Sari vs. Dim Sum – Business Improvement Areas and the Branding of Toronto's Ethnic Neighbourhoods

Antonie Schmiz

Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 2019, vol. 110, issue 5, 566-578

Abstract: Under the umbrella of Toronto's city motto, ‘Diversity our Strength’, ethnically labelled Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) have become the object of branding strategies. While these branding processes generate tourist places and multicultural neighbourhoods for the creative and cosmopolitan, they challenge social cohesion. Branding often leads to urban revitalisation and thus causes the displacement of diverse communities and migrant enterprises through rising rents. Furthermore, ethnic place‐making and branding activity can create local conflicts around identity and urban images in which migrant agency plays a central role. This paper compares two ethnically‐branded BIAs in a political‐economy perspective to show that marketability between ethnic groups varies. It provides systematic analysis of urban policies towards the branding of migrant entrepreneurial neighbourhoods in Toronto. It further shows how heterogeneous power structures influence ethnic entrepreneurial neighbourhoods.

Date: 2019
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