Multicultural planning: A study of inter-ethnic planning in Richmond, British Columbia

This thesis describes and analyses the inter-ethnic context of planning in Richmond, B.C., a suburban city of Vancouver with a population of 150,000 residents, approximately 40% of whom are of Chinese ethnicity. It describes how rapid and intense immigration from Hong Kong resulted in a situation of inter-ethnic tension between recent immigrants and long time residents, creating a context of social relations that affected land use planning phenomena. By taking the position that ethnic groups compete to express human needs and functions in cultural forms on the built landscape, this thesis discusses the notion of "multicultural cities" and examines how they are negotiated by residents.;By reporting on the socio-economic differences between this immigrant group and previous immigrants to Canada, this thesis challenges some of the prevailing assumptions based in Human Ecological theory that have guided our understanding of immigrants and their settlement patterns. This thesis concludes that a new class of immigrant is choosing to integrate into their host communities rather than to assimilate and in doing so, is changing the form of the existing built landscape. Local government land use planners have found themselves needing to mediate between ethnic groups by promoting an inclusive process of mutual accommodation in land use and other planning situations. The thesis concludes by suggesting a model of mutual accommodation for situations of inter-ethnic tension.