Gentrification and Diversity: Rebranding Milan's Chinatown (The Urban Book Series) 3031351428, 9783031351426

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The Urban Book Series

Lidia Katia C. Manzo

Gentrification and Diversity Rebranding Milan’s Chinatown

The Urban Book Series Editorial Board Margarita Angelidou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece Fatemeh Farnaz Arefian, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL, Silk Cities, London, UK Michael Batty, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL, London, UK Simin Davoudi, Planning & Landscape Department GURU, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK Geoffrey DeVerteuil, School of Planning and Geography, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Jesús M. González Pérez, Department of Geography, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma (Mallorca), Spain Daniel B. Hess , Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University at Buffalo, State University, Buffalo, NY, USA Paul Jones, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia Andrew Karvonen, Division of Urban and Regional Studies, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Stockholms Län, Sweden Andrew Kirby, New College, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA Karl Kropf, Department of Planning, Headington Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK Karen Lucas, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Marco Maretto, DICATeA, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Parma, Parma, Italy Ali Modarres, Tacoma Urban Studies, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA Fabian Neuhaus, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada Steffen Nijhuis, Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Vitor Manuel Aráujo de Oliveira , Porto University, Porto, Portugal Christopher Silver, College of Design, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Giuseppe Strappa, Facoltà di Architettura, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Roma, Italy

Igor Vojnovic, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA Claudia Yamu, Department of Built Environment, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway Qunshan Zhao, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

The Urban Book Series is a resource for urban studies and geography research worldwide. It provides a unique and innovative resource for the latest developments in the field, nurturing a comprehensive and encompassing publication venue for urban studies, urban geography, planning and regional development. The series publishes peer-reviewed volumes related to urbanization, sustainability, urban environments, sustainable urbanism, governance, globalization, urban and sustainable development, spatial and area studies, urban management, transport systems, urban infrastructure, urban dynamics, green cities and urban landscapes. It also invites research which documents urbanization processes and urban dynamics on a national, regional and local level, welcoming case studies, as well as comparative and applied research. The series will appeal to urbanists, geographers, planners, engineers, architects, policy makers, and to all of those interested in a wide-ranging overview of contemporary urban studies and innovations in the field. It accepts monographs, edited volumes and textbooks. Indexed by Scopus.

Lidia Katia C. Manzo

Gentrification and Diversity Rebranding Milan’s Chinatown

Lidia Katia C. Manzo Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Mediations University of Milan Milan, Italy

ISSN 2365-757X ISSN 2365-7588 (electronic) The Urban Book Series ISBN 978-3-031-35142-6 ISBN 978-3-031-35143-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, corrected publication 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To my son Elia

Foreword

The term “Overseas Chinese” is used by Chinese scholars and politicians to refer to all peoples with Chinese ethnicity living overseas, including first-generation Chinese nationals living overseas and second-, third-, and later-generation descendants who continue to identify themselves as Chinese. Today, an estimated 50 million Overseas Chinese can be found literally in every corner of the world. The Overseas Chinese community is the result of three principal waves of emigration from China, each occurring under a different political regime. • The first wave came during the reign of the Qing dynasty (China’s last great imperial dynasty) from 1644 to 1912. Constant warring with European imperial powers (typified by the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860)) weakened the Qing dynasty and migrants spilled over into surrounding regions and even traveled to Europe. • The second wave came as the Qing dynasty fell, to be replaced by the Republic of China (ROC) which ruled from 1912 to 1949. Guided by leader Sun Yat Sen and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), and drawing resources from Chinese living overseas, the ROC sought to build a modern industrial country. But its reign was marked by chaos; the downfall of the Qing dynasty had left a power vacuum, there was incessant fighting between warlords, and Sino-Japanese tensions constantly threatened peace. Emigration continued throughout this volatile period. • Finally, the Communists came to power in 1949. Members of the Kuomintang and beneficiaries fled, many to Hong Kong. Until the death of Mao Tse Tung, migration was viewed with suspicion; an act of betrayal to the Communist Party. With the opening of China from 1978 and the rise of a more tolerant attitude toward migrants, Chinese emigration has once again resumed. The first two waves of emigration from China were dominated by Cantonese and Hokkien peoples from the more wealthy and “Western” Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. While migrants from coastal China continue to dominate, the third wave,

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from 1978 onward, has incorporated migrants from all provinces in China. Meanwhile, while migrants have traditionally moved to other Southeast Asian countries, the third wave has propelled proportionately more migrants to Oceania, North America, and Europe. Some argue that the first two waves of migration prepared the ground for the third wave and that, as a consequence, the third wave has enjoyed a much easier transition to living in diaspora. Why so? Perhaps the most iconic cultural freight that Chinese migrants have introduced into host cities is the phenomenon of Chinatown. Many Chinatowns in North America were built in the nineteenth century. Those in Europe tended to form later, from 1950s onward. Chinatowns form both in response to discrimination against Chinese people in the housing market (structural constraints) and as a preference among some Chinese migrants to cluster together for safety and comfort (lifestyle choices). Although nearly every major city in the Global North has a Chinatown in one form or another, the largest Chinatown in the USA can be found in San Francisco, the largest in Canada is located in Vancouver, the largest in Australia can be traced to Melbourne, and in Europe the largest can be seen in Paris or London. Because Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia often enjoy better economic and political conditions and feel less culturally estranged from the host population, Chinatowns (although they do exist) in Southeast Asian cities tend to be less common and less pronounced. Chinatowns help provide Chinese migrants with a beachhead into host societies. Initially, restaurant and catering services (and also barbers and laundries) sustained many Chinatowns. These services did not demand start-up capital and afforded unskilled Chinese migrants with limited language skills a means of earning a living. They also provided familiar food to the Overseas Chinese community, which eased assimilation. Subsequently, other services, including travel agencies, health clinics, legal consultants, Chinese schools, and Chinese grocery stores, have flourished. But Chinatowns can also be thought of as a barrier limiting integration into the host society. Chinatowns permit migrants to live with only minimum contact with local people; they can dine in Chinese restaurants, shop in Chinese stores, surf Chinese websites, and gamble in Chinese casinos. Moreover, Chinatowns can support the work of human traffickers like the infamous Snakeheads—gangs from the Fujian region who route illegal migrants via Chinatowns and exploit such migrants by forcing them to work for low wages or to serve as prostitutes to pay off their debt. But the work done by Chinatowns is today changing (Wong and Chee-Bing 2013). It is here that we encounter a significant body of next generation scholarship on the geography, sociology, anthropology, economy, demography, urban planning, and politics of the pervasive phenomenon of Chinatowns—to which we now add Manzo’s excellent monograph In the USA, Western Europe, and Australia, Chinese migrants (especially following the abolition of discriminatory laws in the 1940s and 1950s) have enjoyed upward social mobility and have joined the flight of the wealthy to the suburbs. This process has rendered Chinatowns vulnerable. Some have been turned from functioning ethnic enclaves into more superficial tourist attractions. Moreover, today migrants leave China to pursue economic opportunities, to study abroad, to improve

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their language skills, and to acquire a better quality of life. As private investors and Chinese state-owned enterprises undertake projects overseas (not least in Africa), Chinese workers are also being relocated to oversee operations. These migrants have less need for support. In addition, some recent migrants have left to escape political persecution (democratic and human rights activists) and religious discrimination (like the dissident Falun Gong movement). These migrants might benefit from support but Chinatowns can be inappropriate places for them to dwell. Meanwhile, urban regeneration and changing land-use patterns in the city in response to an ever growing “rent gap” have led to a return by investors and young, white collared middle-class professionals to seemingly dilapidated inner city areas (and, in particular, waterfront locations) to avail of economic opportunities and the wealth of social and cultural amenities which only the city center can provide. This process, called gentrification, is transforming the inner city and its immediate hinterland, breathing new life into decaying parts therein. But it is also displacing the remaining working-class communities who dwell in these spaces but who are unable to resist development pressures. In this sense, we appear to be witnessing a new variant of the invasion/succession/displacement process—on this occasion, it is young middle-class professionals (not new immigrants) who are displacing poor immigrant and working-class communities. Gentrification is transforming Chinatown and placing pressure on remaining Chinese communities which wish to stay put. It is toward an understanding of these dynamics as they play out in the fascinating case of Milan than Manzo’s book dedicated. In the context of growing calls to decolonize both mobility studies and urban studies, Manzo’s focus upon the European/Italian model of gentrification and immigration is especially welcome. And her findings are original and worthy of sustained contemplation. In careful proses, Manzo explores “the limits, ambiguities, and power of resistance to gentrification and anti-displacement practices in the multi-ethnic community of Milan Chinatown.” Alert to the “basic contradiction of gentrification: gentrifiers want diversity but ensure its demise via displacement.” She reaches the eye-catching conclusion that a nuanced analysis of the “dynamics of negotiation, co-production, and resistance to the rebranding of multiethnic areas of the city” sustains the argument that immigration, ethnic enclave formation, and gentrification can coexist and perhaps even prosper together. This thesis is laden with profound significance and for multiple reasons. Against the backdrop of surging political populism and the purported death of multiculturalism, there is arising in many Global North countries a new politics of hospitality which is leading to a closing and securitization of borders, elevated suspicion of migrants’ motivations, loyalties and commitments, new tests of citizenship, and increased surveillance and policing of migrant communities. In this, the microgeographies of migrant communities in host countries are assumed to be either/both a key aggravating factor and/or part of the solution. Manzo shows us that nothing is predetermined because places like Chinatowns are always active, contextual, contingent, and dynamic accomplishments. It is for this reason that social geographers and migration scholars and practitioners are

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moving away from thinking in terms of “assimilation” and “integration” and instead embracing the idea of migrant “settling”—and by implication speaking increasingly about “settling” services. Migrant settling is a process not a linear outcome. Instead of wondering how migrants may fit into society, this model focuses on how society evolves with migrants—developing solidarities from a core set of values that bind migrants and host communities in a common purpose. Both gentrifiers and immigrant and diasporic groups have a shared responsibility for and co-production of social cohesion in Chinatowns. Gentrification raises the question of who owns Chinatown? Municipal leaders and urban planners? Those who lived there prior to Chinese immigration? Chinese migrants? Gentrifiers? Manzo’s refusal of this question and of these categories enables us to think about this question in a much more productive way. In his book Of Hospitality Derrida (2000) questions the growth of “conditional” hospitality—which has slid too easily it seems into the “crime of hospitality”—and in contrast argues for the merits of “unconditional” hospitality and an ethics of care. For Algerian-born French philosopher, Jacques Derrida (2000 12) Make yourself at home’, this is a self-limiting invitation… it means: please feel at home, act as if you were at home, but, remember, that is not true, this is not your home but mine, and you are expected to respect my property…..the guest is always the guest, if the host is always the host, something has probably gone wrong: hospitality has somehow been replaced by parasitism or charity……guests who are forced into the systematic position of the guest are often accused of parasitism, the host refusing to take responsibility for the historical position that deprives others of the pleasure and pride of taking their place.

Who gets to say make yourself at home in Milan’s Chinatown? For Manzo, it is both nobody and everybody. Wise counsel for the fraught age of “Whiteshift” and superdiversity through which are living. Mark Boyle Department of Geography Maynooth University Maynooth, Ireland [email protected]

References Derrida J (2000) Of hospitality. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA Wong B and Chee-Beng T (eds) (2013) Chinatowns around the World: Gilded Ghetto, Ethnopolis, and Cultural Diaspora. Brill, Leiden-Boston

Acknowledgements

This book represents a journey of more than fifteen years of research on Milan’s Chinatown from the perspective of critical urban studies. I am very grateful to Toni Milevoj at Springer for approaching me to write this book and for his confidence in my work. I also want to acknowledge the remarkable work and patience of Corina van der Giessen, Juliana Pitanguy, and Sanjievkumar Mathiyazhagan who supported me throughout the publication process. I also wish to thank the copyeditor Giovanni Orlando for having been wonderfully efficient, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their time and extraordinary efforts, which greatly improved the manuscript. During this journey, I received help from many people. First, I am grateful to my master’s degree supervisor, Prof. Giovanni Semi, whose expertise, understanding, and patience added considerable value to my graduate experience. I am also thankful to my other advisers, Profs. Luisa Leonini and Federico Boni, for their assistance during all the stages of the project, as well as for our debates on sociology and our exchanges of knowledge and skills. I could not have coped in a very challenging field site without my dear friend Suwen Ma, whose precious linguistic and cultural mediation helped me to survive at the beginning of this journey. When Christian Novak showed me around Milan’s Chinatown, in March 2008, I could not have imagined that I would bring this research so far. I have literally traveled the world with my analysis of this case of gentrification in the years after the master’s degree and at the beginning of my doctoral research in Brooklyn, from 2011 to 2012. I still remember the first international presentation I gave on this project in March 2011, at the Urban Affairs Association Conference in New Orleans, where I somehow managed to project slides and a short video clip from the documentary while also delivering my speech! In July 2011, it was a privilege to be selected by Gary Bridge and Tim Butler to give a presentation at the International Sociological Association-Research Committee 21 on Urban and Regional Development Annual Conference in Amsterdam. This opportunity made me think about the relationship between gentrification, diversity, and urban conflicts. At the time, I was living in Brooklyn on a budget, and I took advantage of the cheap “Chinese” buses thanks to which one could reach Washington DC or Philadelphia from the lower east side of Manhattan spending only twenty dollars or so. I was so lucky to meet the kind, xi

