Multiethnic Neighborhoods Research Articles

South Asian tales: ethnic entrepreneurship and narratives of spatialized transnational identities emerging in an East London (UK), inner-city area

Brick Lane is a London inner-city that has functioned as a port of arrival and settlement for different migrant populations arriving at the capital. The area today has transformed into a contemporary multi-ethnic neighbourhood dominated by a strong South Asian (mostly Bangladeshi) presence. This paper investigates narratives of racial relations, transnational communities and identities coming from individuals involved in local South Asian businesses. Theoretically speaking, transnational theories did not put emphasis on localities, as transnational flows were allegedly connecting people and institutions around the world; by focusing on flows (and individuals), places were almost overlooked. Alternatively, this paper puts emphasis on the spatial nature of transnational identities as being enacted and performed within spaces of ethnic entrepreneurship along the lane.

La fluidité de l'espace montréalais : étude sur la diffusion de la diversité ethnoculturelle à Montréal entre 2001 et 2006

AbstractThe recent increase in ethno‐cultural diversity has raised numerous questions in countries of immigration. One of them focuses on the processes and mechanisms that lead to the creation of integrated or multiethnic neighbourhoods. To address it, various models were elaborated to explain the phenomenon. We will first recall the main features of these various models. Afterward, we test the hypothesis proposed by Germain and Poirier to explain the evolution of ethno‐cultural diversity in Montreal. This hypothesis supposes that it has evolved in a context where fluidity was central. Our aim is to propose an empirical test of this hypothesis using several methods (i.e., spatial analysis tools, regression model, and structural equation modeling). The results confirm the “fluidity” hypothesis, even if they also stress a stratification process between the various minority groups linked to neighbourhood socio‐demographic characteristics.

Rhetoric in the Representation of a Multi-Ethnic Neighbourhood: The Case of Via Padova, Milano

The paper analyses how the neighbourhood of Via Padova in Milan, Italy, has been represented and problematised by the media and the last two municipal administrations over the last decade. Since the late 1990s, Via Padova has undergone a significant socio-demographic transformation, one which has eventually characterised the area as one of the most multi-ethnic and diverse districts in the whole city. However, this transformation process and the upcoming new framework for the neighbourhood have been explained and approached in very different (and contested) ways. The aim of this paper is to compare the different narratives provided by both the media and also governmental institutions during the formerly right wing and current left wing administrations, and the implications of this, both in the shaping of a collective image of the area and in the development of local policies.

Community action, immigration and governance in the city of Montreal

In this paper, I address the question of community action in the Canadian province of Quebec. By “community action,” I refer to the set of practices that nonprofit grassroots or community organizations (usually financed with public or private funds) deploy in order to address various issues related to the social conditions of life in their localities. In particular, I explore the evolution of community action in a multiethnic neighborhood in the city of Montreal: Montreal-Nord. In the last years, the community organizations of this borough have experienced significant difficulties when dealing with the challenges posed by neo-liberal urban governance and by the increasing numbers of immigrants coming from Majority World countries (Africa, Asia and Latin America). I argue that the understanding of these difficulties requires a revision of the way in which the relationship between civil society and the institutions of the state has evolved in recent years.

Micro-cosmopolitanisms at the urban scale

Scholars may no longer see cosmopolitanism as the preserve of the jet-setting elite, but they still tend to focus on international travel as the primary means of acquiring cosmopolitan competence. However, one should not confuse mindsets with mileage: if travel does not always generate cosmopolitanism, then neither is it a precondition for it, so stay-at-homes can become cosmopolitan too. This article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in multiethnic neighbourhoods of Montréal, Quebec, to show how cosmopolitanism can be produced and practised within the microcosm of the city. While international mobility is not necessarily part of these negotiations of difference, other kinds of spatial and social mobility are, especially intra-urban mobility and mobility of the imagination. Examining micro-cosmopolitanism at the urban scale, however, also reveals that practices of and aspirations towards cosmopolitanism do not necessarily coincide.

