ABSTRACT
The economic structure and shape of Vienna, characterised by small backyard businesses, survived until the late 1950s when new dynamic developments changed the situation. Especially young families began to move from the inner districts of Vienna to the newly built municipal settlements on the peripheries of the city. The beginning of suburbanisation led to the death of small grocery shops (the Viennese Greißler), bakeries, butchers, greengrocers, and fruit sellers as well as of pubs, the Viennese Beisl. They were replaced by self-service shops, supermarkets, and the first shopping centres. Connected to these processes was a loss of urbanity, individuality, charm, and quality of life. Small shops and pubs had been the centres of communication within the districts. With their disappearance, the living space of the local inhabitants, the so-called Grätzl, the place for your daily shopping, coffee, or glass of beer was close to disappearing. It was the Viennese ÖVP that first registered these developments, while the dominating Social Democrats neglected its negative outcome, favouring the supermarkets they regarded as more progressive. A gradual rethinking did not take place until the 1980s when various measures led to a re-urbanisation of Vienna.