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supportive, and brilliant scholar Keahnan Washington in October 2011 at the American University Public Anthropology Conference. I am also grateful to Sylvie Paré for her valuable comments during the debate at the Métropoles des Amériques: Inégalités, Conflits et Gouvernance conference (October 2011) at the Université du Québec à Montréal, where I was invited to discuss the first phase of gentrification in Milan’s Chinatown. Gratitude is also owed to Myna German and Nina Banerjee for inviting me to discuss an earlier version of this work at the Department of Mass Communications of Delaware State University in November 2011. The same goes for the ISA Visual Sociology Working Group’s board members at the time, Regev Nathansohn, Elisabeth-Jane Milne, and Valentina Anzoise, who gave me the opportunity to show my ethnographic documentary A-way from Paolo Sarpi during the ISA Forum visual workshop held in Buenos Aires in July 2012. That video ethnography was produced independently, and I am especially indebted to Francesca Cogni, who assisted me with the editing in her laboratory during the winter of 2009. It would not have been possible for me to write this book without the critical suggestions and extraordinary support of many friends and colleagues. It is a pleasure to acknowledge them here (I am so sorry if I have forgotten someone): Manuel Aalbers, Paola Arrigoni, Lavinia Bifulco, Magda Bolzoni, Massimo Bricocoli, Maria Chiara Cela, Daniele Cologna, Alessandro Coppola, Marta Cordini, Yuri Kazepov, Jerry Krase, Loretta Lees, Raffaele Monteleone, Paola Piscitelli, Stefania Sabatinelli, Paola Savoldi, Tom Slater, and Yunpeng Zhang. I am also grateful to a generation of students who have attended my lectures, approached me for their research in Milan’s Chinatown, or discussed with me some of the materials that ended up in this book. They have taught me in more profound ways than I have taught them. I wish to thank in particular the students of the Contemporary City course (2014–2015) at Milan’s Politecnico for our conversations during the final phase of my ethnographic and theoretical understanding of the (diabolical) effects of the intersection between gentrification and diversity. Finally, I am grateful to the residents, businesspeople, and activists of Milan’s Chinatown for making this book possible. I will always feel gratitude toward you. To Pier Franco Lionetto, President of the Vivisarpi Residents’ Association, and Francesco Wu, President of the Italian-Chinese Young Entrepreneurs’ Union, as well as to Gianni Lin, Peiling Wang, and Zio Romanino; Claudio Garosci of Presso; Luca Sarais of Cantine Isola; Vita Sgardello and Marta Lasen of Impact Hub Milan and Camilla and Walter Sirtori of butcher Sirtori. I also wish to thank Jada Bai, whom I met only at a late stage of this work, for her sensitive contribution to the understanding of territorial processes of stigmatization in Milan and beyond. This book took shape at the Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures, and Mediations of Milan University, which provided me with a supportive institutional environment. I wish to thank the department’s chair, Marco Castellari, for his encouragement, as well as my office “roommates” Mario De Benedittis and Dino Gavinelli, who tolerated my sleep-deprived behavior in the winter of 2023. I am also grateful to Mark Boyle, Elaine Ho and Fang Xu for generously offering their critical insights into urban transformation processes and the politics of diversity in the preface and book endorsements of this book, respectively. A special nod goes to Sharon Zukin,

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for being a patient “friend to my mind” and challenging me to ask harder questions. And to Enzo Colombo: for your care and attention, your drive toward justice, and your understanding of what it means to search for the “politics on the ground” of social processes. I am grateful to my parents, Maria and Domenico, and my brother Luigi (and his family) for their unconditional love. Finally, I must thank my partner, Fabio, and my son, Elia, for forgiving me for often being away in the field or for being at home but with my head in the clouds while writing. Thank you for your patience, encouragement, and love. ••••• Some of the chapters in this book are substantially revised and extended treatments of working texts published at different stages in the advancement of the research. These are the original sources: Chapter 1 and Conclusions: “Resisting Gentrification: the case for Diversity.” UrbanisticaTre, Journal of Urban Design and Planning of Università degli Studi Roma Tre, no. 5 (2017): 111–117. Chapter 3: “The ‘Asian Betweeners’. Cultural Identities and the new communication technologies.” In Migration, Technology & Transculturation: A Global Perspective, edited by German, M. & Banerjee, P., 107–125. St. Charles, MO: Lindenwood University Press, 2011. Chapter 4: “Emergent spaces, contemporary urban conflicts. Experiences of social mix in changing neighborhoods: The case study Milan’s Chinatown.” In Living on the Boundaries: Urban Marginality in National and International Contexts, edited by Camp Yeakey, C., 415–449. Bristol, En: Emerald Inc., 2012 and “On People in Changing Neighborhoods. Gentrification and Social Mix: Boundaries and Resistance. A comparative ethnography of two historic neighborhoods in Milan (Italy) and Brooklyn (New York, USA).” CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios, no. 24 (2012): 1–29. Chapter 5: “«Via via, vieni via di qui!» Il processo di gentrificazione di via Paolo Sarpi, la Chinatown di Milano (1980-2015).” Archivio di Studi Urbani e Regionali, no. 117 (2016): 27–50. Chapter 7 “Video-Ethnography and Critical Research for More Democratic Urbanization: The Case of Milan Chinatown.” Visual Anthropology, no. 30 (2017): 1–17.

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Uncovering the Ethnography, and the Ethnographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Overview of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 7 10 12

2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial Stigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 The Chinese in Milan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Historical Arrival and Structural Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 The Demographic Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 The Socioeconomic Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 (Via) Paolo Sarpi Street: The Milan Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 18 18 22 24 26 33

3 Hybridity and Chineseness in the Global City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 The Urbanity of Milan Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Conceptualizing the Chinese Diaspora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Questioning Global Chineseness in the Era of Globalization . . . . . . 3.4 Urban Hybridization and Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Chinese Cosmopolitanism: An Emergent Chinese Identity? . . . . . . . 3.6 Second-Generation Asian Subculture in Milan Chinatown: An Ethnographic Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 36 37 39 40 41

4 Diversity in Neighborhood Change: Conflict and Resistance . . . . . . . . 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 The Reciprocity Between Gentrification, Diversity, and the Spaces of Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Theoretical Perspectives on Gentrification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49 49

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50 53

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4.4 Emerging Spatiality as a Dividing Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Addressing Urban Conflicts, Diversity, and Local Politics in Milan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Contemporary Urban Conflicts: “Stay Away from Sarpi Street or Fight Against City Hall!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Displacement, Immigration, and the Role that Local Politics Play in Shaping Urban Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 “Hard” Versus “Soft” Gentrification and the Struggle for Moral Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The Changing Face of Multiethnic Neighborhoods and the Territorialization of Difference: Creating Division or Value? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Gentrification of Sarpi Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 The Sarpi Pedestrian Area: Food, Music, Art, and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Future Expectations: The Dangers, Challenges, and Opportunities of Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6 The “Style” of Milan (New) Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 What Happens When a Neighborhood Starts to Sell Its Soul? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

97 102 104

7 Engaging with Multiple Voices: Video Ethnography and Urban Critical Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Theoretical and Methodological Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Determining Urgent Research Topics: Collaborative Practice in the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Video Ethnography, Multiple Voicing, and Community Empowerment as an Applied Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Via Paolo Sarpi: Milan Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Video Ethnography as a Channel for More Democratic Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6.1 The Production: Engaging with Multiple Voices . . . . . . . . . . 7.6.2 The Consumption: Enabling Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59 61 67 69 71

76 78 81 89 93

104 106 109 110 111 113 115 118 120 120 126

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7.7 Conclusions: A Premise for Social Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Correction to: The “Style” of Milan (New) Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Fig. 1.2 Fig. 1.3 Fig. 1.4 Fig. 1.5

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2

Fig. 2.3

Fig. 2.4 Fig. 2.5 Fig. 2.6 Fig. 2.7 Fig. 2.8 Fig. 2.9 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2

Via Paolo Sarpi street sign in Milan Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chinese riot of 2007 in Milan Chinatown, a detail . . . . . . . . . . . . Chinese riot of 2007 in Sarpi street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lunar New Year celebration of 2012 in Milan Chinatown, a detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commercial ecosystem of Paolo Sarpi street in Milan Chinatown. Source author’s adaptation from Zukin et al. (2015, p. 15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People in Milan Chinatown. Credits to Manfredi Marino . . . . . . Placement of Chinese migrants in the different segments of the labor market at the end of 1990s. Source Cologna (2002b: 35). Permission to reproduce kindly given by the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Different modes of Chinese social integration in Milan. Source Cologna (2003: 56–57). Permission to reproduce kindly given by the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part a and b, The Paolo Sarpi neighborhood geographic location in Milan inner city . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renewed residential building façade in Paolo Sarpi street . . . . . . Building detail from a side street internal courtyard . . . . . . . . . . . Morphological model of commercial activities in Paolo Sarpi street (Part a and part b). Credits Anita De Franco . . . . . . Building section details in Paolo Sarpi street. Credits Anita De Franco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pedestrianized Paolo Sarpi street in 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Urbanity of Milan Chinatown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Young subculture of Asian Betweeners in Milan Chinatown, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Urban conflict in Paolo Sarpi street on April 12, 2007 . . . . . . . . . Protest murals on Sarpi wall in April 2011 (where the big graffiti claim “Rivolta Ovunque” means “Riot everywhere”) . . .

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Fig. 5.1

Fig. 5.2

Fig. 5.3

Fig. 5.4 Fig. 5.5 Fig. 5.6 Fig. 5.7

Fig. 5.8

Fig. 5.9 Fig. 5.10 Fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3 Fig. 7.1

List of Figures

Milan Chinatown development of gentrification from the 1980s to 2015. Graphic design by Tommaso Romagnoli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media representation of the clashes that took place in the Sarpi area on April 12, 2007, a selection of local newspapers (the titles read as follow in English: Chinatown uprising: the Milan banlieue explodes; urban violence, guerrilla warfare in downtown; rebels for the first time rebels in Milan’s Chinatown; yellow fever; red flag flies over Milan; but Moratti [the city mayor] doesn’t give up: away from Sarpi all wholesalers). Source Manzo (2007) . . . . . . . “Via Sarpi si fa BELLA” (Sarpi street gets BEAUTIFUL), Flyer of the requalification work for the pedestrianization of Paolo Sarpi street in 2010 (the graphics explain in Italian the details of the materials used for the new street furniture: beola slabs for sidewalks, granite street curbs, plants, etc.). Source www.comune.milano.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Art in Sarpi 2013, Milan Chinatown initiative flyer . . . . . . . . . . . Jazz in Sarpi 2013, Milan Chinatown initiative flyer . . . . . . . . . . Art installation for the 2013 Design Fair Fuorisalone Sarpi Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light installation on the façade of Presso-Cook Sharing in Sarpi street during the Fuorisalone design “Romeo and Juliet” event in 2014. Source www.presso.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cartographic representations of the redevelopment projects in the Milan Chinatown. At the bottom right Sarpi is between historic central sites (white), redevelopment projects (violet) and tertiary axes (dotted line) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Porta Volta redevelopment at the edge of Milan Chinatown, rendering view. Source www.herzogdemeuron.com . . . . . . . . . . . Future redevelopment projects in the Sarpi area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Se il padrone è cinese” (When the owner is Chinese) is the “L’Espresso” Italian magazine cover for an article by Fabrizio Gatti analyzing the dynamic role of a new generation of young Chinese entrepreneurs in Milan employing Italian people, June 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Render of the proposed Chinese Gates in Sarpi street. Source Uniic, April 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pedestrianization of Sarpi street in Milan Chinatown, 2014. Credits to Cecilia Chiarini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Video still of Sang Wang—better known as “Zio (uncle) Romanino”—one of the pioneers of Chinese settlement in Milan and a point of reference for the Milan Chinatown Community, recorded on Via Paolo Sarpi. (RT = 4:04) . . . . . . . .

