Graphic detail | Why east has least

The legacy of Victorian-era pollution still shapes English cities

A new study uses 21st-century wizardry to solve a 19th-century mystery

THE EAST END of London was long an epitome of industrial squalor. Today its smokestacks are gone, but it remains the city’s poorest area. This lopsided distribution of poverty is typical in England, where the western halves of metropolitan areas tend to be richer than the eastern ones.

This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline “Why east has least”

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