Manufacturing a Multifunctional Countryside
Operational Landscapes, Urban Desire, and the French State, 1945–1976
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Abstract
Rural France was instrumental to the experience of les trente glorieuses. Not only did rural France fuel economic growth and urbanization through increases in agricultural efficiency, but it also served as an imaginary counterpoint to the hustle and bustle of a new mass consumer society. In the first two decades of the postwar period, a productivist logic of agricultural output dominated rural land use policy. By the 1970s, however, after experiencing problems of surplus, the state turned toward a multifunctional approach. Rural lands were used to create regional parks, environmental preserves, and vacation properties. As both a site of agricultural production and urban consumption, rural France was operationalized to further the economic growth that defined les trente glorieuses.
Contributor Notes
Venus Bivar is an assistant professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, where she pursues research and teaching in three broad fields: European, economic, and environmental history. Her first book, Organic Resistance, charts the meteoric rise of the farm sector in postwar France. She is currently working on a new project that examines the social consequences of port development and urban planning in Marseille. Professor Bivar received her doctoral training at the University of Chicago, and spent two years at the University of California at Berkeley on a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship. E-mail: vbivar@wustl.edu