FEATURES AND DYNAMICS OF SOCIO-SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION IN VIENNA AND THE VIENNA METROPOLITAN REGION GERHARD HATZ Department of Geography and Regional Research, Universität Wien, Universitätsstraße 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria, E-mail: gerhard.hatz@univie.ac.at Received: April 2008; revised December 2008 ABSTRACT In Vienna, globalisation has restructured urban society in terms of de-industrialisation, occupa- tional change, migration and unemployment. This paper focuses on the restructuring of urban society and the related neighbourhood changes in Vienna from 1971 to 2001. The study applies social area analysis and factorial ecology to identify the underlying dimensions in the formation of socio-spatial patterns and neighbourhood change through a cross-sectional analysis. The analysis does not directly reveal a trend towards spatial polarisation but rather supports the concept of emerging structural differentiations in a ‘quartered city’. Social housing policies on entitlements and the city’s withdrawal as a housing developer just as it was embarking on subsidised urban renewal have contributed to an accentuation of structural differences. Extending the analysis to the Vienna metropolitan region indicates that suburbanisation is reinforcing a socio-spatial polarisation within the city proper, exacerbated by the territorial fragmentation of social housing policies between the city and its suburban region. Key words: Vienna, Vienna metropolitan region, social area analysis, factorial ecology, socio- spatial restructuring, neighbourhood changes INTRODUCTION Since the 1990s, globalisation and a related polarisation of society have dominated analyses of the post-industrial restructuring of urban societies, resulting in increasing social inequali- ties and socio-spatial segregation. Based upon the thesis developed by Sassen (1991), this polarisation is marked by the increase of a highly skilled labour force with high incomes that is tied to the global economy and a new and growing urban underclass that is low skilled and low paid, and who provide services for the highly-qualified and highly-paid workforce. The concept of polarisation of society and its related socio-spatial divisions has been widely criticised for its application to European cities in particular. In regard to European cities, this criticism is primarily based on the mediating influence of welfare regimes (see also the in- troduction to this special issue). In welfare regimes, social inequalities are modified by welfare state involvement and interventions. The prevalence of welfare programmes, redis- tributive welfare policies and social wages led to the emergence of a new large-scale ‘welfare class’ (Hamnett 1998; Musterd & Ostendorf 2005). Studies on socio-spatial segregation in European cities, such as Hamnett (1994) for The Randstad, Andersen et al. (1997) for Greater Copenhagen, Hamnett (1998) for London, Wessel (2000) for Oslo, Musterd & Ostendorf (1998), Musterd (2002) for Amsterdam, and Musterd & Ostendorf (2005) for large Dutch cities, in part revealed a trend towards a social polarisation. However, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie – 2009, Vol. 100, No. 4, pp. 485–501. © 2009 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA