Social Integration in Public Spaces & Landscapes: Perceptions and Experiences towards Multicultural Shanghai ()
Received January 14th, 2014; revised February 15th, 2014; accepted February 22nd, 2014
Figure 2.
Foreigners on Mainland China, Source; The sixth national census released by the National Bureau of Statistics (2011).
China [28]. It is worth noting that migration is blind Roberts (2001), who traces the foreign migrant flows as a result of multinational logit regression of sector of employment on migrants’ characteristics. The selected subject areas of study are basically areas of Shanghai were many foreign multinational companies have set base themselves and where employees have made their homes. Many of these non-Chinese have overcome their language disadvantages with foreign schools thriving and pupils are successful in their primary school and a number taking up Mandarin classes. The experiences in Pudong and Puxi areas of Shanghai by many foreign park users were varied widely and are very much an ideal of “multicultural cohesion”. An online survey (conducted through surveymonkey.com) brought out many notable cultural clashes in respondents’ day-to-day use of public parks, based on their individual perceptual experiences, views and opinions. Many respondents felt and described the local public park users as self centred with very little regard to other park users.
Some foreign park users took offence at always been called “foreigner” 老外 by locals communities saying look at that foreigner or being pointed at, being curiously stared at and looked at with suspicion. These are some of the many areas that many foreign-migrant respondents found hard and difficulty to cope with and enjoy their day out in the public parks. Further, some respondents felt that this defeats the whole purpose of wanting to go to a public park for the quiet and relaxing experience. Which they so eagerly want to get away from their busy schedules of work and school. The use of park walkways as skating areas defeats the purpose of retreating to a quite park. Many respondents further pointed out that the essence of a bio-diversity and well-cared for parks, however, this ideal get challenged when locals allowing their children to urinate on the grass and by people littering. Some were quick to state that, such problems are not unique to China alone, but are universal public problems that require the constant sensitisation of the local’ neighbourhoods on public etiquettes and public health by the local authorities responsible.
Perceived Minority Policy in China (Fallacy or Reality)
Policies on minorities are centred on the terms “integration” and “multicultural society” Hollands (2006). These policies are targeted at the full participation of minorities in their new societies; the minorities should adjust themselves to the dominant norms and values of their new society. Integration policies can be divided into three groups: assimilation policies, integration policies and multicultural policies. Assimilation policy aims at full adjustment to the culture of the majority, while integration leaves some room for the conservation of individual identities and culture (Essed, Frerks, & Schrijvers, 2005). Multicultural policies emphasize the acknowledgement of diversity: societies must change in order to accommodate all ethnic and cultural groups that form part of that society (Essed, Frerks, & Schrijvers, 2005; Parekh, 2000; Taylor, 1995). It remains to be seen if there will ever be a Chinese policy of integration. Many people have asked this question looking at the global demographic situation that reflects the acceptance of many Chinese who have resettled outside- of China Parekh (2000). In that sense, many expect and acknowledge that people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds live together in many parts of the world now Peleman (2003).
A well-articulated policy towards foreign immigrants is suggested as a welcome phenomenon, in places like China were a foreigner remains a foreigner in the eyes of many native Chinese. The Dutch government in 1980, proposed and implemented tailor-made measures for specific foreign migrants groups (Poppelaars & Scholten, 2008). These were “two-track” policies: they were aimed at integration in the Dutch socio- economic sphere while retaining the cultural identities and group structures in order to facilitate the eventual return (Poppelaars & Scholten, 2008). The above case may be true for the Dutch, the Chinese could also start with a plea from the a scientific Council for Government Policy for recognition of the fact that several foreign immigrant groups have effectively settled permanently in China and most likely will not return to their countries of origin. The fact that migrant groups also share certain ethnic attributes offers an opportunity for policies to be drawn along those lines and the need to establish a dialogue with representatives of ethnic foreign minorities.
Perceived Emerging Differences from Ethnic Diversity
Peters (2011) highlights the model of cultural dimensions that can be used as a framework to understand how cultural background influences behaviour. The survey found that, foreign nationals have somehow created their own areas of outdoor interaction and specific parks that are somehow detached from interaction with the locals. This begs the question, could public parks as vehicles of multicultural interaction be said to have failed in facilitating interaction between ethnic groupings and multicultural neighbourhoods.
