Poor and rich Eindhoven residents meet each other less often, according to research by the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP). Visitors to the city market also notice this. “The gap is only widening.”
The SCP notes that the social gap between rich and poor in Eindhoven is increasing. Studio040 spoke to residents at the market about this development while doing their shopping. Some of them see the same trend.
Distance
“I can pay my rent and buy food, but nowadays there are a lot of people who can’t,” says an older woman at the spring roll stand. She is not positive about the current divide. A man visiting the market shares the same opinion. “The greater the distance, the less the communication. And if you don’t speak to each other, the gap only widens. People who are sitting on a bench suffering with a beer, you are not going to talk to them. I think that is the biggest problem.”
Perspective
Yet not everyone notices the gap. “I have friends in both the rich and the poor categories. I can also understand how it all works from the other perspective,” says a woman walking her dog.
The SCP research shows that the separation of the two worlds exists and is even increasing. People have different ideas about how to narrow this gap. “Let rich and poor merge,” advises a woman on the shopping street. “The earth and money belong to everyone.”
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