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90 90 91

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List of Figures

Fig. 7.2

Fig. 7.3

Fig. 7.4

Urban conflict in Via Paolo Sarpi. On April 12, 2007, 300 Chinese residents and entrepreneurs reacted violently against a provision of municipal security forces, causing the riot along via Paolo Sarpi and intersecting streets . . . . . . . . . Baidu Chinese hairdressers in Via Paolo Sarpi, video still (RT = 18:10). Chinese hairdressers have been at the center of controversy in Milan for quite some time due to their ability to attract customers at very cheap prices. Numerous popular prejudiced narratives were shared describing these shops as covers for prostitution or other illegal activities or for the use of harmful/non-controlled products, such as hair dye, which “comes from China.” In the video, Baidu is shown as an innovative beauty salon for the type of cuts (Asian hair styles), the design of the store (with flat screens that broadcast manga on the walls), and for the trendiness of its hairstylists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arc of changing pressures that represents the narrative structure of A-way from Paolo Sarpi in three acts: I: the rising spatial implications of sociocultural diversity; II: the intersection of Chinese entrepreneurs and Italian residents and storeowners with the speculative urban regeneration policies of the local government; and III: the final confrontation of the social actors who participated in the video ethnography and their perceptions on their community’s uncertain future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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List of Plates

Plate 2.1 Plate 2.2 Plate 2.3 Plate 4.1 Plate 4.2

Plate 5.1 Plate 5.2 Plate 5.3

Ethnic enclave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethnic Enclave diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Demography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commercial data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of conflict in Milan Chinatown (In the middle photograph Italian residents show anti-Chinese wholesale store “Chi ingrassa l’ingrosso?” and pro-pedestrianization “Pedonalizzare = Respirare” signs.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part a and b gentrification theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commercial data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mapping commercial data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 21 24 58

63 77 83 84

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Chapter 1

Introduction

Since the early 1970s Milano has been one of the epicentres of Italian culture and has always been able to create something new in terms of design, fashion, even popular culture. Every time Italy restarts, Milano is at the forefront, and I believe this is happening again today. —Giorgio Armani, Milan Fashion Week, 2021

Abstract This chapter introduces the limits, ambiguities, and power of resistance to gentrification and anti-displacement practices in the multiethnic community of Milan Chinatown. It elaborates on this debate by combining two concepts: the changes brought to the neighborhood by an influx of more affluent residents and businesses (“gentrification”) and the sociocultural diversity lens (“Chinatown and Chineseness”). In doing so, it problematizes the debate around spaces of encounter by pushing for a more nuanced understanding of the link between the dynamics of negotiation, co-production, and resistance to the rebranding of multiethnic areas of the city. The case of Milan’s Chinatown clearly shows that immigration and gentrification can work in concert. This is particularly significant given the basic contradiction of gentrification: Gentrifiers want diversity but ensure its demise via displacement. Keywords Gentrification · Urban diversity · Resistance · Chinatown · Milan

This book explores the limits, ambiguities, and power of resistance to gentrification and anti-displacement practices in the multiethnic community of Milan Chinatown in the Via Paolo Sarpi neighborhood (Fig. 1.1). I elaborate on this debate by examining the specific role of urban diversity in redefining inclusion and exclusion in contemporary cities experiencing urban revitalization. Particularly, this work combines two concepts: the changes brought to the neighborhood by an influx of more affluent residents and businesses (“gentrification”) and the sociocultural diversity lens (“Chinatown and Chineseness”). In doing so, it problematizes the debate around spaces of encounter by pushing for a more nuanced understanding of the link between the dynamics of negotiation, co-production, and resistance to the rebranding of multiethnic areas of the city. The book also focuses on the ambiguous relationship © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_1

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1 Introduction

Fig. 1.1 Via Paolo Sarpi street sign in Milan Chinatown

between diversity and inclusion/exclusion to question the assumption that immigration and gentrification prevent each other. The case of Milan’s Chinatown clearly shows that the two phenomena can work in concert. In theoretical terms, the process and practice of rebranding Milan’s Chinatown seem also symptomatic of an emerging urban hybridity—how minority populations feel, negotiate, clash, or resist when they encounter majority groups (Valentine 2008). This is particularly significant given the basic contradiction of gentrification: Gentrifiers want diversity but ensure its demise via displacement. This book provides a useful analysis of the European/Italian model of gentrification and immigration, which urban scholars ought to further consider given the disproportionate space given to Anglo-American gentrification in the urban studies literature. The endorsement of diversity has always been a hallmark of gentrification that reveals gentrifiers’ lifestyle in terms of “distinctive” (Bourdieu 1984) consumption habits and cultural patterns (Zukin 1982; Ley 1996; Lloyd 2006). Thus, my view is that practices of resistance that advocate for an idealized version of urban diversity per se do not produce socioeconomic inclusiveness and tolerance. Rather, it is the ambiguous coalescence between the production and the consumption of diversity (Fainstein 2005; Manzo 2016) that, while enhancing a diverse plurality of dwellers, can give rise to a plurality of interests and goals that are often in conflict. Ensuring diversity within society, the economy, and the built environment has become a major planning and policy goal of state-led interventions in many countries in Western Europe and North America. Diversity is considered the key to stimulating growth and achieving equity. However, this contemporary trend certainly does not support Jane Jacobs’ vision of a “close-grained diversity of uses” (1961, p.14) to nurture great social interaction and support cities created, first and foremost, for people. On the contrary, the scale and scope of current market developments

1 Introduction

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are driving cities toward “blueprints” (Lees et al. 2016, p. 111), strategic imitations resulting from “impulses within the global economy” (Fainstein 2005, p. 6) that undermine the local idea of a diverse urban milieu. Although “planning for difference” is acknowledged as essential to promote social cohesion rather than fragmentation, as Burayidi asserts, “this fibre of inclusion has yet to weave its way into every fabric of planning practice” (2015, p. 4) in creating the just city. In gentrification research, diversity is context dependent (Maloutas 2012), holding different meanings depending on different political frameworks. For example, in North America, diversity today refers to a touristic, multicultural, and urban village. The same term in Western European cities continues to be used to describe “undesirable” ghettos or stigmatized enclaves (Slater 2017). According to Zukin et al., “a strong ‘ethnic’ or ‘immigrant’ presence in Europe is feared as a sign of fragmentation or even ‘ghettoization’ which the state feels responsible to prevent” (2015, p. 200). However, despite having become rapidly more diverse, Southern European cities continue to be less segregated than Northern European ones (Musterd 2005; Arbaci 2008). In Southern European cities, urban dwellers experience diversity every day on local shopping streets: A “global urban habitat where differences of language and culture are see, heard, smelled, felt, and certainly tasted” (Zukin et al. 2015, p.1). Ethnically distinct shopping streets provide a window into the globalization and commercialization of local communities—where the diversity they produce become local attractions. The reciprocity between gentrification, diversity, and the territorialization of difference is undermined by changes in lifestyles, commerce, culture, and resistance to these changes. Diversity tied to multiethnicity can be understood as a “spectacle” for consumption tied to celebrations and festivals that are easily marketable. As an activist-scholar, I have been engaged in ethnographic research within the multiethnic community of Milan Chinatown after the 2007 riots in response to revanchist tactics (Smith 1996) that have been informing urban renewal policies “against minorities,” in ethnically diverse neighborhoods of the city (Manzo 2012; Verga 2016). The 2007 riot was the Chinese entrepreneurs’ response to the “zero tolerance” municipal policies that were adopted to discourage the development of Chinese commerce and promote the speculative urban renewal of the neighborhood (see Figs. 1.2 and 1.3). Following the rebellion, I produced an ethnographic documentary with the community (and for the community) to “challenge consolidated social imaginaries and define a counter narrative to the hegemonic idea of urban living” (Annunziata and Rivas-Alonso 2018; see also Lees and Ferreri 2016 on counter-narratives). At the time, in 2008, this practice was understood to be a channel of resistance where both ethnic entrepreneurs and Italian residents collectively produced public space to avert the threat of embryonic gentrification (Manzo 2017). The case of Milan Chinatown and its main shopping street via Sarpi is a focal point of this discussion. In the nine years between 2007 and 2016, I observed the fundamental conflation between anti-gentrification practices rooted in the value of diversity and the use of diversity as a new form of “commodification of the culture of resistance”

4

Fig. 1.2 Chinese riot of 2007 in Milan Chinatown, a detail

Fig. 1.3 Chinese riot of 2007 in Sarpi street

1 Introduction

1 Introduction

5

(Naegler 2012, p. 157). Direct regulation—the implementation of a pedestrian-only zone—and indirect regulation—delivery regulations that targeted a specific type of commerce—were used by the local government as planning tools to redevelop Sarpi street and “sweep away the undesirable” Chinese entrepreneurs from the neighborhood. The gentrification strategy of the city government, in fact, promoted “good quality” Chinese shops and restaurants to attract a “desired diversity” of residents and users of Sarpi street. However, in the attempt to upgrade their shops and resist commercial displacement, Chinese entrepreneurs played a key role in the multiethnic “aestheticization” of the Chinatown, what I call in this book a more stylish rebranding, following the urban global footprint of Milan for fashion and design. Milan unique intermingling of creative and commercial cultures has made this city a global fashion mecca for its trend-setting status, especially after 1961 when it was the headquarters of Vogue Italia. However, the golden age of Italian finance was between the early 1980s and the early 1990s, when also the fashion and advertising industry became globally connected. Milan was kind of the center of that world. It was the time when Gianni Versace started to think of himself as Versace and Giorgio Armani became Armani. It was the era of Craxi, and the Milan-based Socialist Party ruled the country. Easy money, constant partying, and one out of two people in the street was a foreigner. It was a very superficial atmosphere, but it was vibrant. The fashion money funded the arts. Think about the Fiorucci store that was entirely painted by Keith Haring. There was a sensation that everything was possible1

That is why “Drinking Milan”—Milano da bere—was a common expression used to describe the excess of the Milanese 1980s. And this unique style of Milan is most alive and visible out on the streets of its neighborhoods, where we can observe “the Milanese people”: Bold looks, eccentric outfits, confident manners: Milanesi are the beating heart of a city whose reputation enchants the world. To us, every passer-by represents the quintessential spirit of Milan. They’re all unique.2

Milan city has the ability to play a significant role in the creative system, which includes not only fashion but also architecture, design, and art. In this scenario— driven by the commodification of ethno-cultural diversity—the Milanese neighborhood of Chinatown became an increasingly attractive place for the creative and entertainment industries. The commercial recovery of the area improved the visibility of the neighborhood, as one storeowner noted: Now people come here also because it is an innovative place, for the fact that it is a ‘Chinatown’.

1

“Drinking Milan”, article by Federico Sarica published in Vice on April 2, 2008: https://www. vice.com/en/article/yv3m55/drinking-milan-v15n4. 2 “The Milanese in Milan: Inside the Anonymous Account Chronicling the Unique Street Style of Italy’s Fashion Capital”, article by Luke Leitch published in Vogue on June 22, 2021: https://www. vogue.com/article/milanesi-a-milano-street-style-instagram.

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Neighborhood entrepreneurs, both local and global ones, have driven the commodification of diversity in the production of a new image of the neighborhood. The neighborhood’s image is now tied to the consumption of diversity, creativity, and entertainment: The goal is not only to improve the street and give it a commercial vestige that is more in sync with Expo 2015 but also to launch the entire area that will very soon become a strategic pole (Sarpidoc entrepreneurial committee member).

However, the tempestuous intersection of such practices with the economic and political interests of investors and local authorities has driven the displacement of small established, local, Italian-owned businesses that did not “fit” the leisure economy, putting pressure on the habits of long-term residents. New tensions and forms of displacement are emerging from the process of commodification that would reinforce the uneven development that gentrification implies. Interestingly, the non-direct practices of resistance produced by Chinese entrepreneurs (in the business capacity) that mitigated the displacement of ethnic commercial activities made those increasingly sanitized, or better stylish (see a representation during the New Year celebration of 2012 in Fig. 1.4). In the last decade, indeed, the anti-revanchist political outlet of the riot lost its subversive power, blurring into a commodified form of resistance ready to be incorporated into the last wave of gentrification of Milan Chinatown. Critical urban research involves examining the effects of diversity on the development of gentrification processes rather than simply assuming that the results of its practices of resistance will be beneficial. According to Tissot, gentrifiers’ endorsement of diversity is ambivalent, as their exclusionary practices of distinction go hand in hand with tolerant perspectives and policy efforts: Gentrifiers not only claim to be open, they try to implement their values notably by socializing newcomers to diversity and promoting a ‘good neighbor’ ethos that they hope can generate peaceful relations among different groups. But this commitment to diversity is intrinsically linked to the gentrifiers’ capacity to control it (2014, p. 1192).

In particular, gentrifiers desire for diversity (Annunziata and Manzo 2013) in mixed communities (Bridge et al. 2012) is indicative of a changing mechanism of domination in which gentrifiers have a “limited and controlled proportion of ‘others’ in their residential area. ‘Diversity’ epitomizes a new kind of social distinction, which does not rely on segregation between homogeneous residential areas, but on strict control of spatial mixing within residential areas” (Tissot 2014, p. 1193). The conclusions will reflect on how controlling diversity is one way of reducing what wealthy gentrifiers may view as the frightening dimension of “otherness.” Ultimately, this book distinguishes itself from mainstream work on migration and integration by investigating migrants and long-term native social groups not separately but in conjunction. This approach enables us to see the different narratives of Chineseness as well as how migration transforms both migrants and natives in an urban space. It also brings to the fore the “meso” level; that is, it allows us to investigate how local city governments and the mass media shape those narratives. At a macro-level, investigating how diversity unfolds in urban change enables us to understand how migration and gentrification are negotiated in people’s lives.

