Landdistrikternes urbanisering: En analyse af de rurale byers opståen, udvikling og karakteristika ca. 1840-1960

Part 1: Problem, theories and methods
This dissertation is concerned with the urbanization of the rural districts in Denmark in the period approximately 1840-1960. Traditionally, the new towns in rural districts were and still are called ‘railway towns’ even though the railway was not always present. Here the towns are called ‘rural towns’ and a rural town is defined as:

A concentration of settlements that in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century developed in the rural districts – typically located at main communications. Trade, communications, industries, and institutions most often distinguished the town from the surrounding rural districts while the majority of the population was occupied in other than agriculture and fishing industries.

The rural towns have been subject to a number of studies but despite rather extensive research, there are a number of crucial shortcomings: In the present research, there is no consensus about definitions of the towns. A total registration of the towns within a larger area and an overview of the number and spreading of the towns does not exist, as well as there are important shortcomingsin the way the towns are characterized. Some of the basic theses have not been empirically tested, for instance the idea of a special eastern and western type of a rural town, and the importance of the railway has a tendency to be overrated. In this dissertation, it is tried to remedy these inadequacies by doing a comparative study of the rural towns in three old, Danish counties (prior to 1970), the counties of Vejle, Ringkøbing, and Frederiksborg. The aim is to investigate where and how the rural towns developed, which characteristics and functions they had, and to find explanations on these questions. 

The study is based on a historical settlement approach supplemented with theories and methods from the geographical neighbour discipline: Theories concerning the external urban system, central place and network theories (called ‘the dual model’), a model of the development of urban systems, and theories concerning the internal structure of cities. The rural towns are studied comparatively by using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The level chosen is a meso and a macro level while the more detailed micro level is not included. The overall perspective is a structural one.

It is the basic idea that the rural towns have to be studied from a number of different perspectives by counting parameters such as population, economy including occupational structure and different ‘functions’ (trade, industries, transport and institutions), communications including the whole transport system and not only the railway, and the settlement structures in the rural towns. Furthermore, the thesis is that the rural towns have to be examined as a part of the urban system (other rural towns and the boroughs) and in relation to the primary settlements (villages and fishing villages). These components are all included in the model developed for the analysis, the so-called ‘model of explanation’.

The dissertation includes both methodical and thematic components. The aim of the methodical part is to generate new knowledge about how to manage the source material and the tools in the analysis. It is the intention to explore the potential of the GIS-tool that has not hitherto been used in investigations of rural towns/’railway towns’. In the thematic part, the aim is to answer the above-mentioned questions in order to establish new knowledge about the history of the rural towns. The two parts are closely connected.

The source material is a combination of statistics (population and occupations), topographic literature (Trap Danmark), and economical but mainly topographical maps. Many of the used sources have not up to now been used in studies of rural towns, as well as the combination of the sources by using MS Access, MS Excel and the GIS programme MapInfo in the analysis is new.

Part 2: The social context
In the first part of the analysis, an overview of the development of the Danish society in the period approximately 1840 to 1960 is established. It is demonstrated that the society underwent dramatic changes during this period, and the thesis is that these changes had consequences for the settlement structure.

The other aim is to consider whether the three areas are representative for Denmark as a whole. Measured on different parameters, the county of Vejle was almost a micro-Denmark while the two other areas in different ways were extremes representing respectively an eastern and western part of Denmark. In the county of Frederiksborg, an area close to the capital Copenhagen is represented. It is concluded that the three areas together were representative for the development on a national scale. 

Part 3: Mapping and registration
In this chapter, the rural towns in the three areas are registered and mapped. First, a registration method is developed by using three sources: Historical maps, population statistics, and topographic literature. In particular, the cartographic analysis is central. Hitherto registrations have been based on population statistics but this new method makes it possible to register the towns from a broader perspective.

The registration requires considerations about the concept ‘town’ and the question is urgent especially in relation to the smallest rural towns. It is chosen to focus on the structure and density of the settlement supplemented with a claim for at least 200 inhabitants and some functions (for instance trade, industry, communications, and institutions). In particular, attention is paid to the lower limit that results in recognition of a special type of settlements on a lower level than the ‘real’ towns, the so-called ‘minor rural towns’. Additionally, it is necessary to separate the rural towns from other settlements. It is also clear that a wide definition of the rural towns should be used. Therefore, seaside towns, industrial towns, institutional towns, former boroughs that developed, and new upcoming boroughs are all included in the investigation. Physically, the rural town is defined at the time where it had its largest extent as a rural town and still functioned as such, i.e. before it for instance developed into a residence town.

