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decided in many cases to take these services in their own hands and municipalized
gasworks, water works or tramway companies. The motive for this pan-European
movement of
was the dissatisfaction with the level of services
received so far and the recognition on the side of municipalities, that the municipal
ownership of such utilities might improve the
'
municipal socialism
'
nancial situation of the city and
might put it into a position to better apply the formative potential of these infra-
structures in order to promote and direct urban development.
62
This particularly
applies to traf
c infrastructures, where decisions over which lines to build and what
fares to charge were crucial to shape patterns of future development. Thus cities in
Europe and North America were turned into mega-machines, they were perforated
and structured by multiple systems of technical infrastructures which
—
in their
totality
transformed daily life of urban dwellers completely by 1900, as compared
to 1850.
63
This transformation can be seen as part and parcel of the
—
'
civilizing
Process
(Elias); public urinals on city squares offered urban residents the oppor-
tunity to relieve themselves in what came to be considered
'
fashion, while
at the same time urban codes and bylaws penalized indecent behavior in the public,
such as urinating in shady corners, which had been quite common at mid-century.
64
The electric tramway introduced a new speed and a heightened sense of urgency
and acceleration into urban traf
'
decent
'
c which had been dominated by the pace of
pedestrians and horses up to 1890. People now expected their co-urbanites to adapt
their public behavior to this new speed and new mechanic rhythm, a letter to the
editor of a gazette in Mannheim (Germany) demands his fellow-citizen to develop
'
in order not to lose the time-gains offered by the new
means of transport.
65
Setting up the networked city also brought massive changes to
the structure and functioning of urban administration. Until the 1870s municipal
administrative bodies had been fairly small and they had restricted themselves to
maintaining order and safety. With this multitude of networks and services urban
administration became a much larger administrative body with comprehensive
responsibilities for the welfare of urban residents; therefore it also professionalized
and bureaucratized. The position of
metropolitan discipline
'
(Mayor) of a large Ger-
man city became quite an attractive career perspective for middle-class profes-
sionals with a background in Law or Economics.
66
In a transitional phase, dating
roughly from the 1890s to the 1930s, setting up the networked city gave consid-
erable powers to municipal administrations to direct urban development and
in
'
Oberb
ü
rgermeister
'
uence the daily life of urban residents. With the growth and formation of
statewide electricity and gas networks, however, the municipal level was progres-
sively marginalized in the shaping and directing of power networks, apart from
keeping, what frequently was the case, the local distribution networks in their
62
Krabbe (
1990
) and K
ü
hl (
2002
); Schott, Vernetzung.
63
H
rd and Misa (
2008
) and Otter (
2008
).
64
Payer (
2000
).
65
Schott, Vernetzung, 448; Schmucki (
2012
).
66
Reulecke (
1985
) and Hofmann (
2012
). See for Europe Roth and Beachy (
2007
).
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