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Planning Theory & Practice

ISSN: 1464-9357 (Print) 1470-000X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rptp20

Challenges and Opportunities for Planning in


the Ethno-culturally Diverse City: A Collection of
Papers--Introduction
Katherine Pestieau & MARCIA WALLACE
To cite this article: Katherine Pestieau & MARCIA WALLACE (2003) Challenges and
Opportunities for Planning in the Ethno-culturally Diverse City: A Collection of Papers-Introduction, Planning Theory & Practice, 4:3, 253-258, DOI: 10.1080/1464935032000118625
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1464935032000118625

Published online: 01 Dec 2010.

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Date: 27 September 2015, At: 10:17

Planning Theory & Practice, Vol. 4, No. 3, 253258, September 2003

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Challenges and Opportunities for


Planning in the Ethno-culturally
Diverse City: A Collection of
PapersIntroduction
KATHERINE PESTIEAU & MARCIA WALLACE

The Context
This collection of papers explores the connections between ethno-cultural diversity and
contemporary planning practice. The need for pluralism and managing ethno-cultural
differences has become more salient with the global migration trends of the past
decades. Immigration is an increasingly important economic and social factor in urban
development, and one that is affecting both the physical form and social composition of
the worlds most economically competitive cities. Immigration is transforming these
cities, and presenting important challenges in how planners and municipal administrators manage growth and change. At its best, urban planning both shapes the form and
extent of development in a city, and is a reflection of the values, goals and priorities of
a local population. Growing ethno-cultural diversity is forcing a debate in many cities
about the appropriate balance between respecting diversity and defending technical
planning norms in urban development.
The impacts of immigration, however, are not generically felt by cities. Each city faces
a unique set of circumstances influenced by (among other factors): the ethno-cultural
composition of past and current immigrant population; the barriers or challenges to
settlement present for newcomers; the mixture of subsequent generations that make up
the new host society; and the political, historical and social context. Despite these
differences, ethno-cultural diversity is intersecting with city planning internationally
over the same issuescommunity services and facilities, land use and zoning, economic
development, architecture and urban design. This reality begs a closer examination of
the challenges ethno-cultural diversity are presenting for growing cities and the assumptions the planning profession is influenced by in managing this diversity.
The three papers that follow in this issue of Planning Theory & Practice draw upon the
experiences of planning practitioners and researchers from cities in Canada, the USA
and Australia. These countries have ethno-culturally diverse populations as a result of
their significant numbers of indigenous peoples and of being, both currently and
historically, major immigrant-receiving nations. Their largest cities continue to be
(re)defined by ethno-cultural diversity as they grapple with the local realities of
multiculturalism. The papers provide examples of conflicts over land use that are
Katherine Pestieau, Selection Branch, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Email: katherine.pestieau@cic.gc.ca
Marcia Wallace, Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
1464-9357 Print/1470-000X On-line/03/030253-06 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/1464935032000118625

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K. Pestieau & M. Wallace

influenced by cultural difference, and point to the tools and strategies planners have, or
need, to cope with these new challenges.
The impetus for this collection of papers comes out of the themes raised in a workshop
we organized on planning, immigration and diversity at the Fifth International Metropolis Conference in Vancouver, Canada in November 2000. Fulfilling the Metropolis
Projects1 objective of fostering better policy and programmes development through
dialogue among researchers, policy makers and practitioners, the workshop brought
together those involved in or studying planning from a variety of cities around the
world to discuss the common challenges practitioners face when planning in an
ethno-culturally diverse city. The reality of an ethno-cultural city, we argued, was
increasingly becoming relevant for planners internationally given global economic and
migration trends. We were interested in the approaches, perspectives and tools planners
would bring to address these challenges that reflected unique local histories, institutions
and political contexts.
Ethno-cultural Diversity and Urban Governance
The city is the site of countless interactions and transactions among city residents.
For those cities that are attracting immigrants, these exchanges are taking on an
ethno-cultural character. Cities around the world are increasingly diverse in their ethnic,
cultural, racial, linguistic and religious make-up (a notion we try to capture with the
term ethno-cultural diversity). To a large extent it is the accelerated rate of international
migration to economically competitive centres that fuels this diversity. Yet whether a
function of personal choice, dominant transportation routes, the presence of family and
cultural networks of contacts, the availability of support systems or some combination
of these, immigrants continue to settle in large urban centres. For cities in countries that
have long attracted immigrants, this ethno-cultural diversity is reflected in the intersection of cultural groups within society, and the layered impacts of difference on built
form over time, particularly in the last 50 years. Ethno-culturally diverse cities point to
a possible future for those centres with populations that are much more recently being
characterized by ethnic, cultural and/or racial difference.
The responsibility for managing this diversity often falls on higher-level governments,
expressed in policies and programmes addressing immigration, culture or housing for
example. Depending on the intergovernmental structure present in a given country,
cities may or may not have the political jurisdiction or financial resources to meet
settlement needs for immigrants. Regardless of their authority, however, larger cities are
realizing they cannot abdicate a role in addressing the impact of ethno-cultural diversity
or immigration.
Ethno-cultural diversity is expressed in the physical form of the city, for example
cultural centres, places of worship or commercial buildings. As the papers that follow
identify, city planners and municipal administrators are increasingly interested in
understanding this force of change in their community, as they are pushed and pulled
into managing the political conflicts that may arise from the proliferation of cultural
difference and the cumulative affect such diversity has on the physical shape of the city.
However, as Germain & Gagnon suggest in their paper, it is not administrators and
planners but rather elected officials and community actors that may be better positioned
to address these challenges.
Ethno-cultural diversity also challenges the assumptions planners and municipal
administrators may have about the social composition of the community they serve.

