Immigrant businesses, place-making, and community development: a case from an emerging immigrant gateway

Abstract

Immigrant businesses have become an increasingly important component in the US economy. However, very few studies have systematically examined the role of immigrant businesses in community development, except for some cases in established immigrant gateways such as New York and Miami. In this study, we explore how immigrant businesses are shaping physical, cultural, social, economic, and political landscapes in their local communities in the emerging immigrant gateway of Charlotte, North Carolina. Focusing on the case of a multiethnic retail corridor, we find that, as active place-makers, immigrant businesses have transformed deteriorating and abandoned street fronts into vibrant and well-frequented urban environments conducive for further development. Through a systematic approach to understanding the place-making process of immigrant businesses, findings from this study call for more in-depth integration of immigrant and ethnic economies in local policies and planning strategies for neighborhood revitalization. These findings are particularly pertinent in the context of the continuous ethnic diversification of our neighborhoods and cities.

From Passive to Active: A Multiplayer Economic Integration Process of Turkish Immigrants in Berlin

“…At present, many newly arrived immigrants usually head to this place for jobs and rental houses where they can also build up their friend network and accumulate their social capital. In a word, this case study more or less proved the presumption that the ethnic economy positively influences the economic integration of immigrants [9].…”

“…Traditional studies perceive immigrants as passive actors in the economic integration process [7,8]. However, recently, more studies have shown that immigrants are playing a much more active role (e.g., informality, human and social capital accumulation, ethnic economy), which presents a transformation from passive economic integration to active economic integration [9,10]. However, this transformation is disputed as immigrants' more active economically integrating behavior does not represent a positively successful economic integration [11].…”

“…Traditionally, economic integration studies have highlighted the roles of immigration policy and economic structures, perceiving immigrants as passive actors, which presents a research mainstream from the perspective of "passive" integration [7,8]. However, recently, more studies have shown that immigrants play a much more active role, which presents a transformation from passive economic integration to active economic integration [9,10].…”

Ethnic Entrepreneurship and Placemaking in Toronto's Ethnic Retail Neighbourhoods

“…Ethnic entrepreneurs are key players in the ethnic placemaking process. Schuch and Wang () focused on the Central Avenue ethnic business corridor of Charlotte, North Carolina, and argued that placemaking entails the active engagement of people in the places they inhabit. They described ethnic placemaking practices as having ‘multiple interrelated dimensions (physical, cultural, social, economic, and political) and an ever‐changing two‐way interactive process between immigrant businesses and their communities’ (Schuch & Wang , p. 218).…”

“…Ethnic businesses, as one of the most visible markers of immigrant settlement and multiculturalism, are undoubtedly embedded in ‘places’, which, in contrast to physical ‘spaces’ are understood as ‘the geographical context for the mediation of physical, social and economic processes’ (Agnew , p. 317). Although little research has examined the intersection between place and ethnic entrepreneurship, a few studies have used social/cultural, economic, physical, and political lenses to observe ethnic businesses and explore placemaking processes (Wood ; Wang ; Liu et al ; Schuch & Wang ; Zhuang ; Zhuang & Chen ). Ethnic placemaking is generally discussed within an urban context, as suburbs are often characterised as ‘placeless’.…”