Research projects

In urban areas, social inequality manifests as a multifaceted phenomenon, shaped by economic disparities, educational differences, and unequal access to resources. The spatial distribution of income, educational institutions, and employment opportunities is reflected in the social structure of neighborhoods, leading to certain areas having a higher socioeconomic status while others remain trapped in a cycle of disadvantage.

Against this backdrop, spatial monitoring using quantitative data enables the precise identification and localization of these inequalities, strengthens the scientific basis for evidence-based political decision-making, and can contribute to the sustainable reduction of social inequality in urban contexts.

For the city of Karlsruhe, this research project examined the development of purchasing power at a small-scale level to identify social inequalities both in the urban region and within the city of Karlsruhe itself. In addition to the categorization and cartographic representation of purchasing power from 2017 to 2022, a so-called hotspot analysis was conducted to identify spatial areas in which purchasing power is statistically significantly high or low.