1.1 Uncovering the Ethnography, and the Ethnographer

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Fig. 1.4 Lunar New Year celebration of 2012 in Milan Chinatown, a detail

1.1 Uncovering the Ethnography, and the Ethnographer The research design and empirical analysis of this book have been guided by the five principles for the study of stigmatized urban areas outlined by Wacquant (2008). First, it was imperative for me to distance myself from the “popular” narratives built by local government officials, media representatives, and some of the residents. Social scientists must engage with analytical concepts when researching urban inequalities and stigmatization tendencies. They must also pay special attention to and critically examine the structures of power and the construction of categories that lie behind collective discourses and their political outcomes. Second, processes of urban transformation, such as gentrification, are the precipitate of “the diachronic sequence of historical transformations” (ibid.: 9) of which they are the sociomaterial expression. The temporality of the longitudinal analysis of a process of gentrification lasting decades was key in understanding the changes that have taken place in Milan’s Chinatown since the end of the 1970s. These changes have been triangulated with the evolving role of postindustrial Milan in the global economy; the political, institutional, and commercial interventions in the neighborhood’s political economy; and the increasingly aestheticized rescripting of the area’s urban diversity. Ethnography emerges as the third methodological recommendation made by Wacquant (ibid.) as an “indispensable tool” to look deeply into the prejudicial discourses inscribed on these areas of the city and embedded into the way categories are perceived, appreciated, and enacted every day by its dwellers. Fourth, it is useful to provide a historical analysis of the commercial transformation of Milan’s Chinatown in order to understand

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the sociomaterial and symbolic value of the function that the area has performed over time. Fifth, the degree and form of the state’s penetration in the process of gentrification have been examined to understand the role and the impact of urban policies on the ground. The primary methods of data collection in this study are ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews in the neighborhood. The use of multiple methods has facilitated the triangulation of the project’s findings from a variety of vantage points (Lofland et al. 2005). This study approached the urban regeneration of the CanonicaSarpi neighborhood from a longitudinal perspective, focusing on the aestheticization that took place after the conflicts of 2007. The analysis starts from the examination of the geographical, economic, and sociocultural factors that have led to gentrification. The study, therefore, explores the roles played by residents, entrepreneurs, neighborhood groups and associations, investors, media, and the local government. A sociospatial lens (Aalbers 2011; Gottdiener and Hutchison 2006) is adopted to understand the social consequences of recent commercial and mobility (traffic) measures. Given this approach, the study seeks to document the practices found in the new pedestrianized public space of Sarpi street. Has this space created new meanings? Another important question is whether, a decade after the Chinese “revolt,” tension and conflict remains in the community. Finally, the study attempts to evaluate the actions undertaken by the local government and the proposals for future investment in the area. The study’s object is the commercial ecosystem (Zukin et al. 2015: 15), which consists of those actors who influence the discourses and strategies dealing with entrepreneurship and urban transformation at the local level. This ecosystem comprises three interdependent parties: businesses (both Chinese and Italian), consumers/visitors, and residents. These parties are linked by economic interests, social norms, and local rituals. They can pursue common interests or divergent ones, thus leading to cooperation or conflict, respectively. Four external factors shape the ecosystem of Sarpi street: strategic economic interests, neighborhood groups, local urban policies, and media representations (see Fig. 1.5). Data collection was based on a multimethod longitudinal approach that included both secondary and primary data. Concerning the former, the analysis relied on sociodemographic data on the area’s residents obtained from the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT). The municipal regulations for commercial activities were also examined. Finally, a documental analysis of various texts, local newspapers, and other archives (including digital ones) was performed. Regarding the primary data, the study adopted a video-ethnographic approach (see appendix B for a detailed analysis). Therefore, a range of ethnographic activities like participant observation in the neighborhood’s public spaces, in-depth interviews, shadowing of consumers in both Italian and Chinese shops, collection of audiovisual material, and attendance at neighborhood festivals and other meetings were considered to be the most appropriate in response to the research questions posed. Fieldwork took place during three different phases over ten years, from 2007 to 2017. During the first phase (2007–2009), the author investigated the consequences of the riots, focusing on the main actors and stakeholders who were involved in the

1.1 Uncovering the Ethnography, and the Ethnographer

STORE OWNERS

SHOPPERS AND CITY USERS

Media

Neighborhood associations

RESIDENTS

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Urban Policies

Urban development interests

Fig. 1.5 Commercial ecosystem of Paolo Sarpi street in Milan Chinatown. Source author’s adaptation from Zukin et al. (2015, p. 15)

events. The media’s representations of the riots were also examined in detail. A year and a half were entirely devoted to participant observation and interviewing. One of the research outputs of this phase was an independent documentary that was used as a tool to broaden the orientalist discourse (Said 1978) surrounding the conflict between Italians and Chinese within the Milan Chinatown community and beyond. During the second phase of fieldwork (2010–2013), the gradual transformation of Sarpi street into a pedestrian area was explored to understand its socioeconomic impact. A survey of all the businesses in the area was also conducted. During the third phase (2014–2017), the author carried out a partial restudy, interviewing former contacts and key informants while also meeting new ones to understand how the stakeholders have changed with time. In April 2013, a collaborative community workshop3 was held to promote dialogue among the parties and instigating an exchange of ideas. Specific techniques were used to facilitate participative processes, and a focus group was conducted. Finally, during the years spent as contact professor of Sociology at Politecnico di Milano University (2014–2015) I had the opportunity to work with my Contemporary City course students to conduct a thorough commercial data collection of the neighborhood to compared with the one collected 5–6 years earlier. In every ethnographic research, I have conducted there has always been something “out of my control.” To be more precise, the primary exploration of the Milan Chinatown happened unintentionally. Back in 2001—six years before the beginning of this research—I worked for the census data collection to earn some extra money after work. Absolutely by chance, I was assigned to the Paolo Sarpi street area, thus having the opportunity to access the private intimate spaces of many residents’ homes. At that time, I have got a picture of the neighborhood in my mind: a vivid, layered, and multifaceted urban culture. The knowledge of the ethnographic field was then gradually consolidated during these last 10 years, to become more and more in depth. Some key events have led me to finally access the urban field as a participant 3

The event was called “Planning a new atmosphere for Sarpi street.”

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observer and activist. I saw, over time, a lively, colored, and multicultural neighborhood with increased traffic congestion generated by the Chinese wholesalers. I also saw insults, pushing, beatings, and protest marches during the first revolt of the Chinese community. It was on April 12, 2007. At the very beginning of the empirical research, I set as a first goal to deepen my references regarding the recent history of the district; in the meantime, I was observing the urban space to gain a preliminary understanding of the dynamics that led to an event so disruptive of the social order. Moreover, because in that period I was working as a journalist in the press office of the City Hall, I was able to intercept some political designs about the redevelopment of the “Chinatown” area. The enviable vantage point as insider into the headquarters of the local Milanese government allowed me to establish profitable relationships with the secretaries of the mayor staff and its councilors. In fact, thanks to my colleagues, I had free access to interviews with politicians. Furthermore, in early 2008, taking part in a neighborhood visit organized by a local association and advertised in the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, I built my first shy contacts with the gatekeepers of the neighborhood (more specifically, two local Italians and one local Chinese entrepreneurs and members of the local trade association, Ales, and the head of the association of young second-generation Chinese in Milan, Associna). Finally, in March 2008, I had my first official access to the field. I began building my network of contacts through these immediate gatekeepers, and through them I met residents and users from various sections of the neighborhood. I have always revealed my status as a researcher and explained to the residents that I was interested in studying the process of urban transformation. Not totally satisfied with the data collection, I also decided to shoot—sometimes with the help of a camera assistant—some videos of both the interviews and the neighborhood public space and cultures. My approach to visual sociology does not consider images and videos as marginal, but as source of relevant data and a clear public positionality applied to field research. The evocative power generated by such data lead, indeed, to the production of a social documentary, to which the appendix is devoted.

1.2 Overview of the Book Following this introduction, this chapter provides an overview of the limits, ambiguities, and power of resistance to gentrification and anti-displacement practices in the multiethnic community of Milan’s Chinatown. It elaborates on this debate by combining two concepts: the changes brought to the neighborhood by an influx of more affluent residents and businesses (“gentrification”) and the sociocultural diversity lens (“Chinatown and Chineseness”). In doing so, it problematizes the debate around spaces of encounter by pushing for a more nuanced understanding of the link between the dynamics of negotiation, co-production, and resistance to the rebranding of multiethnic areas of the city. The case of Milan’s Chinatown clearly shows that immigration and gentrification can work in concert. This is particularly significant

1.2 Overview of the Book

11

given the basic contradiction of gentrification: Gentrifiers want diversity but ensure its demise via displacement. Chapter 2 provides an in-depth analysis of Milan’s Chinatown, the multiethnic neighborhood of Via Paolo Sarpi where streets, the international flow of Chinese goods, and the daily routines of elderly Italians, local families, and city users intersect. It also explores the setting of the Chinese riot that broke out in 2007. Thoughts, memories, desires, and fears of ordinary people living, using, and working in the neighborhood are testimonials of residents, store owners, key informants, and city rulers. They provide perceptions and feelings that expose the effect of the stigmatized rhetoric produced by “the powerful” in the name of speculative intents. Chapter 3 details how in this work Chineseness has been approached as “processual” rather than fixed to advance the argument that, in the gentrification process of Milan’s Chinatown, “Chinese culture” is socially constructed. Chineseness is a “big question” that this book does not seek to define. The reason for this is that how Chineseness is simultaneously embedded in the political economy of Milan’s Chinatown is a matter of politics. In other words, this chapter deals on the construction of Chineseness as a cultural discourse, as well as how this notion relates to other narratives and becomes institutionalized by a range of different actors in the gentrification of Milan’s Chinatown. Chapter 4 investigates the relationship among gentrification processes, political economy, and the social production of meaning by analyzing how people interact in a multiethnic changing neighborhood in Milan. It analyzes the tensions and interethnic conflicts that occurred in Milan’s Chinatown as the result of the actions taken by a variety of self-interested groups, such as local government officials, entrepreneurs, residents, and city users, who more or less strategically sought to capitalize on multiculturalism and diversity. It also highlights how the public space of this neighborhood can be considered a contact zone, especially for the Chinese minority and the Italian majority. As the book discusses, the truly open spaces of encounter in Milan’s Chinatown were compromised by the intergroup clashes that occurred during the process of gentrification, which express the larger difficulty of creating meaningful diversity in an unequal city. Chapter 5 provides a longitudinal analysis of the area’s physical, economic, and social transformation. It discusses both the role played by the main actors in the gentrification process and the socioeconomic drivers of change. It also examines the failure of the local government and the speculative market interests that have led to a damaging aestheticization of diversity in the process of value creation in this predominantly Chinese multiethnic neighborhood. The use of destination branding and marketing, the practice of Othering, and how Chineseness is celebrated makes dynamics of social exclusion persist and illustrates the difficulty of using diversity to foster both justice and growth. Finally, the conclusions reflect on the relationship between gentrification and discourses concerning Milan’s Chinatown by examining how the local government and entrepreneurs have “repackaged” this ethnic enclave to make it desirable for visitors in the context of the global flows of fashion and design in Milan. This examination enables a better understanding of the construction of Chinatown as

12

1 Introduction

a new cultural destination; it also illuminates the dynamics taking place between changing socioeconomic conditions and evolving discourses of place as the area undergoes gentrification. This work reveals that Chinese entrepreneurs were able to move from “being dominated” by the revanchist policies of the local government to “being the dominant” actors in the rise of a commodified multiethnic neighborhood. This is exactly how the ambiguity of diversity emerges: On the one hand, it defines urban appeal, fosters creativity, and breeds tolerance, while on the other hand, it can undermine democracy if individuals’ loyalty to group interests or symbols is greater than their interest in the common good. This final section also reflects on the factors that have turned Milan Chinatown into a new “stylish” landmark for the city’s revitalization and marketing strategies. In this book, I also draw from my personal experience with video ethnography applied in urban research. Between 2007 and 2009, I conducted ethnographic research on the implications of the riot that broke out within the Chinese community in Milan in April 2007 and other conflicts that ensued related to local urban transformation. This research informed my final project for my Master of Arts program in Political and Social Communication at the University of Milan (Manzo 2009b). During the early stages of participant observation and conversations with my research contacts, I began thinking about the prospect of creating a project that would extend beyond the scope of a mere written thesis. Even though I planned to focus on the incumbent gentrification of this multiethnic neighborhood, I started to consider the possibility of doing ethnography also to “reach out” to the public and share my insights. I was motivated to do so by the exacerbation of stereotypes and prejudice against the Chinese community by the media and local politicians in Milan. Members of the community who lived, worked, or just engaged in the consumption of culture and goods in Chinatown cooperated with me to voice their side of the story. The applied ethnography project led to a ten-year-long research period that extended from 2007 to 2017, of which the video documentary was a part (Manzo 2009a). Such practices may be distinctly described as documentary, fine art, design, architecture, ethnography, or social science based, depending on their historical traditions and contexts. Despite their distinct forms, they are all connected by an intention to clarify, research, and interact with urban life through lens-based media, or other forms of visualization. The discussion placed in the appendix of this book clarifies both literature and practice of video ethnography as an emerging planning tool in designing action research projects.