Altogether 135 rural towns are registered in the three areas. They are distributed on 44 towns in the county of Vejle, 60 towns in the county of Ringkøbing, and 31 towns in the county of Frederiksborg. Converted to a national scale, it corresponds to almost 700 rural towns in Denmark. Thus, the number of towns registered is much higher than the number included in the existing investigations.

Part 4: Origin, development, and characteristics of the rural towns
In part four, the origin, development, and characteristics (size, degree of urbanization, functions, and communications) of the registered rural towns are analysed.

Based on the parameters from the ‘model of explanation’ it is possible to characterize the rural towns. Important is the analysis of the settlement structure, which gives insight into the origin and development of the towns. There is a distinction between inland and seaside towns, towns with and without ‘primary settlement’, and the nuclei and their characteristics are described. In addition, the communications are of great importance but it is not operational to distinguish between for instance towns with and without a railway connection. The various factors – population, occupational structure (among these especially the categories, ‘Agriculture’ and ‘Trade’), the number of functions and the physical structure of the settlements – altogether give an impression of the size of the towns and their degree of urbanity. A combination of the occupational data from 1960, the functions registered in Trap Danmark and the settlement structure makes it possible to get useful information of the functional characteristics of the towns. Inspired by central place theory, network theory, and the model of the development of an urban system, there is a distinction between functions related to the surrounding area – the so-called central place functions – and specialized functions. Most of the towns were ‘central places’. In some cases, one function dominated more than the others, even though the main function was to serve a hinterland. In a few cases, the dominance of a special function was so distinct that the town is characterized as a ‘specialized town’. The development of the rural towns was very complex and – in contrast to the previous research – the rural towns are not classified in narrow types. By using a very flexible characteristic including a number of parameters, it is possible to get a more sophisticated view on the rural towns. The GIS-tool is very effective and makes it possible to investigate and visualise the internal structure of the towns as well as the external structure and location in the urban system can be compared. Thus, this modern tool gives new life to the ‘old-fashioned’ structural history.

Most of the rural towns emerged in the last decade of the 19th century and the two first decades of the 20th century. In all three areas, there were examples of towns that grew up early and late – in general a bit earlier in the county of Frederiksborg and latest in the county of Vejle. The development of the towns varied and could pass off gradually or drastically. The tendency was that some towns in the counties of Frederiksborg and Ringkøbing developed faster than the towns in the county of Vejle. The fact that the towns in general were smallest in the county of Vejle might explain some of this tendency. Furthermore, towns that developed in a so-called ‘primary settlement’ (village or fishing village) had a more regular development than towns that emerged on ‘bare ground’. The latter was most common in the county of Ringkøbing. For the most part, the functions of the towns and their location in the entire urban system could explain the different sizes and degrees of urbanity in the towns.

In general, the rural towns were small. The occupational structure varied but overall the percentage of the population occupied in ‘Craft and industry’ was relatively high, while the percentage of the population employed in ‘Agriculture etc.’, ‘Trade’ and ‘Administrative and liberal trades’ were lower and almost identical for the categories. Only minor differences between the employment structures in the three areas are identified. Occupation in ‘Agriculture etc.’ was a little more common in some towns in the county of Ringkøbing than in the other counties, as well as an area in central Jutland was characterized by a concentration of ‘Craft and industry’. In the county of Frederiksborg, there was slightly more trade than in the other areas. The majority of the rural towns served their own inhabitants and a smaller or larger surrounding agrarian area, and the relation to the agrarian society is often evident. Very interesting is the fact that there were no basic differences between the distributions of employment. The analysis of the functions confirms this statement. 62.2 % of are categorized as towns with central place functions, 26.7 % of the towns had both central place and specialized functions, and just 11.1 % of the towns had only specialized functions. There were a larger number of towns with specialized functions in the county of Frederiksborg than in the other areas but in all the three areas, specialized functions and special towns were represented. 55.6 % of the towns had a primary settlement while 44.4 % sprang up on ‘bare ground’. In all three areas, there are examples of towns of both types but it is clear that the ‘primary settlements’ were most common in the county of Frederiksborg, moderately common in the county of Vejle while an origin on ‘bare ground’ was most common in the county of Ringkøbing. Communications were very important for the origin and development of the rural towns. Often it was a combination of different types – railways, major roads and maybe sea routes – which together connected the rural town to the outside world. 74.1 % of the towns had a railway, in the county of Frederiksborg a larger percentage and in the county of Ringkøbing a smaller. In 39.0 % of the towns with railway, the urbanization was already started when the railway came. This was more common in the county of Ringkøbing than in the other counties. Totally, the railway was very seldom – in 8.2 % of the towns – the only communication present (none of these were located in the county of Ringkøbing). 88.9 % of the towns had access to major roads, and consequently these communications were more common than the railway. 11.9 % of the towns were located on the coast – among these 32.3 % of all the towns in the county of Frederiksborg. In most of the rural towns, more communications were present but the chronological order varied. It is obvious that good communications were of great importance for the development of the rural towns, and the synergy achieved by a combination of the different communications was of great importance. The railway was without doubt of great importance for the development of the rural towns but in the previous research, the importance of the railway has been exaggerated.

