ABSTRACT

Transcultural Cities uses a framework of transcultural placemaking, cross-disciplinary inquiry and transnational focus to examine a collection of case studies around the world, presented by a multidisciplinary group of scholars and activists in architecture, urban planning, urban studies, art, environmental psychology, geography, political science, and social work. The book addresses the intercultural exchanges as well as the cultural trans-formation that takes place in urban spaces. In doing so, it views cultures not in isolation from each other in today’s diverse urban environments, but as mutually influenced, constituted and transformed.

In cities and regions around the globe, migrations of people have continued to shape the makeup and making of neighborhoods, districts, and communities. For instance, in North America, new immigrants have revitalized many of the decaying urban landscapes, creating renewed cultural ambiance and economic networks that transcend borders. In Richmond, BC Canada, an Asian night market has become a major cultural event that draws visitors throughout the region and across the US and Canadian border. Across the Pacific, foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong transform the deserted office district in Central on weekends into a carnivalesque site. While contributing to the multicultural vibes in cities, migration and movements have also resulted in tensions, competition, and clashes of cultures between different ethnic communities, old-timers, newcomers, employees and employers, individuals and institutions.

In Transcultural Cities Jeffrey Hou and a cross-disciplinary team of authors argue for a more critical and open approach that sees today’s cities, urban places, and placemaking as vehicles for cross-cultural understanding.

chapter 1|16 pages

Your Place and/or My Place?

part I|58 pages

Placemaking att the Margins

chapter 2|15 pages

Transcultural Placemaking

Intertwined Spaces of Sacred and Secular on Devon Avenue, Chicago

chapter 5|13 pages

The Sin Oh Dan Street Lion Dance Competition

A Temporary Space for Cross-cultural Understanding

part II|58 pages

Placemaking in the Space of Flows

chapter 6|14 pages

The Korean Diaspora in Philippine Cities

Amalgamation or Invasion?

chapter 7|13 pages

The Transcultural Production of Space

Making “Little Shanghai” in Sydney

chapter 9|15 pages

Everyday Places that Connect Disparate Homelands

Remembering through the City

part III|58 pages

Bridging Spaces of Difference

chapter 10|14 pages

“We Are the Fruit Bowl”

Place, Cultural Identity, and Social Ties among Immigrant Residents in Public Housing

chapter 11|15 pages

Spaces of Negotiation and Engagement in Multi-ethnic Ethnoscapes

The “Cambodia Town” Neighborhood in Central Long Beach, California

chapter 12|13 pages

From a Neighborhood of Strangers to a Community of Fate

The Village at Market Creek Plaza

chapter 13|14 pages

“Dumb White Kids” and “Asian Nerds”

Race and Ethnic Relations in Silicon Valley Suburban Schools

part IV|59 pages

Building Communities Across Cultures

chapter 14|14 pages

The Road Less Traveled

Transcultural Community Building

chapter 16|15 pages

Transcultural Participation

Designing with Immigrant Communities in Seattle's International District

part V|62 pages

Struggles for Transcultural Cities

chapter 18|19 pages

What's Parks Got To Do With It?

Latino Children, Physical Activity, and the Parks System in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

chapter 19|13 pages

Placemaking in Between Urban Redevelopment

Little Indonesia in Taipei