Shrinking Historic Neighborhoods and Authenticity Dilution: An Unspoken Challenge of Historic Chinatowns in the United States through the Case of San Francisco

Abstract

Despite a rising amount of urban shrinkage research, little attention is paid to the shrinking historic ethnic neighborhoods, where authenticity plays a vital role in maintaining local heritage, identity, and livability. This article concerns the historic Chinatowns in the United States that are largely confronting the evident decline of the ethnic Chinese population and authenticity dilution. Taking San Francisco’s historic Chinatown as a case study, the research portrays an alternative face of urban shrinkage at the neighborhood level with a specific integration of authenticity discourse. Through combining quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative research on the basis of interviews, the paper presents how neighborhood shrinkage and authenticity dilution are perceived and characterized and further reveals the interactive process of neighborhood shrinkage and authenticity dilution, and their impacts on social sustainability. The study also demonstrates the notable necessity and possibility to incorporate the issue of authenticity into the discourse of urban shrinkage, which enables a deepened understanding of the cumulative effects of urban shrinkage on local lives and social sustainability, and establishing a more comprehensive and targeted framework of strategies, particularly for those carrying significant social, cultural, and emotional meaning.

Social Sustainability in Aging Populations: A Systematic Literature Review

“…One study suggests that an outcome of this approach would be a decrease in intergenerational conflicts over resources ( Zaidi, 2012 ). Several studies remark that the state of social sustainability is reached when institutions support both current and future generations and when the individuals of both generations have the options and resources to lead good lives ( Andersson & Gromark, 2021 ; Garces et al, 2003 ; Wurster, 2011 ; Xie & Batunova, 2020 ). One study suggests that social sustainability in this understanding is particularly likely to come about when individuals are well-educated and endowed with high human capital ( Wurster, 2011 ).…”

How to Save Chinatown: Preserving affordability and community service through ethnic retail

“…Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles retain some of the largest and significant Chinatowns across the West Coast of Canada and the United States. The shared histories of these Chinatowns is distinct, with strong connections to the history of urban segregation, discrimination, racism and regulatory disenfranchisement seen throughout planning history (Moore, Montojo, and Mauri 2019;Xie and Batunova 2019;Zuk and Chapple 2015). All three Chinatowns have histories of trade labor that encourage Asian men to seek work within gold mines, but facing white hostility, were ultimately the labor behind major railroads in the region.…”

“…Chinatowns and ethnic enclaves alike, however, are often borne from discriminatory housing, zoning, and labor practices (Hom 2020a;Moore, Montojo, and Mauri 2019;Xie and Batunova 2019). These communities that represent safety and acceptance, supported through enterprises that provide goods, services, and activities.…”

The Production of Global Space Under the Transnational Entrepreneurship: Empirical Study on Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China

“…区 [14][19][21]~ [27] 。王立等学者认为，国家全球主义、政府企业主义与新自由 主义是构成世界范围内全球化空间形成的三大模式，实质上这三种主义 正好对应国家、企业与社会三种形塑全球化空间的重要行为体 [7] 。北京、 上海、广州等中国世界城市的全球化空间生产大多具有明显的国家全球 主义空间生产模式的特征，表现为国家和跨国公司所主导的自上而下的 全球化力量 [9] 。政府企业主义即地方政府从自身利益出发，将行政资源和 前期发展积累的大量资本直接注入到城市经济、社会、生活空间的发展 中，而在常见于西方国家的新自由主义空间生产模式中，市场作用得到 充分发挥 [7] 。值得注意的是，从全球范围来看，使用列斐伏尔的空间生产 理论来诠释全球化空间生产或全球化要素影响下的空间生产与再生产的 研究较少，且极少聚焦于中国城市(仅涉及广州 [8] 、南京 [20] )。此外，学 界已有较多研究探究了族裔群体于特定空间的领域化实践，但却鲜少关 注跨地方和跨国尺度的力量及其对空间和地方的重塑 [28] 。 浙江省义乌市拥有全球最大的小商品批发市场 [29] ，是中国受全球化 列斐伏尔的空间生产理论提出了空间的三元统一(t ri a d) [10] 及其辨 证过程，许多学者将其归纳为"空间三元论" [8][30] [31] 。本研究结合部分学 者的观点 [32] ，将空间三元论中三元要素出现的三个层面归纳如下：现象 学层面表达为感知的空间(perceived space)、构想的空间(conceived space)、生活的空间(lived space)；语言学层面对应空间实践(spatial p r a c t i c e)、空间的再现(r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f s p a c e)、再现的空间 (r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a l spaces)；空间类型上对应物质性空间、象征性空 间、社会性空间。空间三元要素具有同时性和统一性，"即空间生产的 过程是同时被构想、被感知，并存在于生活中" [30] ，三要素之间的联系 是动态而非静止的。可以说，空间三元论将空间生产涉及的各领域相互 贯通起来，从不同角度对同一空间进行辩证、动态发展的思考 [30][33] 。…”

“…Lefebvre's theory enables to integrate the associated research on cities and spaces into a concise and comprehensive framework, so as to deepen the understanding and analysis of the production process of space from different dimensions, especially relating to social realities fundamentally. [12] Although many researchers have focused on global space, their findings are limited and mainly concentrate on world cities, such as Beijing [13] [14] , Shanghai [15] [16] , Guangzhou [4][6] [8][17]~ [19] , Nanjing [20]~ [22] , London [23] , Berlin [9][24] [25] , and San Francisco [26] [27] , especially their ethnic enclaves [14] [19][21]~ [27] . Wang Li et al held that national globalism, governmental entrepreneurialism, and neoliberalism are three main models forming global space worldwide, and they essentially correspond to three key actors that form global space, i.e.…”