In the three areas, an urban hierarchy consisting on different levels is identified. The hierarchical structure is reflected in the location and size of the towns while most of the variations in the hierarchy can be explained by special functions. For the most part, a combination of central place and specialized functions – and thereby the central place theory and network theory (the ‘dual model’) – explains the structure of the urban system. In most cases, the rural towns supplemented the existing urban system but in the county of Ringkøbing, a few towns came up to – and even outstripped – the well-established boroughs. This can be explained by the few and small existing boroughs in that area. The basic mechanisms of the urbanization process were alike and the study does not verify the thesis of a specific eastern and western type of a rural towns.

The rural towns were to a far extent characterized by their variations but with reservations, a picture of the ‘typical’ rural town is drawn: It is most likely that the rural town was an inland town that emerged after 1880/90 and around 1950/60 was fully developed as such. The town developed either from a village or on ‘bare ground’. Most of the towns remained rather small and had less than 1000 inhabitants. The structure of the occupation was versatile, and it had several functions related to craft and industry but also functions related to trade, communications, institutions (social-, cultural and administrative) and agriculture. Typically, the town served its own inhabitants and the close agrarian hinterland with various functions. It is likely that the town had both railway and a major road. Usually, it was located in such a distance from boroughs and neighbouring rural towns that it could define its own hinterland. However, it must be emphasized that it was not ‘the average’ but the many differences that characterized the rural towns.

Part 5: Status and perspectives
In the fifth part, the results from the main studies are put into perspective. First, the results from the three areas are examined in a national context. The Danish society experienced an extensive urbanization in the period between 1840 and 1960. The rural towns took part in the decentralization process that resulted in a new level of subordinated towns and a completion of the hierarchical urban system. Only few of the rural towns in Denmark could be compared to the boroughs. In order to consider the consequences for the rural towns, the development of the urban system after 1960 is followed. About 1960 a number of major structural changes took place in the Danish society and the increasing mobility that decreased the meaning of distances and made the urbanization more differential was of great importance. This differential development was also seen in the scenarios, which were set up to trace the development of the rural towns after 1960. This short digression underlined the impression that the rural towns functioned in a limited period after which other tendencies took over.

Finally, it is shown that the present investigation (fundamental research) has a strategic potential when registering and evaluating the state of preservation/cultural environment of the rural towns.

Part 6: Conclusion
The rural towns were important components in the construction of the modern society, and the modernization process was evident in the rural towns as well – especially the construction of an effective communications system, the development in agriculture, the industrialization, and the spread of trade and services to the rural districts.

The development of the rural towns was synchronous with the construction of a railway net but the empirical analysis demonstrates that more than 25 % of the towns were not connected to the railway, as well as the railway in almost 40 % of the towns was built after the urbanization process started. Therefore, the close connection between ‘railway’ and ‘town’ as it appeared in the term ‘railway town’ is inappropriate and the term ‘rural town’ seems to be more precise.

The concept of ’city’/’town’ is discussed and tested empirically in order to define the rural towns. This discussion has not been necessary in the traditional urban history with its focus on the better-defined boroughs. The present study tries to incorporate the rural towns in the Danish urban history as a unique type of a town with a special function in the urbanization process that took place in the rural districts. The rural towns were widespread, and it is estimated that between a fourth and a fifth of the population about 1950/60 lived in one of the almost 700 Danish rural towns. The rural towns brought the urbanization to the rural districts but the process was not fundamentally different in the western and eastern part of the country. Altogether, the rural towns started a modification of the former extreme contrast between rural and urban areas.