Planning in the Ethno-culturally Diverse City

255

Ultimately, cities are responsible for delivering local services to the entire population,
including immigrants and members of minority communities. As communities become
more diverse, this may require new institutions or rules governing urban life. For
example, a multicultural city may choose to use its diversity as a branding tool. At the
service delivery level, cities may be forced to create new programmes, adapt existing
services, or (re)create public spaces. In facing these challenges, planners and administrators struggle to reconcile competing expectations about municipal services and patterns
of urban growth.

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Ethno-cultural Diversity and Urban Planning


Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the implications of immigration and
ethno-cultural diversity for local planning. There is a wide gap between planning
practice, in the broadest definition, and the important contribution that planning theory
has made to our understanding of cultural diversity. There is an emerging literature
about how urban planning should respond to ethno-cultural diversity (Burayidi, 2000;
Qadeer, 1997, 2000; Sandercock, 1998, 2000; Sandercock & Kliger, 1998; Thomas, 2000;
Thomas & Krishnarayan, 1994; Thomas & Ritzdorf, 1997) that is part of a larger
discussion around negotiating the challenges of making a multicultural society work in
general (Kymlicka, 1995; Parekh, 2000; Pestieau, 1999). With some notable exceptions
(Edgington & Hutton, 2002; Moore Milroy & Wallace, 2001; Thompson et al., 1998;
Wallace & Moore Milroy, 1999) there is far less literature that explains how these insights
should be put into practice, or identifies innovative strategies that practitioners have
implemented. As both a discipline of study and as a municipal service, urban planning
has been very slow in recognizing the significance of ethno-cultural minority populations (Burayidi, 2000; Moore Milroy & Wallace, 2001; Sandercock 1998, 2000; Sandercock
& Kliger, 1998). Our workshop in 2000 confirmed that, internationally, there are few
documented examples of planners taking diversity into account in the practice of their
profession. This is difficult to justify in light of current demographic trends in the
worlds most economically competitive cities.
In those centres that attract diverse immigration in large numbers, the most visible
impact of the inflow of individuals from diverse backgrounds is seen at the neighbourhood scale. In neighbourhoods, newcomers present new demands for commercial
amenities, social and cultural institutions, residential housing forms and municipal
services. This shift may change a neighbourhoods ethno-cultural and socio-economic
profile. While the implications of ethno-cultural diversity may be hard to define at the
national level, they are very real at the local level and reflect the negotiation that takes
place as communities grow with diversity. These negotiations are the territory of urban
planning.
Practical Lessons
Urban planning is about making decisions on how to share public goods and what uses
residents can make of public and private properties (a building site, a park, a street and
neighbourhood). By extension, it is also about managing conflicts over how those public
goods are shared, or how land is used. Planning is, in many ways then, central to the
interactions among city residents, whatever their origins. Experiences involving planning and ethno-cultural minorities are as broad as the application of planning itself. It
may be granting a building permit for a place of worship, determining the type of sport

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K. Pestieau & M. Wallace

children can play in a public park or including ethnic businesses in an economic


development strategy.
The papers in this collection point to some of the best practices in planning within
current municipal administrative structures. Burayidis paper introduces the relevance of
approaching planning from a multicultural perspective, drawing on several cases from
the USA involving indigenous peoples and immigrant communities. He argues that
addressing culture is necessary to the notion of good planning. His examples are taken
from planning practice in land use, housing and historical preservation, and in each case
he describes the conflicts that arise from clashes between dominant and minority
cultures. Burayidi believes that these conflicts can be avoided through the practice of
multicultural planning, depending in large part on the presence of proactive culturally
sensitive planners.
Supported by a large survey of Australian municipalities, Thompson similarly argues
for a culturally aware and inclusive planner. While acknowledging how difficult it is to
achieve in practice, she likewise recommends a proactive planning approach based on
actions that have proven feasible in the Australian planning context. Thompson draws
on the initiatives from two suburban municipalities to the west of Sydney, which have
institutionalized (their) commitment to multicultural service provision. She advocates
the importance of progressive policy documents, but also challenges planners professional biases and assumptions in order to develop the necessary planning tools to be
capable of planning for all.
Germain & Gagnon draw their examples from the Greater Montreal context, and focus
on two contentious cases involving religion as the point where ethno-cultural diversity
intersects with planning practice. They unpack the theoretical and practical issues that
come into play with minority religious groups attempting to establish their religious
spaces in the city. In particular, Germain & Gagnon describe the various players that
most influenced the outcomes in these casescivil society, the minority religious
communities, and local politiciansand note that planners and municipal administrators played a minor role in the final outcomes. Ultimately, the two cases illustrate that
the way in which public space is defined arises through the ways municipalities attempt
to better manage diversity and accept the other.
New Tools, New Approaches?
Many planners continue to believe that they do not need to consider the ethno-cultural
character of the population they serve or the existence of immigrants within this
population. Some argue that to do so would bias the process of planning, which has
been described as a neutral, technical activity. Good planning, from this perspective,
must accommodate future users of a site or building, and not be wedded to the needs
of any particular user group. This argument does have considerable meritplanning by
definition is an exercise with a view to the long term. The problem, however, is when
such an argument is used to avoid a serious examination of the assumptions already
embedded in neutral planning processes.
What then, does it mean to plan amidst ethno-cultural diversity? The answer is
still being refined in international planning practice, as the papers in this special
issue demonstrate. The authors emphasize the importance of local history and institutional context in shaping planning responses to ethno-cultural diversity. Given the
various impacts immigration and diversity have on the physical form and social mix of
a particular city, context should be remembered when comparing lessons learned in

