Immigrants and world cities: from the hyper-diverse to the bypassed

Abstract

A relationship between globalization, cities and immigration is increasingly apparent. Whether one is trying to understand Dubai, Toronto, or London, immigrants are culturally, economically, and spatially changing cities in significant ways. This study compares the roster of world cities with that of major urban immigrant destinations. The number of major urban immigrant destinations is growing due to the acceleration of immigration driven by income differentials, social networks and various state and local policies to recruit skilled and unskilled labor and replenish population. This study will present urban-level data on the foreign-born for 145 metropolitan areas of over 1 million people. It will focus on the world's 19 metropolitan areas with over 1 million foreign-born residents. Analysis of the data suggests that there is a range of destination types. Although not all world cities are immigrant gateways, many are.

The Productive Role of ‘Quality of Place’: A Case Study of Fashion Designers in Toronto

“…In terms of the proportion of the population that is foreign born, Toronto ranks amongst the highest in the world with over 51% of its residents being foreign born (City of Toronto, 2003, page 10;Price and Benton-Short, 2007). Our interviews suggest that diversity benefits designers in three main ways: as a source of inspiration, of consumers, and of varied skill sets.…”

Introduction: immigrants and transnational experiences in world cities

“…While immigrants have traditionally been, and still remain, urban-bound, it has not been until recently that foreign-born population or immigrants were taken into account in the body of empirical research on world cities (Ewers 2007;Price and Benton-Short 2007;Benton-Short et al 2005). Studies on global or world cities have, with some exceptions, largely focused on the economic nexus in European and North American cities (Davis 2005;Sassken 2002).…”

“…By establishing such linkages, the authors contend that ''the linking of immigration and global cities is a view of globalization from below. This study is a first step in deepening the empirical connections between global cities and the foreign-born that reside in them'' (Price and Benton-Short 2007).…”

The emergence of ethnic entrepreneurs in Seoul, South Korea: globalisation from below

“…Globalisation influences not only the growth of immigrants but also the development of cities; therefore, globalisation, immigration and cities are interrelated (Price and Benton‐Short ). To understand their relationships, the exploration of globalisation and cities has been attempted by, for example, the global city hypothesis which emphasises urban changes by economic globalisation.…”

“…There are a few attempts to probe how the global flows of immigrants reach cities and how immigrants influence urban changes (Benton‐Short et al . ; Malecki and Ewers ; Mohammad and Sidaway ; Price and Benton‐Short ). Nonetheless, the relationship between immigrants and global cities has not been investigated closely.…”