Speaker
Description
Within the “variants of change” in the West German contemporary history, the medium sized town Gütersloh in Eastern Westphalia stands for economic success and urban growth. Its economic flagships Miele and Bertelsmann backed a stable development. The city grew in inhabitants and extent because of the influx of workers and due to a municipal district reform at the beginning of the 1970s. This development caused a high degree of urban sprawl. Problems in managing the increasing traffic and the need for housing led to demolition waves in the city centre and the construction of a social housing block in the suburban area Blankenhagen.
French philosopher and city-sociologist Henri Lefebvre referred to such a development when reflecting on his idea of a “Right to the City”. Stating the loss of the city’s centrality function and the isolation of social classes and lifestyles. Applying this idea – and his further thoughts on the production of spaces in fordist cities – in urban history, public transport may play a decisive role. To what extend is public transport able to compensate the loss of the city’s centrality? What conflicts arouse around the offer and organisation of public transport and how were they mediated? How did contemporary city critique deal with public transport and what other social movements took it into account ¬– feminism, ecological movements, labour movement and unions? My work allows for an insight into such issues, studying an usually lesser recognized medium sized town.
Biography
Tim Zumloh works at the LWL-Institute for the Regional History of Westphalia in Münster on his phd-thesis on Right to the City Movements in the medium sized town Gütersloh.
