Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
land: 72 × 163. Bonus: a solid home with 3 bedrooms and a den…' The
existing property is, as it were, thrown in with the land, with the recogni-
tion it is unlikely to be serviceable or worthy to survive.
An important aesthetic distinction emerges which had earlier been the
source of land use conflict (to be discussed in Chapter 6). The pages of
the
Real Estate Weekly
reveal that longer established real estate companies
with agents of European ethnicities catered to a different sensibility when it
came to older properties. For example on a street in South Granville where
many sturdy older houses had been demolished, a $1.8 million house shown
by a Caucasian agent was described in the
Real Estate Weekly
as 'Dream
family home: Masterpiece Georgian'. The ad continues: 'Completely refur-
bished. All character has been preserved and yet it's almost a new home. Five
bedrooms, four baths, Nanny's ensuite and accommodation. Family room
off gourmet kitchen and den open to a fairy tale pool garden.' While clearly
an upper middle class home, the cultural cues lead in a different direction,
with history, character, and an idyllic garden synthesized with contemporary
amenities. The same week another million dollar house nearby, a craftsman
home with exaggerated gables is described lovingly as 'Touched by tradition,
this exquisite home features cross hall living and dining room plus gorgeous
hardwood oak floors. Kitchen and family room lead to a fabulous backyard
with landscaped gardens.' Again there is a distinctive cultural unity of age,
character, and garden, the values of a separate aesthetic.
On to the Suburbs
In identifying the ethnoburb as a distinctive urban form, Wei Li (2006) has
drawn attention to the widespread settlement of immigrant minority groups
in the suburbs. In New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and
Vancouver fully developed ethnoburbs contain large numbers of ethnic
Chinese, usually living in modern detached houses. The number of census
tracts in the Toronto and Vancouver regions where more than 30 percent of
the population comprised a single visible minority group rose from six in
1981, and 74 in 1991, to 246 by 2001 (Hou 2004). Of the 246 tracts with
such concentrations in 2001, Chinese-Canadians dominated 156, with Indo-
Canadians accounting for most of the rest. Some suburban municipalities
now have higher proportions of the foreign-born than the central city.
The suburb of Richmond, with a 2006 population of 173,000, is adjacent
to the International Airport and immediately south of Vancouver. It has
been substantially transformed by immigration from East Asia since the
mid-1980s (Rose 2001). Richmond has excellent
feng shui
, facing the water
with its back to the mountains. I was told (in Hong Kong) that the outline
of its multi-channelled delta site resembled a dragon's head with a pearl
