The recent waves of immigration have dramatically changed the urban landscape of Canada’s metropolitan regions. One of the significant markers of this change are ethnic retail activities that manifest in ethnic shopping strips and centres. The dynamics of ethnic retailing pose various challenges for municipalities; yet, our knowledge of its complexities is limited, especially in terms of its relationship with and implications for city planning. Current literature on multicultural planning advocates for cultural sensitivity in planning practice based on a limited number of empirical studies. It generally overlooks planners’ professional mandate and the constraints inherent in the planning system that hinder planners’ capacity to be proactive, and is regularly disregarded in practice. This research focuses on the phenomenon of ethnic retailing and provides empirical data to bridge the research gaps. Several research objectives were pursued in this thesis, including: the exploration of ethnic retail activities among different ethnic groups in different commercial settings, the examination of the ethnic retail development process and key players in the production of ethnic retail spaces, and the identification of the role of municipal planning in ethnic retailing. The study targets the Chinese, South Asian, and Italian business communities; four case studies were conducted, including three retail strips in the inner city of Toronto, namely East Chinatown, the Gerrard India Bazaar, and Corso Italia, and one suburban Asian theme mall, the Pacific Mall in the Town of Markham. The four case studies demonstrate that planners play an inactive or a reactive role in the context of ethnic retail area development. The major reason for their limited role is that planners must abide by the legislative structure and the procedures of the planning system. They must, by the nature of their profession, focus on city-wide issues. The planning profession’s mandate confines planners’ capacity and flexibility in dealing with the multicultural challenges presented by local ethnic communities. Another major area this research explores is the nature of ethnic retailing. There are important inter-group and intra-group differences among the case studies. There are also significant differences between the inner-city retail strips and the suburban shopping mall. The relationship of the dynamics of ethnic retailing and urban planning is explored, with particular focus on community building, the relationship between the City vision and local diversity, and ethnic expression. These findings demonstrate the dynamic, fluid, and complex nature of ethnic retailing that constantly changes and evolves. Considering these dynamics, the findings indicate that there can be no templates in planning approaches to ethnic retailing. Planners must respect the local diversity and reject universal treatments of ethnic retail areas. Planners do not have authority to initiate ethnic retailing, nor is it possible for them to create a universal template to regulate the development of ethnic retail areas. Yet, there are other innovative ways for planners to balance city-wide and local interests, helping to recreate community focal points and serve the ultimate goal of “planning for all”. This study provides several recommendations for municipal planning: First, planners must reinvent themselves by adopting a proactive and holistic planning approach. Planners must think beyond the technical dimensions of urban development and consider the social and cultural aspects, especially the ethno-cultural elements, of the community, and incorporate them in the planning process. Several conventional planning tools, including ethno-racial and business data collection at the neighbourhood level, Secondary Plans that recreate community focal points, and (multicultural) public participation can be effectively applied to ethnic retail development. Another important step is to establish a Multicultural Planning Office to deal with ethnic-oriented development projects and the consequent multicultural challenges. Second, the study suggests developing strong and explicit policy statements in support of ethno-cultural diversity. Securing political backing from City councillors is as important in providing planners with the authority they need to contribute to ethnic retail development. Third, municipal planning requires interdepartmental collaboration. The two core municipal functions, the Planning Department and the Economic Development Office should set up a joint task force to work together in dealing with ethnic retail challenges. Finally, building community-based partnerships is an effective and efficient means to involve all stakeholders boarding the process. This includes outreach to the ethnic communities and alliance with community agencies.

