Multiculturalism and Planning

This week’s reading was Pluralistic Planning for Multicultural Cities by Mohammad A. Qadeer.  It highlighted the significant influence of multiculturalism on the field of urban planning. In this essay, Qadeer defines multiculturalism as a public philosophy that “… acknowledges racial and cultural differences in a society and encourages their sustenance and expression as constituent elements of a national social order.”  The author views the fundamental effect of this philosophy to be the need for pluralistic planning which aims to achieve equal fulfillment of the needs and wants of diverse groups of people.

Qadeer describes the influence of multiculturalism as occurring in two ways.  First, by creating an avenue for critical analysis in terms of whether the polices and standards of planning are aligned with broader social values and public goals.  Second, by forcing recognition of ethnic spatial concentrations in the form of neighborhoods and enclaves.  These physical aspects contribute to the structure of whole cities and influence social policies that seek to strike a balance between integration and difference.

Although the article focuses on the experience of multiculturalism in Canada, the points discussed certainly apply to other planning contexts.  Australia, for example, is a multicultural society in many respects.  In many of our major settlements, historically and at present, ethnically focused neighborhood and enclaves are observable.  Also, the development of institutions and services in response to immigration is certainly evident. A key point made by Qadeer is the distinction between “old” and “new” multiculturalism.  The key difference being that multiculturalism today is reinforced by public policy.  This has been re-affirmed in Australia this year with the release of Chris Bowen’s The People of Australia- Australia’s Multicultural Policy. 

Another point made by Qadeer are the issues relating to the housing market in response to multiculturalism. They involve discrimination of ethnic groups in accessing housing and the particular housing types preferred by these groups. As far as I’m aware, these issues do not appear to be having a major impact on the Australian housing market. By this I mean, I’ve never heard of residential develops being ethnically specific, at least not explicitly. I would not be surprised, however, to hear about discrimination occurring in the rental market though. Any opinions/info on this issue in Australia would be appreciated.