Equator of Inequality
The equator of inequality lies in Germany, or to be precise, in the Ruhr region. In the form of a highway, the A40, it stretches from Dortmund to Duisburg, via Bochum, Essen, and Mülheim an der Ruhr. Along this line, people are divided into rich and poor, immigrants and Germans, young and old. In Essen, the contrasts between the sides above and below the highway are most evident.
The trend towards cities dividing into rich and poor is evident in all major German cities. "Segregation has increased over the decades: The rich keep to themselves, the poor cluster in problem neighborhoods," explains Jürgen Friedrichs. As a professor of sociology at the University of Cologne, he has been studying the question of how the environment in which people grow up influences their development and their fate for decades. "In this country, the bad neighborhoods are falling further and further behind the better ones."
My pictures are observations, side notes in search of evidence of the spatial separation created by the A40 as an informal border and its influence on the lives of people on both sides. I want to point out how this separation also exists in our minds, how we instinctively and unconsciously categorize people into different social groups. How people use markers in their behavior and appearance to differentiate themselves from others. Ultimately, I try to show what both sides have in common - they live in a divided city.