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Planning in the Ethno-culturally Diverse City

257

other countries. Nevertheless, the papers also identify very similar points of conflict and
negotiation that planners and municipal administrators face when attempting to address
the challenges of ethno-cultural diversity.
Planners internationally and the professional bodies regulating them should consider
the set of tools professional planners are equipped with to address these conflicts. The
professional training planners receive appears to be key to the transformation required
to be a culturally sensitive planner as Burayidi suggests, or a culturally inclusive
planner as Thompson advocates.
However, the challenge that Germain & Gagnon describe as not a set of principles
one starts with, but actually a compromise on coexistence will not be achievable
through the actions of planners alone. Germain & Gagnon and Thompson discuss the
need for commitment from elected officials and the city as a corporate entity to manage
ethno-cultural diversity. This may come in the form of city policy documents with clear
guidelines on the conduct of municipal departments and agencies, institutional changes
to ensure inclusive language and outreach to diverse groups, and an examination of
assumptions in existing programmes and services.
What seems obvious is that there is an inevitable need for planners and municipal
administrators to address these challenges and recognize they are governing an ethnoculturally diverse city, if the hopes of creating and maintaining a socially cohesive and
sustainable urban environment can be fulfilled.

Acknowledgement
Views or opinions expressed here are solely the authors and do not imply any
endorsement by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada nor by the
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing of the Province of Ontario.
Note
1.

The Metropolis Project is an international forum for comparative research and public policy development
about population migration, cultural diversity and the challenges of immigrant integration in cities
www.metropolis.net .

References
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Edgington, D.W. & Hutton, T.A. (2002) Multiculturalism and local government in Greater Vancouver. RIIM
Working Paper Series No. 0206, Vancouver. Available at http://riim.metropolis.net/research-policy/
research-policy2/papers e4.html .
Kymlicka, W. (1995) Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (New York, Oxford University
Press).
Moore Milroy, B. & Wallace, M. (2001) Ethnoracial Diversity and Planning Practices in the Greater Toronto Area.
Report funded by the Centre of Excellence for Research in Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), Toronto,
July.
Parekh, B. (2000) Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (Cambridge, MA, Harvard
University Press).
Pestieau, J. (1999) Les Citoyens au Bazar: Mondialisation, Nations et Minorites (Laval, Les Presses de lUniversite
Laval).
Qadeer, M. (1997) Pluralistic planning for multicultural cities: Canadian practice, Journal of the American
Planning Association, 63(4), pp. 481494.
Qadeer, M. (2000) Urban planning and multiculturalism: beyond sensitivity, Plan Canada, 40(4), p. 37.

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Sandercock, L. (1998) Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities (Chichester, John Wiley and Sons).
Sandercock, L. (2000) Cities of (in)difference and the challenge for planning, DISP, 140(1), pp. 75.
Sandercock, L. & Kliger, B. (1998) Multiculturalism and the planning system, Australian Planner, 35(3),
pp. 127132.
Thomas, H. (2000) Race and Planning: The UK Experience (London, UCL Press).
Thomas, H. & Krishnarayan, V. (Eds) (1994) Race, Equality and Planning: Policies and Procedures (Aldershot,
Avebury).
Thomas, J.M. & Ritzdorf, M. (1997) Urban Planning and the African Community: In the Shadows (Thousand Oaks,
CA, Sage).
Thompson, S., Dunn, K., Burnley, I., Murphy, P. & Hanna, B. (1998) Multiculturalism and Local Governance: A
National Perspective (New South Wales, New South Wales Department of Local Government, Ethnic Affairs
Commission of New South Wales and the University of New South Wales, September).
Wallace, M. & Moore Milroy, B. (1999) Intersecting claims: possibilities for planning in Canadas multicultural
cities, in: T. Fenster (Ed.) Gender, Planning and Human Rights, pp. 5573 (London, Routledge).

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