tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572205562498024454.post2247995987622041773..comments2024-02-12T23:56:11.051-05:00Comments on Daytonology: Eurosprawl IV: Pepperoni Pizza SuburbiaJeffereyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01294969786619943530noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572205562498024454.post-52073550498081943642008-07-14T19:45:00.000-04:002008-07-14T19:45:00.000-04:00"How did you land on the comparison?"This was a re..."How did you land on the comparison?"<BR/><BR/>This was a rehash of a post I did on anoter forum a year or more ago. I was familiar with this area, so thought it would be a good case study. <BR/><BR/>"Their farmers lived in villages, with the farmhouse/barn clustered with other farming families. Farmers would then travel out to their fields to work."<BR/><BR/>William Gass, in his short story "In the Heart of the Heart of the Country" says that there was a period in the 19th Century (in the town he was wrting about) where farmers would live "in town" and farm outside (presumably the barns were still on the property).<BR/><BR/>So there might have been a limited version of this in the Midwest in the past. But not something that survived. <BR/><BR/>In this part of Germany, there are occasional stand-alone farms, called "aussiedlerhof", but they are rare.Jeffereyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01294969786619943530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572205562498024454.post-30797044401936393752008-07-14T08:42:00.000-04:002008-07-14T08:42:00.000-04:00I'm in Germany right now, although a bit farther n...I'm in Germany right now, although a bit farther north (Niedersachsen) than where you are reporting on. Still I think that the comparison between the US and Germany is entirely interesting. How did you land on the comparison?Franzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05209792430157400806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572205562498024454.post-14614418426655315052008-07-13T21:11:00.000-04:002008-07-13T21:11:00.000-04:00I spent a couple of months in Neu-Esting, a villag...I spent a couple of months in Neu-Esting, a village outside of Munich. Rosbach appears to be very similar. Neu-Esting (or rather, Esting) had an S-bahn station, around which was a small cluster of businesses - a post office, bakery, and a convenience store (marked by the Langnese shingle). There was also a four-five story apartment building, and a school/church complex where the older residents held their kegeln league (not to be confused with...). Around that were streets of single-family and two or three unit houses. As you point out, it was not quite a US suburb, with the mix of densities and uses.<BR/><BR/>The superficial observation I made at the time was to draw out an historical basis for their pattern of suburbanization, comparing Bavarian farmsteads to American. Their farmers lived in villages, with the farmhouse/barn clustered with other farming families. Farmers would then travel out to their fields to work. The American farmer is, of course, Michael Landon, way the frick out there on his 40 acres of desolate prairie. To me, that was it - the DNA underlying our two cultures, and an explanation for why the quarter-acre lot has such appeal.Matthew Sauerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11494537587293965053noreply@blogger.com