VIEWPOINTS

Identifying Place
— Melissa Obi

The influence of tourism on Chinatown's cultural identity

For numerous cities worldwide, the use of Chinatowns as tourist attractions has proven effective in fostering demographic and economic growth, thus prompting a high emphasis on tourism in the planning process of these communities, particularly as concerns enhancing features associated with Chinese culture. This new focus in the planning process underscores the necessity for

Noting the bond shared by the community further raises concern that the planning of Calgary’s Chinatown primarily as a tourist attraction may yield similar consequences to Los Angeles’s Chinatown. Specifically, the potentially resulting gentrification may lead to the displacement of some

[1] Ethnic is a contentious term which reinforces the notion of “whiteness” as a hegemonic category of identity (Anderson 1987). 

References

Anderson, Kay J. 1987. “The Idea of Chinatown: The Power of Place and Institutional Practice in the Making of a Racial Category.” Annuals of the Association of American Geographers 77(4): 580-598. 

Melissa Obi: is an Urban Studies student at the University of Calgary, interested in the sociological impacts of the built environment. She is pursuing a career in Architecture.