ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the particular role of mobility in urban development. In so doing, the chapter ties up to a certain subject of classical urban sociology: the impact of urban form on mobility, the related spatial structure and social relations are mutually intertwined. According to Burgess, mobility was not only a central determinant of urban growth, yet also produced a certain disorder to city and society. Questions of social inequity and the spatially inequitable distribution of affluence, quality of life, environmental burdens and life contingencies have been the focus of urban research for decades. Spatial segregation as well as residential location behaviour of population segments defined by life situation and lifestyle is studied in binary logit regressions. The region of Cologne is a polycentric agglomeration with the clearly dominating centre of Cologne. The opportunities for different population groups as defined by lifestyle or life situation to realize a specific location choice that meets their needs and wishes are thus limited.
