Power structures and inequalities also manifest in educational contexts through processes of spatialization (cf. Soja 2010; Harvey 1998). This becomes evident, for example, in the unequal distribution of educational resources in the face of selective social spaces (cf. Parade & Heinzel 2020; Mayer & Koinzer 2019), in an "urban-rural education gap" (cf. Echazarra & Ratinier 2019), or in various forms of exclusion from educational spaces - such as through allocation and assignment processes, including referrals to "non-places" (Augé 1994).

Nevertheless, educational science and pedagogical practice have so far largely neglected spatial perspective(s) in their engagement with educational inequality (cf. Sesink 2014). The ability to approach space as a pedagogical category is a key prerequisite for analyzing the spatial dimensions of complex exclusionary and disadvantageous mechanisms, and for fostering awareness of (spatial) opportunities to promote educational justice.

Building on a relational, constructivist concept of space (cf. Kessl & Reutlinger 2019; Löw & Knoblauch 2019; Löw 2001; Lefebvre 1974; Bollnow 1963) and the concept of spatial justice developed by cultural geographer and urban researcher Edward Soja (2010), the focus in this area of inquiry is on analyzing (non-)hegemonic spatial structures and emancipatory practices towards more educational justice - drawing from spatial sociology, cultural geography, and educational science.

These efforts are integrated, among other things, into the chair’s participation in the project Transformation of University Educational Spaces (TraUBe).