The struggle against “stuttgart 21" old wine in new bottles or a novel form of civil protest?

Traditionally considered a rather conservative town, the southern German city of Stuttgart has presented itself in the more recent past as a trailblazer of citizen protest and mobilization. The city was over the past 18-24 months the site of one of the largest and most intense citizen protests in Germany’s recent history as tens of thousands of citizens protested the construction of Stuttgart 21, a multi-billion urban and rail transport project in the city’s core. The chances that the ongoing protests will stop the contested mega-project from being built are slim - the opposition recently suffered a decisive defeat at a referendum that was held in response to the protests – yet the political repercussions of the protests have been profound. Commentators contend that they are responsible for the historic victory of Germany’s Green party in the 2011 elections in Baden-Württemberg, the state of which Stuttgart is the capital and the fundamental debate the project’s opposition sparked about mega projects and the way they are implemented as well as citizen participation in public decision and policy making is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Moreover, the protests have been described as inaugurating a new era of citizen protest and holding important lessons for similar movements that are struggling against hegemonic projects. Drawing upon empirical research, this contribution describes and analyzes the opposition against Stuttgart 21 through the lens of urban social movement theory and sheds light on the continuities and discontiuities between the patterns and practices of resistance in Stuttgart and previous examples of citizen protest. While emphasizing the need not to overstate the “novelty“ of recent events, special attention is given to the original combination of well-established and innovative "mobilizing frames" and "repertoires of contention" that combined have helped the movement to grow they way it did.