The village app as a substitution for the village pub?: Experience of a village in Vulkaneifel, Germany

Abstract

More and more villages have started using village apps. In some cases, these are intended to replace lost meeting places and places of communication such as shops or pubs. But can a village app replace the village pub? In the article, the example of the village of Dreis-Brück in Rhineland-Palatinate and its village app is used to systematize the different functions of the pub and compare them with those of the app. The focus is on the village pub as a place of information and communication, but its role as meeting point, place of relaxation, arrival point, as well as a space for emotions and memories, is also examined. If a village app can partially take over functions of lost village pubs, a systematic consideration of the problems to be solved with the help of digital tools can be helpful in the context of a systematization of the analog spatial entities, to ultimately develop links between digital and analog places. The article is intended as a contribution to the spatial analysis of gastronomic facilities and the role of digitalization in rural areas.