City as Social Space

Question 1

Ethni-Cities

Answer 1

-cities with diverse ethnocultural backgrounds (e.g. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver)

Question 2

Ethno-Burbs

Answer 2

• a suburban area hosting a concentration of minority ethnic residents and businesses
• past decades have seen a shift in the geography of immigration to urban areas where new immigrants bypass urban centres (e.g. Chinatown) as traditional immigrant reception areas and settle in suburbs

Question 3

Social Area Analysis

Answer 3

• a theory and related technique that seeks to identify patterns of residential differentiation, linking changes in urban social structure to three fundamental forces:
  1. social rank or economic status
  2. urbanization or family status
  3. segregation or ethnic status

Question 4

Urban Mosaic

Answer 4

• an extension of Social Area Analysis framework by Murdie where social structure patterns are mapped onto the physical spaces within the city
• the overlaying patterns create a mosaic that allows one to examine spaces & patterns of social interaction

Question 5

Urban Segregation

Answer 5

• when groups of people with similar social, economic, ethnic, or religious backgrounds occupy distinct spaces within the same region
• there’s both spatial distance and social distance
• can stem from internal forces (cultural retention) and external forces (discrimination)
• e.g. Protestant vs Catholics in Belfast

Question 6

Index of Similarity

Answer 6

• a measure of segregation that compares the spatial distribution of two groups in an urban area
• ranges from 0 (no seggregation) to 100 (complete seggregation)
• has the benefit of being relatively simple; but can vary when different scales of calculation is used (census tract vs road block vs districts)

Question 7

Colonies, Enclaves, Ghettoes

Answer 7

• all are locational (physical) expressions of segregation
• Colony: a temporary phenomenon where people cluster in certain areas of a city that act as ports of entry during initial stages of colonization
• Enclaves: spatial concentrations formed by residents’ preference to live near others from the same social group rather than by the process of exclusion/limited mobility
• Ghettoes: spatial concentrations that segregate minority groups who lack the freedom and mobility, as a consequence of social barriers (e.g. discrimintion), to move into other areas of the city (e.g. the Ward in Toronto in the early 20th century)