Ghettoization of foreigners and urban planning in Duisburg, Germany

Abstract

Duisburg is a German city where foreigners, especially Turks, are remarkably segregated in the residential space. However, if we evaluate the degree of spatial segregation of Turks in Duisburg as a whole, it has been gradually moderated since the late 1980s (Fig. 1). It is also true that the location quotient of Turks has been decreased even in Bruckhausen, where the proportion of foreigners is the highest among the 46 wards in Duisburg, since the late 1980s (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, the proportion of foreigners is remarkably high in that ward. Bruckhausen is the only ward where the proportion is more than 50% (Fig. 3). There has been a tendency for ghettoization of foreigners, especially of Turks, in Bruckhausen. Why has this ward experienced ghettoization? Both structural and psycho-cultural factors including cohesion within the migrant minority have contributed to it. But the ghettoization of Bruckhausen cannot be explained solely by structural factors such as the housing market (Fig. 4). There is no reason to believe that Turks living in this ward differ in psycho-cultural aspects from their compatriots in other wards. If "choice" or "constraint" alone is stressed, it is impossible to explain the locality of Bruckhausen sufficiently. In order to understand the distinctiveness of Bruckhausen, light should be shed on the social interactions among actors under the power structure peculiar to this ward and Duisburg. This paper aims to reconstruct the social interactions leading to the ghettoization of foreigners and its spatial pattern in the early 1970s, when ghettoization began in Bruckhausen. In the late 1960s, an autobahn, Emscher Schnellweg, was planned for construction. The city authorities believed that Alt-Bruckhausen or the center of Bruckhausen would be isolated from the other urban areas of Duisburg due to the autobahn and that it would become unsuitable for a residential area. At that time, August Thyssen Hütte (ATH) was doing good business and expanding investment in order to compete internationally with rival companies. ATH actively recruited guest workers, especially from Turkey, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. A member of the city council and a member of the works council at ATH stated in newspaper articles in 1970 and 1971 that Alt-Bruckhausen would be redeveloped not for a residential area but for enlargement of ATH. While the city authorities presented the plan that would benefit neither Alt-Bruckhausen nor people living here, anxiety about the demolition of Alt-Bruckhausen as a residential area are dominated among the local people in the early 1970s. Landlords began to neglect investments for the maintenance of housing quality. Some absentee landlords used old ramshackle buildings as dormitories for guest workers from abroad. The behavior of the largest landlord in Bruckhausen, a housing company which is a subsidiary of ATH, also seemed to be speculative, at least in the eyes of the local people, because the company's houses which were destined to be demolished for the construction of the autobahn were occupied by guest workers and their families (Fig. 6, Tables. 1 and 2). Alt-Bruckhausen was already tending to become a slum from the 1960s due to pollution from neighboring factories. This tendency was accelerated by the confusing urban planning which resulted in the speculative behavior of landlords. Ghettoization began in that subward under the power structure and social interactions described above.