Suburbanisation of Poverty: New Spatial (De)Concentration of Poor and Low Income Households in German City Regions

迄今为止，对贫困和低收入家庭空间分布的研究主要集中在大城市和农村边缘地区。最新的研究还发现，郊区受影响家庭的数量有所增加。空间科学才刚刚开始描述潜在的社会经济过程和理解驱动因素：一方面，有证据表明，内城位置对高收入家庭的吸引力越来越大。另一方面，随着时间的推移，一些老化的郊区正在失去吸引力。这些地区的当地居民可能受到贫困的威胁，收入较低的家庭可能会搬到这些地区。在国际上，这些趋势被称为贫困的郊区化。在郊区形成新的贫困集中的家庭的目的地可能在很小的范围内发生变化。然而，总的来说，这似乎是一个稳定的趋势。众所周知，德国的社会制度和住房市场政策通过为低收入家庭提供负担得起的住房和相关补贴来减轻这种影响。最近的观察表明，高收入家庭向大城市的持续迁移给社会制度带来了压力。在一些城市地区，与核心城市相比，郊区依赖社会福利的家庭比例有所上升，或者减少的幅度较小。然而，这并不是说这是一种空间趋势。到目前为止，方法问题限制了进一步的分析，因为不可能在所需的细粒度空间分辨率中识别低收入家庭。此外，关于低收入家庭可能面临的地理不利条件的资料很少，例如基础设施不足、缺乏护理设施或环境压力。在此基础上，我们申请资金来发展一个探索性研究概念，其主要目标有三个：(1)第一步，我们基于官方区域统计数据、面板数据和商业提供商的数据，研究数据组合的分析潜力，以便在郊区和其他城市地区之间实施贫困集中度和相关区位劣势的措施；(2)同时，我们探讨了解释德国空间发展细节和社会政策影响的国际辩论中的论点；(3)成功后，我们将在我们之前确定的郊区贫困集中的案例研究中研究区位特征和解释，以及利益相关者的看法。研究结果将有助于了解德国贫困郊区化的分析选择和推进研究。

Research on the spatial distribution of poor and low income households has so far mainly been discussed in the context of large cities and the rural periphery. Newer studies also observe an increase of affected households in suburban areas. Spatial sciences are only beginning to describe the underlying socio-economic processes and understand the drivers: on the one hand there is evidence that inner city locations are increasingly attractive for higher income households. On the other hand some aging suburban locations are losing their attractiveness over time. Local residents in these areas are potentially threatened by poverty, lower income might move households into these area. Internationally, these trends are discussed as suburbanization of poverty. The destinations of households that form new concentrations of poverty in suburban areas can vary on a very small scale. Overall, however, it seems to be a steady trend. Social systems and housing market policies in Germany are known to mitigate the effects with affordable housing and related subsidies for low income households. Recent observations show that the continued migration of higher income households to large cities puts pressure on the social systems. For some city regions households relying on social benefits have seen increasing rates or have decreased less in suburban areas when compared to core cities. This is not to say, however, that this is a spatial trend. So far, methodological problems restrict further analysis, since it is not possible to identify low income households in the needed fine grained spatial resolution. In addition, there is little information on locational disadvantages that low income households might be exposed to, for example in terms of deficient infrastructure, the lack of care facilities, or environmental pressures. On this basis we apply for funding to develop an explorative research concept with three main objectives: (1) In a first step we examine the analytical potential of data combinations, based on official regional statistics, panel data, and data from commercial providers, in order to operationalize measures of poverty concentrations and related locational disadvantages between suburban and other urban locations; (2) in parallel we explore arguments from the international debate for explaining spatial development specifics and the influence of social policies in Germany; (3) succeeding, we will study locational characteristics and explanations as well as stakeholders’ perceptions in case studies where we previously identified suburban concentrations of poverty. The results will help to understand analysis options and advance studies on the suburbanization of poverty in the German context.