Co-creation of health and social services in the socio-economically backward neighbourhood of Feyenoord, Rotterdam

How to tackle extensive health care issues in a socio-economically backward neighbourhood in Rotterdam? Seven years ago, this question was at the foundation of the network ‘Samen een in Feijenoord’ (Together one in Feijenoord). In a multi-ethnic neighbourhood, with a low educated population, high unemployment rates and fragmentation in social services, the need emerged for organizations from different sectors to work together. Since health status is strongly interconnected with for example education, participation and housing, individual health care organizations could not improve the health situation on their own. Currently 30 organizations cooperate in the network, ranging from health care providers, social services, schools and social housing companies. Through coordination, exchanging knowledge and joint implementation of projects, added value is created. Some of the most notable results are multifunctional health care centers, the increased availability of preventive health care and new training and working opportunities for local youth.

Hispanics in Metropolitan America: New Realities and Old Debates

Since 1980, Latinos have participated in an unprecedented geographic dispersal that altered the ethno-racial contours of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas throughout the nation. After summarizing recent trends in spatial distribution, we review scholarship about trends in residential segregation, the rise of multiethnic neighborhoods, and residential mobility. New trends, notably the emergence of hypersegregation and rising segregation levels in several places, call into question earlier views about the inevitability of Hispanics' spatial assimilation, as do studies that examine direct links between individual mobility and locational attainment. The growing support for the tenets of the place stratification model suggests that Hispanic origin is becoming a racial marker. Following a brief review of social and economic correlates of Hispanics' residential makeover, we conclude by discussing opportunities for future research, emphasizing the importance of dynamic assessments that consider the new contours of racialization in the context of multiethnic places.

A Qualitative Exploration of Factors Associated With Walking and Physical Activity in Community-Dwelling Older Latino Adults.

Ethnic/racial minorities often live in neighborhoods that are not conducive to physical activity (PA) participation. We examined perceived factors related to walking/PA among Spanish- and English-speaking older Latinos in a low-income, multi-ethnic neighborhood. Exploratory focus group study was conducted with Latinos stratified by preferred language and gender: English-speaking women (n = 7, M age = 74.6); English-speaking men (n = 3, M age = 69.3); Spanish-speaking women (n = 5, M age = 66.4); Spanish-speaking men (n = 5, M age = 74.0). Focus group audio files were transcribed, and qualitative research software was used to code and analyze documents. At the individual level, reasons for exercising (improved health) and positive health outcome expectancies (weight loss and decreased knee pain) were discussed. Neighborhood/environmental factors of safety (fear of crime), neighborhood changes (lack of jobs and decreased social networks), weather, and destination walking were discussed. Individual and environmental factors influence PA of older, urban Latinos, and should be taken into consideration in health promotion efforts.

Examining social cohesion and victimization in a Malaysian multiethnic neighborhood

The ecological theories linking neighborhood characteristics to victimization have rarely been tested in Asia. This article examines three conceptual models of social cohesion (collective efficacy, sense of belonging and feeling of morale) that are designed to explain the residents' victimization in Malaysia. This study focuses on the effects of social cohesion on crime using a sample of 294 ethnically diverse residents living in a high-crime neighborhood. The study shows the relevance of all three conceptual models in predicting victimization for both males and females. The findings indicate that a greater sense of belonging and feeling of morale among the neighborhood residents is significantly associated with lower levels of victimization. Contrary to the literature, the collective efficacy measure was associated with higher reported victimization. Our model also links social cohesion measures to neighborhood racial heterogeneity, a finding that adds knowledge to the study of ethnic diversity and crime–community relationships.

Modes of neighbourhood embeddedness in three multi-ethnic neighbourhoods in Lisbon. An exploratory analysis

The role of urban neighbourhoods in social cohesion has been extensively debated in recent times, both in academic and political circles. This paper explores different modes of coexistence and neighbourhood embeddedness in three multi-ethnic neighbourhoods in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Using factor and cluster analysis, with data collected in a survey of the native and immigrant population and drawing upon complementary qualitative data from focus groups with key actors in each neighbourhood, five modes of neighbourhood embeddedness are identified. These modes serve to enhance our understanding of the nature of social interactions and social networks between and within groups. A geographical perspective is adopted incorporating possible effects relating to the characteristics of the neighbourhood as well as the socio-ethnic and demographic profiles of the respondents.

Gentrification, residential ethnicization and the social production of fragmented space in two multi-ethnic neighbourhoods of Lisbon and Bilbao

Simultaneous trends for ethnicization and gentrification are contributing to the fragmentation of contemporary urban spaces. This is characterised by the emergence of new social and urban units that break the homogeneity of the modern city and lead to the development of new networks, territorially discontinuous, less neighbourhood centred and with a limited intersection. With Mouraria (Lisbon, Portugal) and San Francisco (Bilbao, Spain), two traditional and multiethnic neighbourhoods, as case-studies this paper aims to critically discuss the nature of gentrification, its coexistence with ethnicization and its contribution for socio-urban fragmentation. The empirical analysis of the residents’ social networks will be used to test levels and types of interaction and the spatial formats they assume.

The Multiethnic Neighborhood in the United States

The Multiethnic Neighborhood in the United States

Paradoxes of Studentification: Social Mix versus Gentrification in a Disadvantaged Neighborhood in Amsterdam East

Studio K, a relatively new quasi-public space in a gentrifying multi-ethnic neighborhood in Amsterdam East, is a prime example of the growing urban reinvestment within the area. The basic idea behind the by students managed Studio K is to create a cultural centre as an open place, including a cinema, restaurant, bar and club, where all visitors feel at home. It is the form and content that renders neighborhood relations relevant, not the physical proximity. Our paper involves a critical discussion of what can be understood as 'community commitment' and how the organizational identity of Studio K responded to the needs and expectations of the community in relation to the gentrification debate, and in particular studentification. Our analysis suggests that neighborhoods do not indicate the potential for social identification and shared community experience.

Intercultural Climate and Belonging in the Globalizing Multi-Ethnic Neighborhoods of Los Angeles

Doubts about the efficacy of multiculturalism to address the tensions experienced between different social and cultural milieus or ethnoscapes in globalizing nations have grown. At the nexus of these tensions are multi-ethnic cities. Discussions of interculturalism at the urban scale have emerged as national governments search for ways to live in and with diversity in peace. However, less is understood about how interculturalism is actually lived out through the tensions in everyday encounters and negotiations in these globalizing multi-ethnic neighborhoods by people who live, work and/or regularly use these settings, which I posit in this paper as public-parochial realms. This paper presents empirical findings from a comparative qualitative study of three globalizing multi-ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles of different income levels by examining the following aspects (a) the circumstances of intercultural interaction in these neighborhoods from the perspectives of different ethnicities and (b) if and how local belongings are formed in these multi-ethnic spaces, in order to understand the possibilities for the formation of intercultural space in these diverse neighborhoods. The discussion foregrounds the globalizing multi-ethnic neighborhood as a meaningful frontier space for encounters that are capable of leading to either experiences of conflict or conviviality.

Neighbors

This article discusses the problem of neighborly coexistence in religiously and ethnically diverse settings. It tackles some widespread assumptions regarding the importance of religious/ethnic factors in shaping neighborly relations as well as the question of broader sociopolitical contexts and their impact on neighborly coexistence. In so doing, it argues against those approaches that place “neighborhood” at the center of debates on the breakdown of societal coexistence and use it as a tool of explanation of interethnic and interreligious conflicts. More specifically, the article engages critically with the way the idea of “neighborhood” is used in debates on Polish history. It argues that the idea of past harmony and peaceful coexistence in “multicultural” settings reinforces the image of the Polish society as tolerant and diversity-friendly and stresses that the harmonious neighborly coexistence was brought to an end by “outsiders.” As a result, not only does it serve the dominant group rather than minorities, but it precludes the understanding of the dynamics of ethnic/religious pluralism. The article therefore suggests that the studies of diversity in Poland should pay closer attention to the context of the dominant—Polish and Catholic—culture in which the diversity has been accommodated. Striving to address this problem, it presents some findings from an ethnographic study of a multireligious and multiethnic neighborhood in rural Poland and provides some comparative insights.

The Neighborhood Strikes Back: Community Murals by Youth in Boston's Communities of Color

AbstractCommunity murals in US inner city neighborhoods offer popular, grassroots representations of local identities and their relation to urban space and community culture. They are powerful tools in building neighborhood solidarity across ethnic groups, generations, and defended gang territories. Designed primarily for local consumption, murals circulate dramatic, alternative representations of local identity, heritage and history, contesting attributions of stigma and danger promulgated in mainstream media. In Boston's Dudley Street corridor that crosscuts its Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods, both low‐income communities of color, these themes are evident in the presence of a vibrant series of community murals lining the one‐mile long street. Designed and painted by local youth under the sponsorship of grassroots community‐based organizations, the murals give voice to urban youth's hopes, struggles, and aspirations for their individual and collective futures, from their positions in disadvantaged, multi‐ethnic neighborhoods in a city sharply divided by race and class.

Social characteristics of psychological distress in disadvantaged areas of Berlin

Living in disadvantaged urban areas is associated with poor mental health. The purpose of this study was to assess which social characteristics were associated with psychological distress within a disadvantaged, multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Berlin. The study was conducted in an area of Berlin with the highest rates of unemployment and highest density of migrants. A total of 143 participants aged 18-57 years were included from a random sample. The social characteristics educational level, employment status, marital status, living alone, per-capita income and background of migration were collected. Psychological distress was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire GHQ-28; scores ≥ 5 indicated psychological distress corresponding to psychiatric caseness. Psychological distress was found in 40.6% (n = 58) of the sample. Psychological distress was associated with younger age (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.92-0.98, p = .004), female gender (OR = 3.51, 95% CI = 1.55-7.92, p = .003) and living alone (OR = 3.88, 95% CI = 1.58-9.52, p = .003), but not with background of migration, low educational level or with unemployment. Young age and female gender may predispose for psychological distress in disadvantaged areas. Living alone could be a social indicator of poor mental health within disadvantaged urban areas. The directionality of the association is unclear. of migration, low income and educational level do not seem to be associated with poor mental health within those areas.

Delineation of Rural Settlement Boundaries in the Upper Reaches of Min River, China

Settlement marks the crucial spatial form for human survival, while rural settlement serves as concentrated reflection of relationship between human and land in mountainous areas. The upper reaches of Min River is not only a multi-ethnic neighborhood, but also a typical eco-environmental vulnerable area as well as the prone area for mountain hazards. Taking SPOT-5 images as the significant data source for spatial analysis, this paper, in accordance with the different geographical positions that rural settlements are located, classifies rural settlement into three types: valley settlement, slope surface settlement and mountain settlement, aiming at boundary characteristics of which the paper confirms symbol for their remote sensing interpretation. With the combined approach of field survey and remote sensing interpretation, the paper finds out that in study area, there are 1667 natural settlements under 625 administrative villages, density of which is 0.025km2, and settlement distribution in this region enjoys the features of dispersity, low density as well as small scale.

Neighborhood Diversity, Metropolitan Constraints, and Household Migration

Focusing on micro-level processes of residential segregation, this analysis combines data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with contextual information from three censuses and several other sources to examine patterns of residential mobility between neighborhoods populated by different combinations of racial and ethnic groups. We find that despite the emergence of multiethnic neighborhoods, stratified mobility dynamics continue to dominate, with relatively few black or white households moving into neighborhoods that could be considered multiethnic. However, we also find that the tendency for white and black households to move between neighborhoods dominated by their own group varies significantly across metropolitan areas. Black and white households' mobility into more integrated neighborhoods is shaped substantially by demographic, economic, political, and spatial features of the broader metropolitan area. Metropolitan-area racial composition, the stock of new housing, residential separation of black and white households, poverty rates, and functional specialization emerge as particularly important predictors. These macro-level effects reflect opportunities for intergroup residential contact as well as structural forces that maintain residential segregation.

Early childhood development and obesity risk-factors in a multi-ethnic, low-income community: Feasibility of the ‘Five Hundred under Five’ social determinants of health pilot study

Objective: First, to describe a community–academic partnership that piloted a parent and home-based programme focused on the intersection of health and education from a social determinants foundation and determine the feasibility and acceptability of such work. Second, to examine trends and co-occurrence of social and environmental context, including obesity-related and school-readiness risk factors. Design: Cross-sectional component of pilot intervention. Setting: Family-based programme based in a low-income, multi-ethnic neighbourhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2007–2009. Methods: English/Spanish/Somali-speaking families with preschool-aged children were recruited for the pilot intervention. Interviews were conducted with study staff to assess feasibility and acceptability. The intervention included an outreach worker and a parent education programme, home visits, school readiness activities and coordination and referral to social, health and school readiness resources through a trained family support advocate. Developmental assessments and a health and sociodemographic survey were conducted. Results: Complete data were available for 60/136 enrolled families. Recruiting and measuring families was feasible and acceptable under certain circumstances. The programme was well accepted by participants. Descriptive analyses suggest a relationship between school readiness, social conditions and obesity-related risk factors. Conclusions: This type of intervention has challenges but offers promising community-based strategies to address the interconnectedness of social conditions, weight-related health and education.