Bedrestilte forstadsbuarar frå hovudstaden? Dei norske velforeningane 1872–1940

From the 1870s a new type of neighbourhood association was formed in the municipalities around the Norwegian capital. Until World War II these organizations took part in the transformation of these rural municipalities to sub-urbs. They played an important role in a middle-class-led modernization of which their new residential areas were a profound feature. The article describes and analyses this process in these suburban municipalities and explains why these neighbourhood associations were most prevalent and had most impact in the examined period. At the same time, some similar organizations with rural and working-class members came about outside the middle-class residential areas of these suburbs. The element of such broader but less numerous neighbourhood associations in this period can help to explain why this kind of association developed into a kind of community association and a neighbourhood movement with member organizations from both the suburbs, the cities and the rural areas.