The recent waves of immigration have dramatically changed the urban landscape of Canada’s metropolitan regions. One of the significant markers of this change are ethnic retail activities that manifest in ethnic shopping strips and centres. The dynamics of ethnic retailing pose various challenges for municipalities; yet, our knowledge of its complexities is limited, especially in terms of its relationship with and implications for city planning. Current literature on multicultural planning advocates for cultural sensitivity in planning practice based on a limited number of empirical studies. It generally overlooks planners’ professional mandate and the constraints inherent in the planning system that hinder planners’ capacity to be proactive, and is regularly disregarded in practice. This research focuses on the phenomenon of ethnic retailing and provides empirical data to bridge the research gaps. Several research objectives were pursued in this thesis, including: the exploration of ethnic retail activities among different ethnic groups in different commercial settings, the examination of the ethnic retail development process and key players in the production of ethnic retail spaces, and the identification of the role of municipal planning in ethnic retailing. The study targets the Chinese, South Asian, and Italian business communities; four case studies were conducted, including three retail strips in the inner city of Toronto, namely East Chinatown, the Gerrard India Bazaar, and Corso Italia, and one suburban Asian theme mall, the Pacific Mall in the Town of Markham. The four case studies demonstrate that planners play an inactive or a reactive role in the context of ethnic retail area development. The major reason for their limited role is that planners must abide by the legislative structure and the procedures of the planning system. They must, by the nature of their profession, focus on city-wide issues. The planning profession’s mandate confines planners’ capacity and flexibility in dealing with the multicultural challenges presented by local ethnic communities. Another major area this research explores is the nature of ethnic retailing. There are important inter-group and intra-group differences among the case studies. There are also significant differences between the inner-city retail strips and the suburban shopping mall. The relationship of the dynamics of ethnic retailing and urban planning is explored, with particular focus on community building, the relationship between the City vision and local diversity, and ethnic expression. These findings demonstrate the dynamic, fluid, and complex nature of ethnic retailing that constantly changes and evolves. Considering these dynamics, the findings indicate that there can be no templates in planning approaches to ethnic retailing. Planners must respect the local diversity and reject universal treatments of ethnic retail areas. Planners do not have authority to initiate ethnic retailing, nor is it possible for them to create a universal template to regulate the development of ethnic retail areas. Yet, there are other innovative ways for planners to balance city-wide and local interests, helping to recreate community focal points and serve the ultimate goal of “planning for all”. This study provides several recommendations for municipal planning: First, planners must reinvent themselves by adopting a proactive and holistic planning approach. Planners must think beyond the technical dimensions of urban development and consider the social and cultural aspects, especially the ethno-cultural elements, of the community, and incorporate them in the planning process. Several conventional planning tools, including ethno-racial and business data collection at the neighbourhood level, Secondary Plans that recreate community focal points, and (multicultural) public participation can be effectively applied to ethnic retail development. Another important step is to establish a Multicultural Planning Office to deal with ethnic-oriented development projects and the consequent multicultural challenges. Second, the study suggests developing strong and explicit policy statements in support of ethno-cultural diversity. Securing political backing from City councillors is as important in providing planners with the authority they need to contribute to ethnic retail development. Third, municipal planning requires interdepartmental collaboration. The two core municipal functions, the Planning Department and the Economic Development Office should set up a joint task force to work together in dealing with ethnic retail challenges. Finally, building community-based partnerships is an effective and efficient means to involve all stakeholders boarding the process. This includes outreach to the ethnic communities and alliance with community agencies.

Immigration is transforming large Canadian urban regions. Rapidly increasing religious diversity is one dimension of the dramatic, multicultural shift accompanying this sea-change. Over the past decade, many important questions have emerged concerning urban planning and management amidst ethnoracial diversity. The development of places of worship, key activity centres for many recent immigrant communities, intersects many of these questions. Land use conflict related to place of worship development has been a common feature of much of the empirical, urban literature. <br /><br /> This study explored the development experience of religious communities from five religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism, in three suburban communities of the Greater Toronto Area: Mississauga, Brampton and Markham. The key objectives of the study were to compare experiences across minority religious groups in order to explore development issues, to better understand relationships between religion, culture and land use, and to examine municipal planning implications of and responses to religious diversity. <br /><br /> The study findings show that most place of worship development experiences have been characterized by adaptation rather than conflict. The findings reveal involved and nuanced stories about the development process in which many recent immigrant, minority religious communities participate. As such, the study highlights the inter-woven complexities and challenges of establishing these significant religious, cultural and social