Ethnicity and public space in the city: Ethnic precincts in Sydney

Collins, J; Kunz, P

Ethnicity and public space in the city: Ethnic precincts in Sydney

Collins, J

Kunz, P

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Publisher:: UTS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2010, 1 (1), pp. 39 - 70
Issue Date:: 2010-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Collins, J https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-9245	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kunz, P	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2010, 1 (1), pp. 39 - 70	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1837-5391	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10410
dc.description.abstract	Ethnic precincts are one example of the way that cultural diversity shapes public spaces in the postmodern metropolis. Ethnic precincts are essentially clusters of ethnic or immigrant entrepreneurs in areas that are designated as ethnic precincts by place marketers and government officials and display iconography related to that ethnicity in the build environment of the precinct. They are characterized by the presence of a substantial number of immigrant entrepreneurs of the same ethnicity as the precinct who line the streets of the precinct selling food, goods or services to many co-ethnics and non co-ethnics alike. Ethnic precincts are thus a key site of the production and consumption of the ethnic economy, a commodification of place where the symbolic economy of space (Zukin 1995:23-4) is constructed on representations of ethnicity and `immigrantnessï½. To explore some dimensions of the way that ethnic diversity shapes public space we present the findings of recent fieldwork in four Sydney ethnic precincts: Chinatown, Little Italy, Auburn (ï½Little Turkeyï½) and Cabramatta (ï½Vietnamattaï½). This fieldwork explores the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between immigrant entrepreneurs, local government authorities, and ethnic community representatives in shaping the emergence of, and development of, ethnic precincts. It demonstrates how perceptions of the authenticity of precincts as ethnic places and spaces varies in the eyes of consumers or customers according to whether they are `co-ethnicï½, `co-culturalï½ or `Othersï½. It explores relations of production and consumption within the ethnic precinct and how these are embedded within the domain of regulation in the daily life of these four Sydney ethnic precincts.	en_US
dc.publisher	UTS	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal	en_US
dc.title	Ethnicity and public space in the city: Ethnic precincts in Sydney	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.for	160803 Race and Ethnic Relations	en_US
utslib.for	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	en_US
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	1	en_US

Abstract:

Ethnic precincts are one example of the way that cultural diversity shapes public spaces in the postmodern metropolis. Ethnic precincts are essentially clusters of ethnic or immigrant entrepreneurs in areas that are designated as ethnic precincts by place marketers and government officials and display iconography related to that ethnicity in the build environment of the precinct. They are characterized by the presence of a substantial number of immigrant entrepreneurs of the same ethnicity as the precinct who line the streets of the precinct selling food, goods or services to many co-ethnics and non co-ethnics alike. Ethnic precincts are thus a key site of the production and consumption of the ethnic economy, a commodification of place where the symbolic economy of space (Zukin 1995:23-4) is constructed on representations of ethnicity and `immigrantnessï½. To explore some dimensions of the way that ethnic diversity shapes public space we present the findings of recent fieldwork in four Sydney ethnic precincts: Chinatown, Little Italy, Auburn (ï½Little Turkeyï½) and Cabramatta (ï½Vietnamattaï½). This fieldwork explores the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between immigrant entrepreneurs, local government authorities, and ethnic community representatives in shaping the emergence of, and development of, ethnic precincts. It demonstrates how perceptions of the authenticity of precincts as ethnic places and spaces varies in the eyes of consumers or customers according to whether they are `co-ethnicï½, `co-culturalï½ or `Othersï½. It explores relations of production and consumption within the ethnic precinct and how these are embedded within the domain of regulation in the daily life of these four Sydney ethnic precincts.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10410