Overview

Urban landscapes are complex spaces of sociocultural diversity, characterised by narratives of both conviviality and conflict. As people with multiple ethnicities and nationalities find their common destinies in thriving globalising 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 organisers, 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 just 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.

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9781487545123

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Reviews

Diversity is often discussed in abstract terms or sociodemographic percentages. But how is diversity experienced by the residents of a city? In this eloquently written book, diversity - with all its complexities and tensions - is grounded through the voices of residents in one of the most diverse global cities: Los Angeles. Grounded in social sciences and design theory, the book is a welcome and refreshing read for everyone interested in cities as social and physical constructs. - Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles Drawing on rich fieldwork in three Los Angeles neighbourhoods, Felicity Hwee-Hwa Chan explores the forms of urban public life which overlay social frictions, manifold diversities, and spatial coexistence. Working across and between boundaries traced by socio-economic difference, planning practices, and everyday imaginations, Chan's study affirms the possibilities for belonging outside an imperative of integration. - Fran Tonkiss, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics

Author Information

Felicity Hwee-Hwa Chan is an assistant professor of urban planning at Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

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