The Big Sort? Functional Segregation in the reurbanized city-region

在过去的15年里，德国的主要城市经历了前所未有的人口激增，伴随着同样强劲的经济增长。这种发展，通常被称为再城市化，在空间和城市研究中就其功能形态和社会空间效应进行了有争议的讨论。经常提到的是一个多维的高档化过程和相关的社会排斥风险。社会流离失所和新形式的贫困郊区化被认为是西方世界城市区域动态社会空间结构调整的标志。虽然现在对中产阶级化现象的研究相对较好，但到目前为止，再城市化对非住宅功能和土地用途的影响很少成为研究的主题。虽然低收益分支（如手工业）从人口密集的城市转移的形式以及相关的功能隔离风险一直是城市政策辩论的主题，但几乎没有任何深入的实证研究致力于这一主题。拟议的研究项目旨在填补这一研究空白。它将调查在德国大城市地区是否和在多大程度上发生了各种形式的商业流离失所，如果发现这种过程的证据，将查明哪些原因。假定商业重新安置既可以理解为适应不断变化的当地市场条件的过程，也可以理解为旨在加强城市住宅用途和（或）高价值经济用途的深思熟虑的城市发展政策的结果。本文的实证分析仅限于工艺企业，因为工艺企业作为一个回报率相对较低的行业，特别容易受到核心城市迁移的影响。以北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚州的五个大都市地区为例，研究了2010年至2020年间手工艺行业的区位结构和变化。在方法论方面，探索性很强的项目将采用定量和定性的混合方法。

Germany's major cities have experienced an unprecedented population boom in the past 15 years, accom-panied by equally strong economic growth. This development, often referred to as reurbanization, is contro-versially discussed in spatial and urban research in terms of its functional-morphological and socio-spatial effects. Frequently, reference is made to a multidimensional gentrification process and the associated so-cial exclusion risks. Social displacement and new forms of suburbanization of poverty are considered markers of a dynamic socio-spatial restructuring of urban regions in the Western world. While the phenomenon of gentrification can now be considered comparatively well researched, the effects of reurbanization on non-residential functions and land uses have rarely been the subject of research to date. Whereas forms of displacement of lower-yielding branches (such as craft businesses) from densely populated cities and the associated risk of a functional segregation have been the subject of urban policy debate, there are hardly any in-depth empirical studies devoted to this topic.The proposed research project is designed to fill this research gap. It will investigate whether and to what extent forms of commercial displacement have occurred in large German city regions and – if evidence of such processes is found – which causal factors can be identified. It is assumed that business relocations can be understood both as a process of adaptation to changing local market conditions and as the result of deliberate urban development policies aimed at strengthening residential uses and/or higher-value economic uses in cities.The empirical analyses are limited to craft enterprises, which are assumed to be particularly vulnerable to displacement from the core cities as a comparatively low-return industry. Five metropolitan regions in North Rhine-Westphalia serve as case studies, in which the location structures of the crafts sector and the chang-es between 2010 and 2020 are examined. In terms of methodology, the strongly explorative project will op-erate with a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods.