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Tensions in Diversity
Spaces for Collective Life in Los Angeles
Felicity Hwee-Hwa Chan (Author)
9781487545123
Hardback, published 9 November 2022
264 pages, 22 b&w illustrations, 12 b&w tables, 4 b&w figures, 29 b&w tables
23.5 x 15.9 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg
"[Chan’s] findings and insights are of use to anyone interested in urbanization, urban planning, community life, race and ethnicity, or Los Angeles specifically." - Ronald J. Angel, University of Texas Austin (Ethnic and Racial Studies)
Urban landscapes are complex spaces of sociocultural diversity, characterized by narratives of both conviviality and conflict. As people with multiple ethnicities and nationalities find their common destinies in thriving globalizing cities, social cohesiveness becomes more precarious as different beliefs, practices, ambitions, values, and affiliations intersect in close proximity, producing social tensions. Tensions in Diversity presents a multi-method comparative study that draws on the experiences of 140 residents of native and immigrant origin, community organizers, and municipal officers in three culturally diverse neighbourhoods of varying income levels in Los Angeles County. Using cognitive mapping analysis combined with data from interviews, surveys, and participant observation, this book explores how exactly coexistence is socio-spatially experienced and negotiated in daily life. Tensions in Diversity identifies the planning and design considerations that enable intercultural learning in the public places within diverse cities. In doing so, this book foregrounds urban space as an active force in shaping coexistence and convivial public environments.
1. Introduction: The Promise and Peril of Los Angeles 2. Comparing Spaces of Globalization and Diversity 3. Scenes of Diversity in Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality 4. Tensions in Diversity 5. Boundaries and Local Belongings 6. Intercultural Contours of a Diverse Public Realm 7. Designing for Collective Intercultural Life 8. Conclusions: Conflict and Conviviality in Diversity Appendices
"Diversity Explosion": Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, Class, and Income
Cities of Diversity: Nested Social Complex
Studying Diversity as a Socio-Spatial Phenomenon
More Quality Contact, Not Less
The Trouble with Diversity
Neighbourhood and Community in Tension
Approaching the Three Locales
Cognitive Mapping of Diversity
Reflections on Fieldwork
Scene One: In San Marino
Socio-Spatial Differentiation: Wealth and Ethnicity
Divergent Routines
Scene Two: In Central Long Beach
Ethnicity as an Organizing Principle in Social Space
"Canalized" Practices in Shared Space
Scene Three: In Mid-Wilshire
Contested Space and Cultural Enclaves
Relational Web in Density and Diversity
Concluding Thoughts: Multivalent Diversities in Los Angeles
Competing Values in San Marino
Ethnic Turfs in Central Long Beach
Profiling in Polarities: Mid-Wilshire
Concluding Thoughts about Tensions of Diversity
Elective Boundaries
Circumscribed Boundaries
Polarized Boundaries
Fostering Local Belongings
(S)elective Belonging
Concluding Thoughts: Crossing Boundaries
Configurations of Relational Web
Interculturalism in Los Angeles
Barriers to Intercultural Learning and Understanding in Los Angeles
Lacking Community Space? Intercultural Opportunities in the Public Realm
Neighbourhood Parks
Public Libraries
Public Events and Festivals
Concluding Thoughts: Public Realm of Diversity
Evaluating the Urban Form of Diverse Public Environments
Interculturalism in Urban Planning and Design Practice?
Co-producing a Convivial Collective Life: Qualities of Intercultural Places
Concluding Thoughts: Design for Public Life
Diverse Public Realm and Its Promises
Implications beyond Los Angeles
Notes
References