that it takes.

* In the first ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'', [[spoiler: as a way of deconstructing OneHundredPercentCompletion, the titular town becomes this if you 100% the game (with people losing interest after Etria's main attraction, the labyrinth, not having any mysteries anymore)]].

* Big chunks of rural America are filled with places like this. In the 1870s, over 70 percent of the population worked in agriculture; today, it's around 0.8-1.3 percent (depending on how you count seasonal labor and migrating farmhands). This is mostly due to changes in technology of a hundred different kinds: scientific advances have made farmland much more efficient, transportation technology and infrastructure have made it possible to keep food fresh longer and get it farther in that time, machines do the work of multiple people... so all the people who used to work in rural areas now live in suburban or urban areas, so rural areas are now populated much more sparsely than they once were.
** A lot of small farming towns in the Great Plains feature mostly-boarded-up downtowns and an average population age in the 50's or older. Parts of the (much drier) High Plains fared even worse and completed the transition to full-on GhostTown.

** Columbus, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}, since its economy is heavily tied to [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] Ohio State University (the largest single college campus in the US) and the state government rather than any specific industry that would be at the mercy of economic trends.

Easily spotted by the number of businesses that are shuttered or boarded up, particularly on its main thoroughfare. The streets are nearly empty of vehicles, and the grass hasn't been cut around quite a few houses. Quite a few of the houses will have a barking dog tied to a cinderblock, inoperable, vehicles and/or appliances rusting on the lawn, possibly some lawn ornaments that are considered "tacky," or holiday decorations unironically left in place even though it's August, and [[LowerClassLout inhabitants]] who spend their days sitting out front in cheap plastic lawn chairs with a cigarette perpetually clutched between two outstretched fingers and a cheap beer in the other hand.

A town that has lost its main reason for existing, or the industry or support systems it needs to thrive. As a result, it's losing its inhabitants far faster than they're replaced and there is little income for the residents. The town's tax base is also drying up, so there's barely any public services. Trash is rarely collected and the riads are potholed. If this continues to its logical end, this community will become a GhostTown.

A town that has lost its main reason for existing, or the industry or support systems it needs to thrive. As a result, it's losing its inhabitants far faster than they're replaced and there is little income for the residents. The town's tax base is also drying up, so there's barely any public services. If this continues to its logical end, this community will become a GhostTown.

A town that has lost its main reason for existing, or the support systems it needs to thrive. As a result, it's losing its inhabitants far faster than they're replaced. If this continues to its logical end, this community will become a GhostTown.

Easily spotted by the number of buildings that are shuttered or boarded up, particularly on its main thoroughfare. The streets are nearly empty of vehicles, and the grass hasn't been cut around quite a few houses. Quite a few of said houses will have a barking dog tied to a cinderblock, inoperable vehicles and/or appliances in varying degrees of decay rusting on the lawn, possibly some lawn ornaments that are considered "tacky," or holiday decorations unironically left in place even though it's August, and [[LowerClassLout inhabitants]] who spend their days sitting out front in cheap plastic lawn chairs with a cigarette perpetually clutched between two outstretched fingers and a cheap beer in the other hand.

The economy, meanwhile, probably hinges on monthly benefits payments, and the local Wal-Mart is likely the de facto town meeting place. The few jobs that do still exist are either part-time and pay minimum wage with little or no benefits, or full-time unskilled labor positions that pay terribly, and have limited opportunities for advancement that are largely contingent on who you are due to rampant nepotism and cronyism - unless people belong to or are associated with one of a select few dynastic local families, they simply do not have a shot at rising through the ranks. If there is a decent-paying job available that doesn't require higher education or specialized training, it's probably dangerous, unpleasant, and likely to necessitate an early retirement due to the physical toll that it takes.

Most of the inhabitants will be older folks, safely retired or desperately holding on to what few remaining jobs there are. There are relatively few younger adults--most have fled to greener pastures, and the remaining ones are either uneducated, dedicated to something in the town, or resent being trapped by obligations. The teenagers and children are likewise mostly [[SmallTownBoredom interested in leaving as soon as they can manage it]], and woe betide the kid whose parents inexplicably decide to move to Dying Town from the big city. Worse still is the kid who had a good shot at leaving, but wound up getting yanked right back in by circumstances (frequently a CareerEndingInjury, an unplanned pregnancy, an economic downturn that affects even the places where there ''were'' better opportunities, or ailing parents), and never recovered.

*** By the time of ''Higurashi: When They Cry Rei'', Hinamizawa is even ''worse''. The population's dwindled heavily since the 80s, and the town's aversion to outsiders had only made it worse. he Kimiyoshi family had been experimenting with ways to get the town back on its feat, but in response got 500 members of the Polaris community as new citizens instead. It still causes a lot of friction between the new and old residents.

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'': Lordlake. Once a beautiful and popular tourist destination in [[TheKingdom Falena]], it was reduced to a scorched, dust-filled hellhole after being declared a pariah city in the aftermath of the Lordlake Incident. Most the original inhabitants left, leaving only the infirm and the stubborn in the city.[[spoiler: Fortunately, thanks to the actions of the protagonists during the Godwin war, Lordlake was revived and the population is working hard to restore the place to its former glory.]]

** The {{Expy}} of [[CityOfCanals Venice]] in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] is dying in two senses - it's sinking under the water (and will be gone in a decade), which is causing people to leave it in droves. The only thing that brings any money to the town anymore is [[ClassyCatBurglar Psiren]].

* Big chunks of rural America are filled with places like this. In the 1870s, over 70 percent of the population worked in agriculture. Today, it's around 3 percent or less. This is mostly due to changes in technology of a hundred different kinds: scientific advances have made farmland much more efficient, transportation technology and infrastructure have made it possible to keep food fresh longer and get it farther in that time, machines do the work of multiple people... so all the people who used to work in rural areas now live in suburban or urban areas, so rural areas are now populated much more sparsely than they once were.

* Radiator Springs from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''. Once a waypoint along Route 66, it was bypassed when the interstate was built and siphoned away all their traffic and customers. The musical number "Our Town" depicts its decline from a thriving community.

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

** Much of the economy in Hitokui Village has been dependent on a bio-chemical research lab, so there was more population within the village when there was more funding for lab research(es) during WWII and the population decreased after much of the funding for lab researching got pulled out or dried up after WWII.