Murals have long been used in communities to express solidarity and voice political opinions. As neighborhoods become increasingly diverse, complex economic and political motivations emerge for making murals that reflect new claims and contests over space. Focusing on recently designated ethnic "-towns" in the Greater Los Angeles area, the study finds that murals reveal multiple narratives and motives, including negotiations over space, identity, place-branding, and border-making as well as interethnic competition and reconciliation. It is argued that understanding the evolving functions and multivalent potentials of murals is critical for the success of place making and community planning. In particular, we draw attention to the trend of businesses and local government agencies using murals to make statements on identity and intercultural relations.Murals are known for their use by communities and neighborhoods to express collective identities. Common themes include endorsement of shared ideals or values, celebration of events or people from history, and political criticism or protest. Available literature is relatively sparse, however, on murals in the context of new immigrant politics, especially with regard to the interplay between inclusion of new immigrants and interminority relations, concerns of second and third generations, and agendas of economic development. Murals inhabit multiple spaces-at once symbolic and material, image and narrative, and representation and reality. In this article, we attempt to read murals to learn more about the motivations behind their creation.Murals produced in three ethnic "-towns" of Los Angeles are analyzed in this paper. The neighborhoods that have a special significance for people of Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese origin. The three neighborhoods were chosen because these communities form a significant part of the post-1965 immigration flows to the United States. Furthermore, the three neighborhoods
This study examines the relationship between World Heritage Sites (WHSs) and local community development in Agra, India. We investigate two interrelated themes: the role of planning in developing the tourism potential of the Taj Mahal and other WHSs in Agra, and the impact of the WHS framework on the development of the city. We analyze the weaknesses of the institutions and agencies responsible for Agra's inability to convert the development potential created by its three WHSs into significant economic, community and infrastructure improvements. The Agra case reveals a set of developmental paradoxes, whereby the restructuring of the tourist industry induced by the designation of WHSs does not lead to proportionate advances in local community development. Several factors were found to be systemic problems, but some recent schemes are worth supporting and expanding. The paradoxes and potential of economic, tourism, and community development in Agra echo those of other developing localities which host WHSs around the world. Following an assessment of problems and challenges, a set of recommendations is directed toward the development of pro-poor, community-based heritage tourism with the aim of informing integrated planning for the community and for heritage and tourism resources in the future.
This paper examines the evolution and recent trends in the design of Entertainment Retail Centres (ERCs) in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Most of the literature on spaces of consumption and leisure deals with economic reasons for the development of these spaces, and with the social, cultural, and political implications of the phenomenon. There are limitations to this approach that this study addresses. First, there has been a lack of attention to processes of globalization in the analysis of these spaces. Furthermore, a largely US-centred approach has left out an understanding of the significance of the ERC phenomenon in other societies. Secondly, the literature lacks a sufficient appreciation of the particularities of urban planning and design associated with ERCs. A body of work addresses the issues of the organization of space within the mall, and its architectonics. However, these studies are by definition limited to the complex, and not oriented towards the urban setting. This paper seeks to address these gaps by moving towards an understanding of the relationship of entertainment retail spaces to their urban and glocal contexts. It considers ERCs not only for the construction of economics, but also of urban, social, and cultural forces, and simultaneously as agents for the mediation of these forces in the built environment of localized places. The analysis is organized along four related themes-land use, transportation, urban design, and consumption patterns. The conclusion offers lessons that can orient both these global cities' trajectories and those of the cities that follow in their footsteps.
This paper examines automobile dependence within the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Significant attachment to cars, and a combination of social, cultural, and demographic factors, have created unique expressions of automobility-labeled here as exaggerated automobilities. The paper attempts to understand how and why these new displays of automobility emerge. It also focuses on the drivers' attitudes of dominance and superiority towards non-drivers-in this case, low-income migrant workers. The paper reviews literature relevant to automobility and labor flows in the UAE. It then documents some of these expressions of automobility through ethnographic observations in the city and a survey of young drivers.
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