References Aalbers MB (2011) A socio-spatial approach. In: Place, exclusion, and mortgage markets. WileyBlackwell, Oxford, UK Annunziata S, Manzo LKC (2013) Desire for diversity and difference in gentrified brooklyn. Dialogue between a planner and a sociologist. Cambio. Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali 6(December):71–88

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Annunziata S, Rivas-Alonso C (2018) Resisting gentrification. In: Lees L, Philips M (eds) Handbook of gentrification studies. Edward Elgar, London, pp 393–412 Arbaci S (2008) (Re)viewing ethnic residential segregation in southern European cities: housing and urban regimes as mechanisms of marginalisation. Hous Stud 23(4):589–613 Bourdieu P (1984) Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Bridge G, Butler T, Lees L (2012) Mixed communities: gentrification by stealth? Policy Press, Bristol Burayidi MA (2015) Cities and the diversity agenda in planning. In: Burayidi MA (ed) Cities and the politics of difference. multiculturalism and diversity in urban planning. University of Toronto Press, Toronto Fainstein SS (2005) Cities and diversity: should we want it? Can we plan for it? Urban Aff Rev 41(1):3–19 Gottdiener M, Hutchison R (2006) The new urban sociology, 3rd edn. Westview Press, Boulder, CO Lofland J, Snow DA, Anderson L, Lofland LH (2005) Analyzing social settings: a guide to qualitative observation and analysis, 4th edn. Thompson/Wadsworth, Belmont, CA Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities. Random House Lees L, Ferreri M (2016) Resisting gentrification on its final frontiers: learning from the Heygate Estate in London (1974–2013). Cities 57:14–24 Lees L, Shin HB, Lopez-Morales E (2016) Planetary gentrification. Polity Press, Cambridge Ley D (1996) The new middle class and the remaking of the central city. Oxford University Press, Oxford Lloyd R (2006) Neo-Bohemia: art and commerce in the postindustrial city. Routledge, London and New York Maloutas T (2012) Contextual diversity in gentrification research. Crit Sociol 38(1):33–48 Manzo LKC (2009a) A-way from Paolo Sarpi (original title in Italian ‘Via|da|Paolo Sarpi’). Documentary, 49 minutes, color, En subt. Independent Production, Italy Manzo LKC (2009b) A-way from Paolo Sarpi. Film making and ethnographic research in the Milan’s Chinatown. Master of Arts thesis in Political and Social Communication at the Political Science Faculty of Milan University, November 2007 Manzo LKC (2012) Emergent spaces, contemporary urban conflicts. Experiences of social mix in changing neighborhoods: the case study Milan’s Chinatown. In: Camp Yeakey C (ed) Living on the boundaries: urban marginality in national and international contexts. Emerald, Bristol Manzo LKC (2016) “Via Via, Vieni via Di Qui!” Il Processo di Gentrificazione di via Paolo Sarpi, la Chinatown di Milano (1980–2015). Archivio Di Studi Urbani e Regionali 117(November):27–50 Manzo LKC (2017) Video-ethnography and critical research for more democratic urbanization: the case of Milan Chinatown. Visual Anthropol 30(3):206–221. Taylor & Francis Musterd S (2005) Social and ethnic segregation in Europe: levels, causes, and effects. J Urban Aff 27(3):331–348 Naegler L (2012) Gentrification and resistance: cultural criminology, control, and the commodification of urban protest in hamburg. LIT Verlag, Münster Said EW (1978) Orientalism. Pantheon Books, New York Slater T (2017) Territorial stigmatization: symbolic defamation and the contemporary metropolis. In: Hannigan J, Richards G (eds) The handbook of new urban studies. SAGE, London, pp 111–125 Smith N (1996) The new urban frontier: gentrification and the revanchist city. Routledge, London and New York Tissot S (2014) Loving diversity/controlling diversity: exploring the ambivalent mobilization of upper-middle-class gentrifiers, south end, Boston. Int J Urban Reg Res 38(4):1181–1194 Valentine G (2008) Living with difference: reflections on geographies of encounter. Prog Hum Geogr 32:323–337

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Verga PL (2016) Rhetoric in the representation of a multi-ethnic neighbourhood: the case of Via Padova Milan. Antipode 48(4):1080–1101 Wacquant LJD (2008) Urban outcasts: a comparative sociology of advanced marginality. Polity, Cambridge Zukin S (1982) Loft living. culture and capital in urban change. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London Zukin S, Kasinitz P, Chen X (eds) (2015) Global cities, local streets: everyday diversity from New York to Shanghai. Routledge, New York

Chapter 2

Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial Stigma

Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown. —Roman Polanski, Chinatown, 1974

Abstract Milan Chinatown is the multiethnic neighborhood of Via Paolo Sarpi where streets, the international flow of Chinese goods, and the daily routines of elderly Italians, local families, and city users intersect. It is also the setting of the Chinese riot that broke out in 2007. Thoughts, memories, desires, and fears of ordinary people living, using, and working in the neighborhood are testimonials of residents, store owners, key informants, and city rulers. They provide perceptions and feelings that expose the effect of the stigmatized rhetoric produced by “the powerful” in the name of speculative intents. Keywords Gentrification · Territorial stigmatization · Chinatown · Enclave · Ethnic entrepreneurs · Milan

What does Chinatown symbolize in Chinatown? The meaning of the term “Chinatown” implies a numerical prevalence of Chinese citizens in a given neighborhood, its high autonomy, and a strong level of separateness from the host society. Despite this, the expression is frequently used even in the blatant absence of such conditions, thus indicating the prejudices of those who use it and raising widespread alarmism and fear. Chinatown is commonly represented in the popular culture as a place where secret organizations rule, the law is meaningless and good intentions are brutally suppressed. These narratives represented Chinatown as a stigmatized sociospatial formation “draped in a sulfurous aura,” to borrow Wacquant’s strong image. According to the author, these formations receive disproportionate and disproportionately negative attention of the media, politicians, and state managers. They are known, to outsider and insiders alike, as the ‘lawless zones’, the ‘problem estates’, the ‘no-go areas’ or the ‘wild districts’ of the city, territories of deprivation and dereliction to be feared, fled from, and shunned because they are – or such is their reputation

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_2

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2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial … but, in these matters, perception contributes powerfully to fabricating reality – hotbeds of violence, vice, and social dissolution (2008b: 1).

Indeed, the term may suggest an image of “invasion” of a territory by immigrants, as well as a vision of closed, impenetrable communities that easily acquire a mysterious aura full of potential threats. Since the early 1980s, many of these common representations came to underscore the pervasive use of the term “Chinatown” along with the spread of uncontrolled rumors, which were periodically revived, pointing to immigrants as criminals. These representations are, therefore, a significant indicator of the incidence of prejudices that tend to interpret a poorly understood reality as obscure and threatening, thus incentivizing the emergence of further reactions of rejection and fear (Ceccagno 1997). Racial categories are cultural and symbolic attributions whose construction and transmission cannot be taken for granted. Anderson (1987) focused on the process by which such divisions are self-constructed; in particular, he examined the intersection of place and institutional practice in the making of racial stigmatization around the idea of Chinatown. The ideas of “Chinese” and “Chinatown” may indeed constitute a critical link through which the process of defining and legitimizing stigmatization has been structured, thus imprinting social definitions of identity and place on institutional space and practice. More recently, the “defamation of place” (Manzo 2022; Wacquant, 2007, 2008b) constructed around marginality and reinforced by media coverage (stereotypes of crime-ridden, frightening, blemished, and even infamous places) have served to justify the state-driven gentrification of vulnerable areas of cities around the globe. Sociologists, geographers, and anthropologists have developed a substantial body of scholarship on the stigma attached to those experiencing poverty, homelessness, and discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality. The framework of territorial stigmatization refers to how people are discredited, devalued, and poorly treated because of the places with which they are associated (Slater, 2021). As a theoretical construct, it builds upon Goffman’s theorization of “stigma” (1963) based on race, nation, or religion; Bourdieu’s “symbolic power” (1991), which highlights the ways agents, authorities, and institutions exert power in the production of definitions of the social world; Wacquant’s analysis of places as “urban purgatories” (Wacquant 2007, 2008b, 2008a, 2010) to be shunned and feared; and Slater’s conceptualization of territorial stigmatization not as a property of the neighborhood, but rather as “a gaze trained on it” that affects life chances (2021, p. 162). Studies of the social meaning of place in human geography have rarely noted the role of powerful agents, such as the state, in defining place. These “defining powers” can create place through an arbitrary definition of the social world. Chinese neighborhoods in Western societies have been extensively studied throughout the twentieth century. Social science researchers and historians have provided several common narratives that characterized the early representations of “Chinatown,” including. Chinatown as an immoral hotbed of opium smoking, gambling, and prostitution; Chinatown as the domain of secret societies (known as tongs) and thugs, who wielded power in the drug

2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial …

17

and sex trades; Chinatown as a dilapidated neighborhood with unsanitary living conditions and bad odor; and Chinatown as a pagan and non-Christian district (Santos et al. 2008: 1005).

In Western discourses, Chinatowns have been traditionally represented as dilapidated neighborhoods (Lin 1998) and “dirty, dreadful, ghettorized Oriental enclave[s]” (Santos and Yan 2008: 883) populated by suspicious residents living in unsanitary conditions. In social geography, the Chinatown phenomenon has been conceptualized in a variety of ways, including as a launching point for the assimilation of Chinese immigrants, an urban village that rebels against encroaching land use, a product of segregation based on race or ethnicity, and a Chinese architectural form (Cho and Leigh 1972; Cybriwsky 1986; Lai 1973; Salter 1978). Chinatowns have also been subjected to hostile reception of policies, thus highlighting the attitudes and behaviors of local societies (Barth 1964; Lyman 1974; Palmer 1982; Price 1974; Roy 1980; Ward 1978). However, policies and attitudes concerning ethnic neighborhoods (and minorities) started to change in the 1960s and ‘70 s. Initially, these neighborhoods were perceived by host societies as transitional spaces and obstacles to urban economic growth (Molotch 1976). Particularly, European governments changed their traditional immigration policies and attitudes in order to promote cities and rejuvenate their economies (Gotham 2001) through multicultural agendas for managing cultural diversity (Horst 2003). Over the past three decades, cities have witnessed a broader array of “neoliberal, culture-led urban regeneration strategies” (Quinn 2010: 266), moving from a production-oriented economy to a consumption-oriented one. Chinatowns have been seen both as “minority” and “ethnic” communities. However, this book does not approach the study of Chinatowns as something that relies on a discrete “Chineseness” as its implicit explanatory principle. A “Chinatown” is not defined as such simply because Chinese people live there, whether by choice or force. Rather, one could argue that Chinatowns are social constructs with a cultural history, a tradition of imagery, and an institutional practice that have led to the construction of a cognitive and material reality in and for the West. Arguably, not all spaces are as heavily charged with cultural and political baggage as Chinatowns are. Therefore, it is important to highlight how the territorial stigmatization operated by local governments and institutions can serve as an ideological device and justification for the class-based transformation of urban spaces aimed at more affluent residents. This is further evidence that a range of power relations can sustain and keep alive our social and spatial categories. The significance of these “imagined geographies” cannot be underestimated because they organize social action and political practices. The influence of the notion of Chinatown may thus represent further striking proof of how symbolic resources play a critical structural role in the realization of broader social processes. It is hence the view of this book that Chinatown is not a rigid immutable set of characteristics and practices of particular social groups, but a contestable and fluid set of meanings and symbols that is subject to change. That said, can serve as a point of departure for an understanding of every city (Fig. 2.1).

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2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial …

Fig. 2.1 People in Milan Chinatown. Credits to Manfredi Marino

2.1 The Chinese in Milan To begin to decode the recent transformations of a complex neighborhood such as Milan’s Chinatown without relying on media stereotypes, it may be useful to reconstruct the evolution of the Chinese presence in the area in parallel with the endogenous dynamics of the city’s housing market and politics (Novak 2002).

2.1.1 Historical Arrival and Structural Characteristics The 140,000 Chinese in Italy1 are concentrated in Milan, Prato (a leather-working city near Florence), Rome, and in the surrounding area of Naples. Most of them came from Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Particularly, the official history of the Chinese arrival in Milan began in the late 20s, when a small group of people, originating in a particular area of the coastal province of Zhejiang—in

1

Source: Associna, Associna, Association of the Chinese second generation in Italy www.associna. com.

2.1 The Chinese in Milan

19

southern China—decided that the capital city of Lombardy would be a good place to “make a fortune.”2 The Chinese arrived in Italy around the 1920s ... they came from France, because they were those Chinese who had worked there and fought in the rear of the heavy industry infrastructure in support of the French-British army during the First World War. This was a one hundred and fifty thousand man contingent taken from the south-east China, in particular the regions of Zhejiang and Fujian. When their war experience in France ended… many returned to Chin. Although many, unfortunately, lost their lives in France, but…now it is often said that “the Chinese never died” but actually they did die! Anyway, a part of this contingent, a few hundred, I suppose, found no opportunities to be involved in French society, so they decided to emigrate from France to Italy. Mostly of these men have traveled all over Italy, walking through the Turin-Milan corridor; a few dozen of them stopped in Turin. Many, however, arrived in Milan and from there they have established ... I can say, they built the first Chinese community in Italy (J.L. – 27 years old, second generation Chinese in Italy).

