Small town and village in Bavaria
Subtitle: the passing of a way of life
By: Peter H. Merkl
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 263
ISBN-13: 9780857453471; 9780857453488
Subjects: Rural Sociology; Case studies; Villages; Social change; History
Description: At the center of this investigation is the great modernization effort of a West German state, Bavaria, in the 1970s and 1980s, by means of a reform of the smaller units of local government. The reforms were meant to abolish all autonomous local governments serving populations of fewer than 3,000, thereby reducing the number of local governments in Bavaria from more than 7,000 to less than 2,000. Based on interviews, surveys, and statistical research, this study chronicles fifteen communties and their challenges, developments, and social changes from post-1945 up to the present. While this book explores the decline of the iconic village community, it also reveals the survival of medieval towns in a contemporary world, and despite the modern desire for comprehensive and well-integrated services, there remains a seemingly perennial appeal if small town and villiage life.--Back cover.
Table of contents: title: Changing villages and small places in Bavaria; title: The small-town or village community; title: Planning local territorial reform; title: The implementation of the reform; title: No town is an island; title: Conclusion.