Inequalities in European cities

The consequences of inequalities in European cities are a big fear for many governments at the state and urban levels. Journalists, as well as many scholars who are dealing with urban issues, express their fears about the development of social, ethnic, and spatial divisions. Population categories are distinguished from each other on the basis of social or ethnic characteristics, place of origin, or cultural differences. In this article, the focus is on the extent to which these population categories have to be regarded as being fragmented, or as proceeding into a state of fragmentation, in a European context. Because of the variety of contexts one may encounter in European metropolises, the focus is on inequality and its spatial manifestations, related to the contextual dimensions of urban territory. The analysis shows that different types of welfare states and local political and cultural histories impact on the levels of social and ethnic inequality, economic participation, and the spatial reflections in different European cities. These differences are the basis for a huge variety of daily urban realities and could also be a basis for a wide variety of policy reactions.