In the years following World War I, the number of immigrants from that particular region of China continued to increase, and the inhabitants of the district Qingtian joined these immigrants (mostly related to them), coming from neighboring areas in Wenzhou-Ouhai, Wencheng, and Rui’an. Milan, in fact, seemed a relatively promising place and throughout the course of the 1930s it became a popular destination for Chinese immigration into Europe. Then the first stocks of the Chinese community who settled here in Milan... expanded; it worked the mechanism of “relatives call relatives” so that from the areas from which came the first Chinese immigrants the flow continued… in particular from the areas of Qingtian, Wenzhou Wencheng, which are the major cities of emigration in China. In fact as much as 75% of the Chinese population in Italy comes from the Zhejiang province (J.L.).

Initially, the Chinese immigrants occupied jobs such as street vendors of trinkets, looking for new economic opportunities in Central and Eastern European countries, and in ten years, this Chinese group grew to consist of hundreds of people. This first “embryo” of the community settled near Paolo Sarpi street, which at the time was still a neighborhood outside the city center, as known to local Italian residents as “el bôrgh di scigôlatt,” or the greengrocers’ neighborhood. The Sarpi neighborhood appeared to be a popular area at the beginning of last century. It was full of small shops and was inhabited by working-class people who could afford the area’s low house prices. Internal migrants thus also moved in, men and women come from the countryside to work there in Milan’s industries. In time, Sarpi street became the commercial heart of the neighborhood. Along this street, multistory buildings with courtyards were built. Their ground floors were occupied by shops and artisan workshops, while the upper floors were used for residential purposes. It was a place rich in shops, where living was cheap and where an increasing number of internal migrants were coming from other parts of northern and central Italy. Soon enough, Chinese entrepreneurs abandoned the unprofitable trade of necklaces and bracelets 2

A first attempt to reconstruct the origins of Chinese immigration to Europe from Zhejiang, comparing Chinese and European sources is located in Thunø 1996. See also Pieke and Benton 1998.

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2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial …

ETHNIC ENCLAVE «An ethnic enclave is traditionally referred to as a spatially confined area where there is a concentration of an ethnic minority group. There is also a distinct presence of ethnic businesses run by or catered for that particular ethnic group.» Chiu Luk and Mai Phan (2005, p. 17). «[C]ontaining concentrations of residents who share a distinctive status that is important to their identity and specialized stores and institutions that provide local support for the residents’ distinctive lifestyle. A strong tie is ordinarily formed between that lifestyle and the geographic space the residents occupy, leading to place attachment and the ability of the place to serve as a calling card, symbolizing the social identities of the residents of the enclave.» Mark Abrahamson (2006, p. 13).

Clustering of one or many ethnic groups Economic, commercial and social activity tied to the ethnicity Geographically bounded Place attachment and shared social identities

Plate 2.1 Ethnic enclave

(cheap ornaments imported mainly from France and Czechoslovakia) to start the in-house production and street selling of silk ties. Many of these immigrants were industrial workers, and their educational levels were also pretty low… so abroad they did the usual kind of jobs for migrants… just the typical ones. For example, street vendors… surely the Milanese remember the ties sellers along the sidewalks... they also sold cheap jewellery and gift items. Among other things there are curious pictures of these characters that you can compare with, for instance, old photos of Italian immigrants. There is an equally significant photo of a Venetian man who emigrated to London and who was a grinder, and he was shown doing his job in the middle of the road at a kiosk where he would sharpen blades… this was around 1924–25. Meanwhile in Italy the immigrants were Chinese vendors of ties… All in all, emigration is still the same, it doesn’t matter if you look from one side or the other (J.L.).

With this first settlement into the economic fabric began the gradual development of the Chinese socioeconomic enclave (Abrahamson 2006) in Milan (a summary of the ethnic enclave theory is provided in Plates 2.1 and 2.2). The same economic development occurred which during World War II would have colonized other niche economies, such as the production of leather goods and bags made by leather, canvas, and straw.3 After World War II, the area started to be redeveloped for the middle and upper classes. While the local buildings kept their dual, commercial-residential nature, they experienced considerable refurbishment work. For almost thirty years, the influx from China was small: reduced to a few hundred people from the area of Wenzhou who were able to pass through the border with Hong Kong and then flee to Europe. In the eighties, China opened up to the world and the resumption of the massive influx significantly changed the composition of nuclei in some of the historical Chinese populations in Italy, including in Milan and FlorencePrato. After thirty years of isolation (from 1949 to 1979), the policy of reform and 3

For an accurate historical reconstruction of the socioeconomic integration of Chinese immigrants in Milan see Cologna (1997, 2002a and 2002b).

2.1 The Chinese in Milan

21

Enclosure_Elective Span_Temporary Basis_Ethnicity Form_Fluid Determinant_In Group Affinity Boundary_Porous Location_Occupational Site

Function_Assimilation Ethnic Make Up_heterogenous

Scope_Partial

Metaphor_Bridge

Plate 2.2 Ethnic Enclave diagram

openness promoted by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s gave a powerful impetus back to the Chinese economy. And the country gradually reopened to foreign contacts. There was an expansion of many businesses, which is mainly connected with the economic development of China and also with some subjective characteristics… Chinese culture... coming from Zhejiang… whose people are highly motivated to do business, to make money... as in Italy one could say “as a business from Brianza4 who is so good at making money”… this is a kind of Chinese cultural equivalent. (J.L.)

The traditional Chinese family, especially in southern China, has often been compared to a corporate entity,5 in which individual resources are channeled collectively to ensure the prosperity and development to the entire clan. It is not a coincidence that the resumption of the migration flow during the 1980s coincided with the phase of major expansion of the three traditional areas of economic integration of the Chinese in Italy: in-house production or selling of leather goods; production of bags and other clothing items for Italian business; and catering. In the mid-eighties in Milan there were only five hundred Chinese residents, most of which had already reached an advanced stage in their migration process. For these people being able to rely on the work of their own relatives who arrived from China allowed them to solve the immediate problem of obtaining cheap labor, while at the same time enriching the family of a “new breed” to be exploited. In fact, each new arrival was considered an additional potential resource for the expansion of productive activities of the Chinese family clan. In any case, the migration was a privileged option, reserved for members of family clans who possessed relatives abroad and are able to shoulder the high costs of this venture. That explains why the emigration from Zhejiang has 4

Brianza is a famous area in the north of Milan, in which people have a making money attitude in the way they conduct business. 5 See Johnson that describes the Chinese family as “a corporate entity in which its members cooperate to meet (economic) goals” (1993: 103).

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2 Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial …

never become a widespread exodus: Here it is not desirable to call over “economic refugees” in the strict sense, but people who act on the behalf of family affairs, a collective strategy of social and economic expansion. During the 1990s, the opening of economic activities was liberalized, which led to the gradual substitution of small neighborhood shops by Chinese wholesale and retail establishments. The initial Chinese pool of migrants from southern Zhejiang were supplemented by two new migratory flows: the one from the Sanming area—in the Fujian Province—and the other one originating in northern China, in particular from the largest industrial city of Shenyang (formerly known as Mukden, the ancient capital of Manchuria) in the Liaoning Province. Both of these new flows are linked to the development of smuggling organizations created and managed by the Zhejiang Chinese. The Chinese from Fujian in Milan are a small minority, but they are increasing, and in other areas of Italy (particularly in Tuscany), they constitute a huge community. Clandestine emigration of the northern Chinese provinces now allows even people from other areas of northern China to arrive in Europe and Italy. Within those who arrive are many women, often employed as nannies for well-to-do Italian families in Milan, who also interestingly teach the children of the migrants from southern Chinese provinces to speak “correct” Chinese, the Putonghua, or the official language of the PRC. Thus, the opening of a clandestine “corridor” is providing new opportunities to the Chinese women who are undocumented immigrants. Women from poor areas of northern China are also used in illegal activities such as street prostitution. The management of this turnover, according to testimony collected from Chinese immigrants, is developed predominantly by Chinese gangs in the Northeast, acting with the complicity of other Chinese immigrants and Italian citizens (Cologna 1998).

2.1.2 The Demographic Dimension Most of today’s Chinese population in the city of Milan has been a presence for several generations: two, in most cases, three or even four in the case of the minority of the Lao Huaqiao, the “old Chinese citizens abroad” who settled in Italy in the period of 1920–1980. The main factors of dispersion into city territory were the expansion of the ethnic restaurant business together with the manufacturing of bags and clothes for other factories. Today the Sarpi neighborhood is virtually closed to new arrivals: The buildings are sold or rented at incredibly high prices, and there is no space for any other kind of entrepreneurship that at one time had characterized the first integration of immigrants Chinese. “Chinatown is now the neighborhood showcase of those who ‘made it’”: It is the ideal place to open businesses and innovative, “ethnically dedicated,” venues such as bars, taverns, and night clubs), and services activities (the headquarters of Chinese associations) (Cologna 2002b). Of all the immigrant populations in Milan, the Chinese one is demographically the most balanced with respect to the male and female ratio. There are mostly young couples (25–44 years),

2.1 The Chinese in Milan

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Table 2.1 Residency permit holders as of December 31, 2010, in Milan for the first ten nationalities Philippines

Total of residents

Percentage

33,745

15.5

Egypt

28,643

13.2

China

18,946

8.7

Peru

17,672

8.1

Ecuador

13,542

6.2

Sri Lanka Ceylon

13,340

6.1

Romania

12,154

5.6

Morocco

7,618

3.5

Ukraine

5,728

2.6

Albania

5,283

2.4

Source author’s elaboration on data provided by the statistical department of Comune di Milano

Table 2.2 Five most numerous foreign ethnic groups in Milan and Sarpi area (December 2011). Percentage values Philippines

Egypt

China

Peru

Sri Lanka

Sarpi

12

3

35

5

5

Milano

18

11

11

9

6

Source the author (based on Comune di Milano general census data)

which gradually expand their households giving birth to children—rarely less than two per family—and through family reunions. Through China maintaining a strong demand for migration, and the continuity of relatively favorable conditions for inclusion in Italy, this complex intersection of family reunification, illegal immigration, and new births quickly generates high growth rates. In the short span of ten years, 2000 to 2010, the Chinese immigrant population has more than doubled in Milan.6 It is a growth that does not yet know limits and is looking forward to an increase of 30%. At the end of 2010, the municipal registers record 18,946 Chinese citizens in Milan (Table 2.1), but the actual presence in the area is estimated in the realm of 23,000 to 25,000 people7 . However, the data in Table 2.2 show that although the Sarpi area has the highest concentration of Chinese residents in Milan, this accounts for only 6% of the neighborhood’s population (view also Plate 2.3). The data thus show how the Chinese presence in the area is almost exclusively linked to commerce, and how there is little territorial segregation of migrants in the city (Motta 2005; Musterd 2005). 6

Approximation based on data of the Registry Office of Milan City: from 8,656 residents in 2000 the Chinese population has grown to 18,946 in 2010. 7 The Ministero dell’Interno (Ministry of Internal Affairs) indicates the 30% as the average estimate of the percentage of undocumented immigrants in Italy, see Ministero dell’Interno (2007).

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DEMOGRAPHY Evolution of residents by nationality in Paolo Sarpi neighborhood 2011

Chinese Italians others

Source: Census data ISTAT

These data underline the almost exclusively commercial vocation of the Chinese immigrants in Sarpi, beyond a more general low territorial segregation of immigrants in the city Plate 2.3 Demography

2.1.3 The Socioeconomic Standing During the 1980s, the first Chinese migrants that were able to create their own businesses in empty economic spaces were also able to successfully establish a migration career. In effect, the emigration of those early pioneers is configured through competitive personalities and family-based strategies. The ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in Milan in those years had seen its finest hour: The restoration and the production for Italian factories were ideal spaces of economic expansion. At the same time, the circuitry of trust loans—the interest-free loans from relatives and friends—which was the basis of strategies in promoting economic and social development of Chinese immigrant families, allowed a large proportion of immigrants to start their own businesses within a few years. Locked in kitchens and workshops, immigrants who arrived in Milan in the 90s had little chance to learn anything about the language, customs, and norms of the host society; they were also no longer able to build support networks aimed at opening up a path toward economic independence. Even managing a small family business of bags and clothes was configured no more as truly “self-employment” in the eyes of the Chinese because of the total dependence on Italian clients. This exclusion places the immigrant culture in conditions of extreme social weakness even with respect to its access to the owner market because of prohibitive prices of buildings in Milan. Giving an example of the complex Chinese socioeconomic enclave in Milan (Fig. 2.2) at the end of the 1990s, Cologna describes the placement of Chinese migrants in the different segments of the labor market: the primary one: secure and steady work (regular employment, with upward mobility prospects, and social benefits); the secondary segment: atypical and precarious work (flexible, unstable,

2.1 The Chinese in Milan

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Fig. 2.2 Placement of Chinese migrants in the different segments of the labor market at the end of 1990s. Source Cologna (2002b: 35). Permission to reproduce kindly given by the author

not necessarily with benefits); and the illegal and undocumented sector (jobs under the table), (2002b: 35). The degree of economic autonomy and the level of linguistic competence are the key variables of sociocultural integration of immigrants (Fig. 2.3). The first defines the material conditions of development of the migration project, while the second depends substantially on the ability to understand the characteristics which structure the host society. By using these two variables dynamically, Cologna divides the Chinese socioeconomic enclave of Milan into four distinct groups: the integrated (high linguistic competence/high economic autonomy), the ethnic entrepreneurs (low linguistic competence/high economic autonomy), the minors/youth educated in Italy (high linguistic competence/low economic autonomy), and the unskilled Chinese workers (both low linguistic competence and economic autonomy) (2003: 56–57). Those who entered Italy as minors or unskilled workers could, over time, move from one part of the diagram to another, e.g., from educated minor to integrated, from unskilled worker to entrepreneur, from entrepreneur to integrated, and so on. The basic assumption was that the path from minor to integrated was potentially the quickest and smoothest, provided that there were adequate linguistic-cultural supports in the insertion schools8 . However, regressive dynamics are also possible, 8

After the Berlusconi government of the early 2000s, educational supports for migrant children were drastically reduced: abolition of the national fund for integration policies, elimination of seconded teachers for learning facilitation, etc.

