Go west: why the wealthy shun the east of town in France
Learn the historical and industrial factors behind the geographic divide between the rich and poor in French towns
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Learn the historical and industrial factors behind the geographic divide between the rich and poor in French towns
Learn the historical and industrial factors behind the geographic divide between the rich and poor in French towns
Slave-ownership, entrepreneurs and labour shortages played key roles | Graphic detail
T HE EAST END of London was long an epitome of industrial squalor. Today its smokestacks are gone, but it remains the city’s poorest area. This lopsided distribution of poverty is typical in England, where the western halves of metropolitan areas tend to be richer than the eastern ones. Listen to this story Enjoy more audio and podcasts oniOSorAndroid. What accounts for this pattern? In London the most intuitive reason is the River Thames. Historically, it carried wastewater from west to east, and its banks downstream from the city centre were lined with docks, which might have drawn low-ea...