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<p>This article examines how social inequality has historically become spatially concentrated, symbolically charged, and persistently stabilized in urban contexts, using the Ruhr area as a&#xa0;case study. Instead of focusing on marginalized neighborhoods, it highlights villa districts and so-called “good addresses” as key sites of sociospatial separation and distinction. A&#xa0;microhistorical study of the city of Essen illustrates how privileged residential areas emerged since the Imperial era, how they connected generations of elites, and how they continue to function as spaces for social positioning and wealth preservation. By linking historical urban research with questions of property, address politics, and symbolic order, it is argued in this paper that addresses are not neutral coordinates but crucial elements shaping and maintaining social inequality. In doing so, it contributes to a&#xa0;historical urban perspective that takes elite residential areas seriously as active sites of social polarization.</p>

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Von der Adresse zur Stadtstruktur: symbolische Ordnung und soziale Ungleichheit im Ruhrgebiet

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  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月1日

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  • Eva Maria Gajek

摘要

This article examines how social inequality has historically become spatially concentrated, symbolically charged, and persistently stabilized in urban contexts, using the Ruhr area as a case study. Instead of focusing on marginalized neighborhoods, it highlights villa districts and so-called “good addresses” as key sites of sociospatial separation and distinction. A microhistorical study of the city of Essen illustrates how privileged residential areas emerged since the Imperial era, how they connected generations of elites, and how they continue to function as spaces for social positioning and wealth preservation. By linking historical urban research with questions of property, address politics, and symbolic order, it is argued in this paper that addresses are not neutral coordinates but crucial elements shaping and maintaining social inequality. In doing so, it contributes to a historical urban perspective that takes elite residential areas seriously as active sites of social polarization.