However, it is important to be careful not to reproduce stereotypes by using an essentialist definition of culture or religion Taylor (2002). The conducted interviews, though limited to a few foreign migrant experts and native Chinese residents around Shanghai. There were very sceptical responses, but were able to give an insight into the general situation in Puxi and Pudong. The experts provided rough information about the use of the public spaces, and specific characteristics of the neighbourhoods and groups of people. As shown above, not all interviews were recorded and transcribed for data analysis. Many people were not comfortable to be interviewed and recorded without prior clearance from authorities.
Nevertheless, note taking proved useful in summarizing the participants’ responses and records. This was complemented with observation of the public spaces between April, 2011, and August, 2012. As Spradley (1980) observed, special interest was taken in the physical setting, the available facilities and housing stock, which together form the habits of everyday use of public space. Public spaces and parks were visited on various days of the week, in an effort to get a feel of the surroundings and to trace everyday interactions, events, social situations, actions and encounters. Special attention was paid to the presence of inter-ethnic interactions. This was meant not to determine the ethnic identity of individuals, but to get an idea about who is present in various public spaces and what they were doing.
Analysis
Avoid In analysis, the above was not a linear process and cannot be fully transparent. It should be noted that this analysis was guided by theoretical sensitivity and an iterative process that involved continual interplay between the data and the background literature Strauss and Corbin (1998). The analysis was not guided by prior hypothesis, so the themes emerged from data. The analytical process involved carefully rereading the data to discover common themes and to differentiate the accounts provided by participants in order to acquire an understanding and knowledge of phenomena from the point of view of those who were under study. It is worth noting that, this study does not offer generalisations, but describes the meaning of multicultural integrations in public spaces and landscapes.
Strauss and Corbin (1998) draws that in positivistic research, reliability and validity are used in order to discuss the replicability and accuracy of the findings in a specific way, and qualitative research this is less clearly defined. For validity, qualitative researchers use different strategies and terms. Sandelowski (1993) argued that validity in qualitative studies should be linked not to “truth or value”, as they are for the positivists, but to “trustworthiness”, which “becomes a matter of persuasion whereby the scientists is viewed as having made those practices visible and, therefore, auditable” (Sarantakos, 1993).
Lessons and Conclusion
Many foreign immigrant populations are characterised by a distinctive regional geography and in Jinqiao 金桥, Pudong and Yangpu 杨浦 Puxi, residents by and large are satisfied with the contacts they have around Shanghai. The idea of this study was to address the research gap by focusing on everyday life in foreigners’ multicultural-ethnic neighbourhoods of Shanghai, and on how native Chinese and non-native people live. This was to gain an evaluation of experiences in public spaces and landscapes contribute to “feeling” at home in a multicultural Shanghai neighbourhood. These contacts are mainly non-intimate and supporting ties between the non-Chinese and native Chinese that enable these residents to live their everyday lives in Jinqiao and Yangpu of Shanghai more easily and more joyfully. Residents mainly have developed some contact with people from the same ethnic groups or backgrounds, although also inter-ethnic relations are formed. It appears that confrontations with diversity in public spaces and landscapes did not often lead to inter-ethnic private bonding. In public life multicultural and ethnic diversity is visible in various places, and these short encounters have often lead to more enduring friend- ships among the communities. It was an objective to gain insight into the meaning of urban public spaces and landscapes for social multicultural integration.
Future Prospects of Multicultural Landscapes
It is worth learning that, being an immigrant does not make one less human, but it is a challenge to new urban planners and policy makers alike to sort out these challenges by designing ever-growing multicultural communities. The positive experiences about diversity have a significant impact on peoples’ attitudes, and also links to the way in which residents talk about integration and multiculturalism. Integration is a commitment to and participation in the place where they live; integration relates to issues of belonging and participation, rather than to adaptation or assimilation. The above perspective is derived from the basis of the everyday lives of residents who are committed to and actively involved in their neighborhoods. This study highlighted gaps in current understanding and presented possible priorities for future research.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude to many people who wish to remain anonymous for the assistance in making suggestions, correctionsand to the would be referees for their valuable and helpful comments, which have improved the quality of the paper. Also, extend our thanks to The Copperbelt & Tongji University especially the Department Landscape studies.
References