Small Town and Village in Bavaria The Passing of a Way of Life [Hardcover]

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 communities 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 of small town and village life.

List of Figures
Acknowledgements

Introduction

• The Plan for this Book

Chapter 1. Changing Villages and Small Places in Bavaria

• Contemporary Social Change
• Population Trends
• Stages of Community Development
• The Transformation of Agriculture

Chapter 2. The Small Town or Village Community

• Secularization and Community Life
• The Elementary School and the Community
• Social Groups and Festivals ?in West Middle Franconia
• Economic Enterprises of the Community
• The Future of Small Places

Chapter 3. Planning Local Territorial Reform

• The Era of Reforms
• Federal Initiatives TowardRaumordnung
• Bavaria Tackles Territorial Reorganization
• Regional Planning and Administrative Reform
• TheKreisreform
• The Independent City and Hinterland Reforms
• The Communal Territorial Reform

Chapter 4. The Implementation of the Reformls