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+ Minors, youth educated in Italy

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE Integrated

ECONOMIC AUTONOMY

-

+ Unskilled workers

Ethnic entrepreneurs

Fig. 2.3 Different modes of Chinese social integration in Milan. Source Cologna (2003: 56–57). Permission to reproduce kindly given by the author

for example from school integration to vulnerability, from ethnic entrepreneur status to vulnerability, etc. Only from “integrated” status generally, there is no regression: Language competence and economic autonomy perhaps lead to other kinds of drifts, but not to overt social vulnerability. Nowadays, the pool of Chinese immigrants in Milan has become a complex and socially stratified population, with segments who have very different levels of sociocultural integration and economic autonomy. Faced with a younger generation of entrepreneurs who are well integrated into local production and very competent in terms of language and Italian institutional culture, older generations of Chinese entrepreneurs who do not speak good Italian have to still deal with a prevalent cultural isolation.

2.2 (Via) Paolo Sarpi Street: The Milan Chinatown Geographically, the Sarpi neighborhood or simply the via9 Sarpi street area—its main street—is located semi-centrally, northwest of Sempione Park. Its boundaries are created by the following streets: Canonica, Montello, Ceresio, and Procaccini (Fig. 2.4). Accordingly to Novak (2002), the proximity of the Sempione Park to the historical center of Milan and the fair zone as well as postwar reconstruction were the main 9

Via means “street” in Italian language.

2.2 (Via) Paolo Sarpi Street: The Milan Chinatown

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Fig. 2.4 Part a and b, The Paolo Sarpi neighborhood geographic location in Milan inner city

causes that led to the neighborhood’s first wave of embryonic gentrification during the late 1970s early 1980s, where both lower and middle classes coexisted. An interesting comparison could be traced with the exact similar process that only a few years before happened in New York City. In fact, at the time of the first gentrification wave, the neighborhood’s population was composed of working-class people and immigrant (Chinese) entrepreneurs together with pioneering yuppies and financial mangers that would become the protagonists of Milan’s stock market boom during the fabulous 1980s. The area was both residential and productive. In this phase, the Chinese people used to live in the “backstage” of the neighborhood, in some secondary streets like Via Rosmini, Via Giordano Bruno, Via Giusti, and Via Aleardi, which were minor transit points and housing includes laboratories in courtyards and basements. In addition,

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markets, bag shops, and restaurants abounded with the developing of Chinese import– export. Indeed, the new law on trade10 simplified the procedure to start new business activities and this, together with a more general crisis of small proximity shops, led to the growth and diversification of Chinese trade activities in Milan. The transformation of the Sarpi neighborhood from a residential and craftsmen’s area into an ethnic area, which is characterized by a socially and economically complex structure, is still an ongoing process, which often leads to internal conflicts due to social status diversity and different social needs. Traditionally, the Sarpi neighborhood was predominantly an area of service for Chinese in Milan; a place for socialization and as well as a place of “symbolic domiciliation” of the traditional Chinese identity in the regional context. In the past, Bramante Street had never attracted many companies to open businesses because of its unfortunate characteristics of poor passage and visibility, being so pressed between the tram tracks and a narrow two-way street with small sidewalks. Yet the first Chinese wholesalers decided to invest in the 1990s there and in other internal streets in the same neighborhood. Because of the intrinsic characteristics of wholesale trade, these businessmen were more interested in obtaining a strategic position near the expansive and important Paolo Sarpi Street—the hub for retail and service business for the Chinese community in Milan—in a location with lower commercial value rather than having beautiful window exposure, as is the case on larger avenues. This brief background highlights on one hand the extreme “determination” of the Chinese business system, and on the other, it points out how the commercial frame of this urban space would be heavily transformed. In Milan Chinatown, commercial activities are concentrated in a gradual manner. Moving from Porta Volta toward Paolo Sarpi Street, we find small businesses owned in equal measure by Italians and Chinese. However, as we go deeper into the heart of the neighborhood, Chinese shops become predominant. Along Sarpi street, there are food service businesses and clothing shops of medium–high quality, as well as national retail enterprises. The secondary roads accommodate grocery shops and minimarkets, while the smaller, inner streets are where the wholesalers are located. The area’s built environment consists of a tight network of narrow streets, which are crisscrossed by tramways and bus lanes. There are also many shops, which require adequate space for vehicular traffic, especially the wholesalers with their considerable (un)loading activities. These elements have historically created significant traffic congestion both in the Sarpi neighborhood and nearby areas. Particularly, those stores located along Sarpi street represent a mosaic of different levels of consumption and different types of consumers, who share a single space frequented by cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. These different levels are regulated by elements that filter and separate the various local flows with a medium-strong

10

The legislative decree 114/1998 “Reforming the law on trade” and the next legislative decree 223/ 2006 “Urgent provisions for economic and social revival, to contain and rationalize public spending, and expenditures in contrast of tax evasion” reformed legislation on trade and free-competition in the Italian law.

2.2 (Via) Paolo Sarpi Street: The Milan Chinatown

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intensity, creating the slow time of the urban stroll. In contrast, the wholesale activities create considerably more congestion for both pedestrians and cars, as they are concentrated in the same small space (only about half of the pedestrianized area) in terms of both transit and (un)loading operations. The roads that branch off the main pedestrianized axis usually have smaller spaces for residents to traverse the block. Various architectural barriers have been placed to slow down and disincentivize vehicular traffic. One should note, however, that these objects are more often found on the secondary roads, which are very narrow and are mostly used by the wholesalers. Commercial activities and their customers have a significant impact on traffic flows. The attempts to mitigate (especially limit) the (un)loading operations of local businesses have made Sarpi street and its secondary roads a confused mix of people and open spaces that cannot cope with the various actors that use them. The area’s morphology consists of a tight-knit and somewhat cramped web of secondary roads and internal courtyards. Though many of the buildings along the primary roads have been redeveloped and now showcase their architectural beauty, the courtyards offer a patchier picture (Figs. 2.5 and 2.6). Some include well-kept residential spaces, while others are little more than storage places. Some of the buildings along the neighborhood’s main streets have been renovated, and the libertystyle facades signal the area’s morphological and historical quality. This is only one part of the process, however. If one enters the courtyards, the aesthetic and structural decay of the buildings in question becomes apparent. The upper floors of these buildings contain residential apartments, while the lower ones host functional spaces used for commerce and storage, as well as the janitor’s quarters. The area’s blocks consist of closed compartments of varying quality. The buildings inhabited mostly by Italians are on average better kept both on the outside and the inside. The marginal buildings, which are not located on Sarpi, look run down and still have bathrooms outside the apartments, as in the past century. In these buildings, some floors have even been abandoned due to the decline of the artisan workshops, which have been converted into warehouses by the wholesale businesses. The buildings’ courtyards are mostly used for two purposes: storing commercial goods or parking the private vehicles of the building’s residents, with some space left for communal use (Figs. 2.7 and 2.8). The growing “Chinese invasion” of the neighborhood; the fragile equilibrium found in the local spaces, which are packed with goods, people and vehicles; the deregulation of the spaces dedicated to trading activities; and the changing face of commerce are all factors that have contributed to making the Sarpi area a contested locale. As a result, the demands of the Chinese and Italian residents are easily exploited during local electoral campaigns. The neighborhood is becoming more polarized as a result of the marked distinction between the higher floors inhabited by Italians and the lower ones where the Chinese do their trade. The latter’s wholesale activities thus become a symbol of illegality and danger in the media. Furthermore, the actions of the police have only increased intolerance, stereotypes, and general suspicion toward the Chinese population. This situation became more acute in 2005, when the Italian residents’ association Vivisarpi asked for the removal of the wholesale activities. At the time, the center-right political parties, especially

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Fig. 2.5 Renewed residential building façade in Paolo Sarpi street

Fig. 2.6 Building detail from a side street internal courtyard

the Lega Nord, supported this demand and called for the authorities to intervene, thus highlighting their radical anti-immigration policies. The local government responded by physically obstructing the wholesalers through the use of bollards and by reducing the width of the roads, setting time limits for the (un)loading of goods, and creating pay and display parking zones and residents-only parking spaces. The authorities started fining also “human-powered” vehicles, which are fundamental both for the wholesalers (especially if they cannot (un)load large quantities of goods) and their

2.2 (Via) Paolo Sarpi Street: The Milan Chinatown

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Fig. 2.7 Morphological model of commercial activities in Paolo Sarpi street (Part a and part b). Credits Anita De Franco

Fig. 2.8 Building section details in Paolo Sarpi street. Credits Anita De Franco

clients (particularly peddlers). Even bicycles with racks on them were fined, on account that they could obstruct other vehicles. The local government, therefore, chose to carry out specific actions linked to precise demands, listening only to that part of the local population that has the biggest political influence. The then-mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, decided to focus on the respect of traffic laws, which were used as a petty tool to oppress one section of the population. The authorities did not apply general rules that were already inscribed in law, nor did they plan actions that considered the wider context. They chose to privilege a pretextual vision that favored the interests of the Italian residents, who have partial interests. The local government thus decided not to mediate but to side with private interests, presenting them as a public order issue. As a result, the Chinese traders saw themselves as being persecuted and their businesses as being unfairly obstructed. The discrimination inherent in this situation was apparent. On multiple occasions, the Chinese denounced the fact that they were treated differently by the authorities, receiving far more fines compared to the Italian shop owners. In April 2007, about 200 Chinese took to the streets to protest against the local government’s actions, clashing violently with the police and damaging property. This was a delicate moment for the city, which was fragmented by radically different positions and opinions. In addition to the local and national media, the consul of the People’s Republic of China also intervened, bringing into the fray the international

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news media and Chinese community associations. The local government’s response was to increase the obstruction of the Chinese businesses, eventually creating a restricted traffic zone to try to make the different activities coexist. Starting in November 2008, vehicular traffic in the area was restricted. Initially, this was done only during certain hours of the day. Eventually, though, the road was modified to create a pedestrianized area, which is monitored by a security system with CCTV, allegedly to check vehicles’ registration plates. Soon enough, the real reasons behind these changes came to the surface. Matteo Salvini, who at the time was the president of the local government’s Security Commission and the spokesperson for the Lega Nord party on the city Council, declared that the pedestrianization (Fig. 2.9) had been decided to impede the circulation of those vehicles that are essential to the wholesalers’ operations (e.g., trucks and vans). The goal was to allow the local (Italian) retailers to “fight back.” Other members of the commission and the council confirmed this position through their propaganda and the use of statistics. These politicians praised the actions of the police, noting how the numerous fines had led to a drastic reduction in the number of vehicles present in the Sarpi area. As discussed in this book’s introduction, contemporary urban policy agendas strive to stimulate growth and equity by focusing largely on diversity (Fainstein 2005). They propose a harmonious presence of ethnic and others to attract human capital, encourage innovation, and ensure fairness and equal access for a variety of groups. They deliberately market cities as landscapes for cultural consumption (Zukin 1991, 1998) by promoting multiethnic neighborhoods as spaces of entertainment and spectacles that produce (and rebrand) ethnic identities. More importantly, as the neoliberal entrepreneurial city agenda relies on the uncontroversial and

Fig. 2.9 Pedestrianized Paolo Sarpi street in 2013

References

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unproblematic aspects of ethnic diversity, the disadvantaged position of many ethnic groups is disregarded. In the following sections, we will see how Milan’s Chinatown, along with its symbols, goods, and practices, has been transformed by gentrification into a marketable representation of cultural difference. We will also see how this community became a site of resistance and the struggle for social justice.

