Vertical differentiation in urban space: A case of Aizawl city

Cities are characterized by sociospatial differentiation. Intra‐urban inequality is found in cities across the world. Cities in the ‘peripheral south’ have been neglected in spite of their significant role in theoretical formulations and generalizations. The present paper attempts to argue that sociospatial differentiation is an inherent characteristic of cities, although the spatial form of inequality may vary depending on the specific culture and physical geography of the area. In the remote city of Aizawl in the eastern Himalayan region of India, multi‐storey buildings are cohabitated by higher and lower income classes ‐ the former were found at the top floors and the latter at the bottom floors. The vertical arrangement of income classes within a single building is seen as an adjustment strategy of the increasingly urbanized ‘tribal’ society in the hilly terrain of the city.