institutions, difficulties that cannot be easily teased apart to isolate one or two problematic variables. <br /><br /> In this way, the study findings accord with the recent urban literature on difference which argues that urban experiences of difference are simultaneously produced by structuring processes of political-economy and socially constructed by multi-faceted, changing subjects (Bridge & Watson, 2003; Eade & Mele, 2002; Jacobs & Fincher, 1998; Low, 1996). Findings show that minority place of worship development is constrained by suburban form, land use planning policy and land economics. At the same time, these constraints are differentially mediated by the resources and strategies of religious communities. Religion and culture play a role in the needs and experiences of place of worship development, but high or unconventional needs are not necessarily tied to challenging development experiences. <br /><br /> The study recommendations build upon the current normative literature in the broader field of multicultural planning. I argue that the common prescriptions set forward by multicultural planning advocates, such as improved cultural knowledge and communication in policy development and implementation are not sufficient to address the challenges of urban planning and management amidst religious and ethnoracial diversity. The study findings suggest that proponents of multicultural planning need to approach the challenges of diversity strategically, to reconsider points, means and agents of intervention. Study recommendations call for a return to the role of the planning expert, to proactively address key land use planning issues such as transportation planning and land use conflict before problems occur. Such a move would concomitantly benefit all community residents, not only those belonging to religious communities. This is because two of the more challenging dimensions of place of worship development: transportation planning and neighbour relations, are issues common to suburban land use development, regardless of the religion, ethnicity or race of the participants. Recommendations also suggest that multicultural planning must be a collective project, requiring the involvement of many actors, including urban academics, immigrant communities and their advocates, political and community leadership as well as urban practitioners both inside and outside of the municipal planning department.

Immigration is transforming large Canadian urban regions. Rapidly increasing religious diversity is one dimension of the dramatic, multicultural shift accompanying this sea-change. Over the past decade, many important questions have emerged concerning urban planning and management amidst ethnoracial diversity. The development of places of worship, key activity centres for many recent immigrant communities, intersects many of these questions. Land use conflict related to place of worship development has been a common feature of much of the empirical, urban literature. <br /><br /> This study explored the development experience of religious communities from five religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism, in three suburban communities of the Greater Toronto Area: Mississauga, Brampton and Markham. The key objectives of the study were to compare experiences across minority religious groups in order to explore development issues, to better understand relationships between religion, culture and land use, and to examine municipal planning implications of and responses to religious diversity. <br /><br /> The study findings show that most place of worship development experiences have been characterized by adaptation rather than conflict. The findings reveal involved and nuanced stories about the development process in which many recent immigrant, minority religious communities participate. As such, the study highlights the inter-woven complexities and challenges of establishing these significant religious, cultural and social institutions, difficulties that cannot be easily teased apart to isolate one or two problematic variables. <br /><br /> In this way, the study findings accord with the recent urban literature on difference which argues that urban experiences of difference are simultaneously produced by structuring processes of political-economy and socially constructed by multi-faceted, changing subjects (Bridge & Watson, 2003; Eade & Mele, 2002; Jacobs & Fincher, 1998; Low, 1996). Findings show that minority place of worship development is constrained by suburban form, land use planning policy and land economics. At the same time, these constraints are differentially mediated by the resources and strategies of religious communities. Religion and culture play a role in the needs and experiences of place of worship development, but high or unconventional needs are not necessarily tied to challenging development experiences. <br /><br /> The study recommendations build upon the current normative literature in the broader field of multicultural planning. I argue that the common prescriptions set forward by multicultural planning advocates, such as improved cultural knowledge and communication in policy development and implementation are not sufficient to address the challenges of urban planning and management amidst religious and ethnoracial diversity. The study findings suggest that proponents of multicultural planning need to approach the challenges of diversity strategically, to reconsider points, means and agents of intervention. Study recommendations call for a return to the role of the planning expert, to proactively address key land use planning issues such as transportation planning and land use conflict before problems occur. Such a move would concomitantly benefit all community residents, not only those belonging to religious communities. This is because two of the more challenging dimensions of place of worship development: transportation planning and neighbour relations, are issues common to suburban land use development, regardless of the religion, ethnicity or race of the participants. Recommendations also suggest that multicultural planning must be a collective project, requiring the involvement of many actors, including urban academics, immigrant communities and their advocates, political and community leadership as well as urban practitioners both inside and outside of the municipal planning department.