Making a Town: Urbanity, Rurality, and the Politics of Place in Ebersbach (Fils), 1945-1989

Abstract

Histories of modern society have often relied on a static understanding of urbanity and rurality that views both terms as inherent characteristics of places, divided along the fault lines of modernity and tradition. This article uses the example of Ebersbach (Fils), a small town in Southwest Germany, to explore urbanity and rurality as discourses through which different societal actors tried to shape the development of localities. When Ebersbach tripled its population in the first two postwar decades, local planning elites tried to redefine the industrial village as “urban” to promote its role in the rapidly modernizing West German society. Local residents, however, often challenged these plans to stay in control of the transformation of their hometown. It will thus be demonstrated that what it meant to be urban or rural became a key question in contests over the direction and outcomes of social change in modern society.