The opposite of 'develop' for an area...

[Mehrgan]

Hi,

Could you please give me the opposite choices I can use for a, say, residential area? (Let's say it has been, deliberately, made smaller.)



(Now I'm curious to know what if it has reduced in size kind of naturally, without any authorities deciding so. Can "shrink" be an option here?!)

 

[J&K Tutoring]

About the only way(s) I can think of that a residential area could get smaller in a natural way would be if a river, earthquake, volcano, or landslide somehow took it away.

Since total area cannot get smaller (except as mentioned above), this kind of thing very rarely happens. An area might be rezoned, meaning some parts would have their allowable usage changed from residential to perhaps commercial. A city might annex part of an unincorporated area, but that tends more toward expanding. An area could be redistricted, meaning services, such as schools, fire protection, garbage pickup, etc. might be handled by a different group than before. None of these things are natural, though.

Do you have a specific situation that calls for this opposite of develop?

 

[tedmc]

To develop a residential area is something physical involving construction activities which is not easily reversed or shrunken, unless something drastic happens to it like what JKT said, some natural disasters. Thus, the question of an 'opposite' does not arise. On paper, a developed area can be changed in size through delineation of boundaries by town planning authorities.

 

[emsr2d2]

The opposite of a developed area is an undeveloped area but you can't reverse the former and turn it into the latter.

 

[Mehrgan]

Well, actually, as you all mentioned, it seems impossible in real world. (I myself was thinking of a situation where the local council decides to, for example, make the residential are smaller so that later they can add a tourist belt on the outskirt or the like.)

As you know, part of IELTS task one demands we should write about a diagram; a map with changes in it. It's likely, then, for an area to become smaller, as the trees around may be felled, a factory removed, or houses relocated, which made me look for the right verb when such changes are being carried out deliberately.

 

[Tarheel]

Geographical areas can neither grow nor shrink, but populations can do both.

 

[Skrej]

Sometimes you well hear the term 'reclaim' used to refer to the process of returning a developed area back into its more natural habitat.

For example, in my part of the world, farmers sometimes reclaim wetlands and grasslands, which involves cessation of farming, and planting certain indigenous plants and grasses. It may also involve changing the grade (slope) of the land as well.

You could also reclaim areas in a city as parks, or for other uses.

Detroit suffered substantial population loss over the past 10 years or so, leaving large swaths of empty neighborhoods. The city recently started a operation where they bulldoze down these blocks of abandoned, decrepit houses to start something they call 'urban farming' - growing crops and vegetables in formerly abandoned neighborhoods.