References Abrahamson M (2006) Urban enclaves: identity and place in the world. Worth Publishers, New York Anderson KJ (1987) The idea of Chinatown. The power of place and institutional practice in the making of racial category. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77(4):580–98 Barth G (1964) Bitter strength: A history of the Chinese in the United States, 1850–70. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass Bourdieu P (1991) Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Ceccagno A (1997) Il caso delle comunità cinesi. Comunicazione interculturale ed istituzioni. Armando, Roma Cho G, Leigh R (1972) Patterns of residence of the Chinese in Vancouver. In: Peoples of the living land, Geographical Series, No. 15, Tantalus, Vancouver Cologna (2002a) (eds) La Cina sotto casa. Convivenza e conflitti tra cinesi e italiani in due quartieri di Milano. Franco Angeli, Milano Cologna D (1997) Un’economia etnica di successo. In: Farina P, Cologna D, Lanzani A, Breveglieri L (eds) Cina a Milano. Famiglie, ambienti e lavori della popolazione cinese a Milano. Abitare Segesta, Milano Cologna (1998) The role of social and community norms in the insertion processes and social deviance of Chinese immigrants in Italy. In: Reyneri E (eds) MIGRINF: second Italian report: Migrant insertion in the informal economy, deviant behaviour and the impact on receiving societies. CE—DGXII—TSER, Bruxelles Cologna (2002b) Bambini e famiglie cinesi a Milano. Comune di Milano, Milano Cologna (2003) (eds) Asia a Milano. Famiglie, ambienti e lavori delle popolazioni asiatiche a Milano. Abitare Segesta, Milano Cybriwsky R (1986) The community response to downtown redevelopment: the case of Philadelphia’s Chinatown. Working paper presented at the Association of American Geographers annual conference, Minneapolis Fainstein SS (2005) Cities and diversity: should we want it? Can we plan for it? Urb Aff Rev 41(1):3–19 Goffman E (1963) Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. Simon and Schuster, New York Gotham K (2001) Critical perspectives on urban redevelopment. Elsevier, New York Horst H (2003) Multicultural theming in the Netherlands: pacifying, essentializing and revanchist effects. In: Ingram S, Reisenleitner M (eds) Placing history: themed environments, urban consumption and the public entertainment. Turia and Kant, Wien, pp. 1–24 Johnson G (1993) Family strategies and economic transformation in rural china: some evidence from the pearl river delta. In: Davis D, Harrell S (eds) Chinese families in the post-Mao era. University of California Press, Berkeley Lai D (1973) Socio-economic structures and the viability of Chinatown. In: Residential and neighbourhood studies. Western Geographical Series, No. 5, University of Victoria, Victoria Lin J (1998) Reconstructing Chinatown: ethnic enclave, global change. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis Lyman S (1974) Chinese Americans. Random House, New York

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Manzo LKC (2022) Defaming narratives: poverty, territorial stigma and residents pride of place in inner City Dublin. International sociological association RC21 conference athens—August 26, 2022 Ministero dell’Interno (2007) Rapporto sulla criminalità in Italia, Roma Molotch HL (1976) The city as a growth machine: toward a political economy of place. Am J Sociol 82(2):309–332 Motta P (2005) Il modello insediativo degli immigrati stranieri a Milano. ACME—Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università degli Studi di Milano, LVIII(I):303–334 Musterd S (2005) Social and ethnic segregation in Europe: levels, causes, and effects. J Urban Aff 27(3):331–348. Novak C (2002) Il quartiere cinese di Canonica Sarpi in bilico fra radicamento e conflitto. In: Cologna D (ed) La Cina sotto casa. Convivenza e conflitti tra cinesi e italiani in due quartieri di Milano. Franco Angeli, Milano, pp 19–26 Palmer (1982) Patterns of prejudice: a history of nativism in Alberta. McLelland and Stewart, Toronto Pieke FN, Benton G (1998) The Chinese in Europe. Macmillan, London Price C (1974) The great white walls are built. Routledge, London and New York Quinn B (2010) Arts festivals, urban tourism and cultural policy. J Policy Res Tourism, Leisure Events 2(3):264–279 Roy P (1980) British Columbia’s Fear of Asians, 1900–1950. Soc Hist 13(25):161–172 Salter C (1978) San Francisco’s Chinatown: how Chinese a town?, R. & E. Research Associates, San Francisco Santos CA, Belhassen Y, Caton K (2008) Reimagining Chinatown: an analysis of tourism discourse. Tour Manage 29(5):1002–1012 Slater T (2021) Shaking up the City. In: Shaking Up the City: ignorance, inequality, and the urban question. University of California Press, Oakland, California Thunø M (1996) Chinese emigration to Europe: combining European and Chinese sources. Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales 12 Wacquant LJD (2007) Territorial stigmatization in the age of advanced marginality. Thesis Eleven 91(1):66–77 Wacquant LJD (2008a) Relocating gentrification: the working class, science and the state in recent urban research. Int J Urban Reg Res 32(1):198–205 Wacquant LJD (2008b) Urban outcasts: a comparative sociology of advanced marginality. Polity, Cambridge Wacquant LJD (2010) Urban desolation and symbolic denigration in the hyperghetto. Soc Psychol Q 73(3):215–219 Ward P (1978) White Canada forever: popular attitudes and public policy toward Orientals in British Columbia. McGill-Queens’s University Press, Montreal Zukin S (1991) Landscapes of power: from Detroit to Disney world. University of California Press, Berkeley Zukin S (1998) Urban lifestyles: diversity and standardisation in spaces of consumption. Urb Stud 35(5–6):825–839

Chapter 3

Hybridity and Chineseness in the Global City

Chinatown, therefore, is not a homogeneous amalgamate but a fragmented and continually changing network of socio-cultural and political constructions and particularities. —Santos and Yan (2008: 892).

Abstract The Milan Chinatown can be defined as one large and condensed cultural space of encounter in which geographic borders and social boundaries are blurred and where processes of hybridization are rife inevitably because groups of different social class, ethnic and otherwise, cannot help but enter into relations with each other, no matter how great the desire for separateness and the attempt to maintain cultural purity (Ang in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living between Asia and the West, Routledge, London and New York, 2001). To gain a thorough understanding of the cultural and social dynamics involved in the interplay between urban diversity and gentrification, this chapter provides a conceptual and theoretical analysis of urban hybridization processes with particular reference to Chinese diasporic identities and Chineseness in global cities. It also draws on ethnography as a way of deepening our understanding of Milan Chinatown young people’s subculture of “Asian betweeners.” Keywords Hybridity · Urban diversity · Chineseness · Chinatown · Diaspora · Subculture · Identity

In this book, Chineseness has been approached as “processual” rather than fixed (Vasantkumar 2012) to advance the argument that, in the gentrification process of Milan’s Chinatown, “Chinese culture” is socially constructed. According to Ang, “it is precisely due to its fluid and constructed nature that Chineseness is open to contestation” (2022: 22). Moreover, this chapter provides an overview of the concept of Chineseness without actually defining it. As Ang states in her recent work, Chineseness is a “big question” (2022: 19) that this book does not seek to address specifically. The reason for this is that how Chineseness is simultaneously embedded in “ethnic, territorial, linguistic, and ethical-religious terms” (Tu 1991: 3) is a matter of politics. The book is concerned with how Chineseness is constructed in the context of the commodification of diversity during a process of urban change. In other words, what © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_3

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is constructed and disseminated (Foucault 1972) is the context in which Chineseness is mobilized and contested as a cultural discourse, as well as how this notion relates to other discourses and becomes “systematized and institutionalized” (Chun 1996: 115) by a range of different actors (long-term Italian residents, ethnic entrepreneurs, city planners, and local policymakers) in the gentrification of Milan’s Chinatown.

3.1 The Urbanity of Milan Chinatown “Chinatown,” as a name, place, symbol, design element, or combination of the four, occupies a central place in the urban imagination. In Milan, the Chinese neighborhood of Paolo Sarpi is a web of streets throughout which the international flow of Chinese goods intersected with the daily activities of families, young people, and the elderly as Fig. 3.1 clearly symbolizes. Milan Chinatown constitutes a privileged ethnographic observatory for “living” and drawing social, cultural, and policy inferences in an urban setting. By exploring experiences of some young Chinese cosmopolitans, this chapter seeks as much to describe the “process of cultural othering that have intensified with transnationality” (Ong 1999: 24) as to understand the phenomenon itself. Indeed, this neighborhood is a Creole metamorphosis area: The hybrid diversity emerges both in consumption culture and in the creative lifestyle.

Fig. 3.1 Urbanity of Milan Chinatown

3.2 Conceptualizing the Chinese Diaspora

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The urbanity of this place is appreciable from different points of view: from a window on trade, from the different systems of mobility, and from the buildings that delimit public spaces. The semiotic system of a multiethnic neighborhood allows an observer to reflect on the relationship between public space and private space, as well as on the ability of contemporary cities to attract creative populations by cultural networking. This chapter also reflects on the outcome of an exploratory study on a subculture of young Asians who live and use the space of the Milan Chinatown. It shows that they bear multiple and hybrid identities which cross-transnational borders. Through ethnographic research, I explore this ethnic subculture to understand the peculiarities of what I call the “Asian Betweeners” identity. Once again, the city shows the possibility to discover unexpected cultural synthesis, a case of serendipity, the possibility to discover something by chance, as Hannerz points out (1980), while you are looking for something else, typical of urban life, and it explains how the city has always been a great center of cultural innovations.

3.2 Conceptualizing the Chinese Diaspora The recent debates over the concept of diaspora, as well as over its contentiousness, highlight many issues. As Clifford (1994) emphasizes, “taken as a whole, these debates have expanded the idea of diaspora from relatively narrow and particular experience into a field for the conceptualization of many intertwining processes” (p. 316). Over the past decade, a revival of the concept of diaspora and the formulation of new concepts such as transnationalism, globalization, and deterritorialized nation-state have suggested alternative perspectives on diaspora peoples, which avoid “looking at them just as streams” of people merely feeding into or flowing along the margins of national and civilization histories. The diasporic perspective would complement and expand upon nation-based perspectives by drawing attention to global connections, networks, activities, and consciousness that bridge these more localized anchors of reference (Hong-Liu 2006). McKeown (1999) observed that the emergence of ethnic Chinese is a topic best approached from national rather than a diasporic perspective. It is an area in which the identity and meaning of being Chinese are strongly shaped by local social relations, where Chineseness becomes a heritage, a political status, or merely a color of the skin. Yet, the important marker of difference tended to focus on cultural practice rather than on racial elements. In other words, a modern ethnic Chinese may consider himself/herself as part of the mainstream national culture where he/she lives in terms of clothes, language, and habits, and yet he/she may be considered as a minority. On the contrary, Creoles may be physically indistinguishable, while they distinguish themselves by cultural markers. Moreover, an understanding of both Chinese migration and ethnicity needs to incorporate a historical perspective different from the one shaped by nation-states. Indeed,

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3 Hybridity and Chineseness in the Global City we need to direct attention to the roles played by transnational institutions, flows and connections, as well as to the way that local transformations are embedded in larger, global processes … Transnational labor movement and diasporic nationalism are topics that have already received scholarly attention, but global perspectives on migrant networks, ethnic identity, and cultural flows can still provide many new insights, and further dissuade us from taking locally or culturally bounded depictions of social groups as historically absolute (McKeown 1999: 337).

As Ong (1999) states, for over a century, Overseas Chinese “have been the forerunners of today’s multiply displaced subjects, who are always on the move both mentally and physically” (p. 24). In light of the above, this perspective shows that migration and diasporic identities are not characteristic qualities that define a group; on the contrary, they are strongly linked to particular social perspectives at particular times, such as global trade networks, the views within particular nation-states, the modern international system as a whole, and different socioeconomic classes (Hong-Liu 2006). According to McKeown (1999), if we accept postmodernist visions of diaspora as a site of multiplicity and diversity, then ethnic Chinese could be conceived as a diaspora, and the label “Chinese” signifies something slightly different in each local context. No ethnic group emerges in complete isolation, in that contemporary ethnicity is very much a product of modern global politics. The bonds that hold together Chinese networks as well as the imagined communities of nationalism and ethnicity have some common aspects that could be described as “cultural.” However, as McKeown (1999) stresses, there are some fundamental aspects in the construction of a self-conscious global Chineseness that are not necessarily linked to China. This is the case of the increasingly “mobile Chinese,” who travel around the world, meeting other Chinese with whom they had no prior connections through networks or national citizenship. Shared forms of inscribed behavior can indeed facilitate the construction of networks in a practical sense. People previously unfamiliar with each other find out that they speak a similar language, eat similar food, have ancestors from nearby villages, and can read each other’s body language (Lever Tracy and Ip 1996). These similarities help them understand what to expect from each other and provide a basis for trust for one another, thus laying the groundwork for business deals, social encounters, and extended relationships in which differences of personal experience can be overcome, and an even richer texture of common practices and attitudes can be produced (McKeown 1999). The debate over the conceptualization of Chinese diasporas focuses on the roles played by transnational institutions, flows and connections, as well as to the way that local transformations are embedded in larger, global processes (Ibid.). These global perspectives on migrant networks, ethnic identity, and cultural flows can still provide new insights and further dissuade us from taking locally or culturally bounded depictions of social groups as historically absolute (Ibid.).

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3.3 Questioning Global Chineseness in the Era of Globalization Armenian-American scholar Khachig Tololyan (1991) claimed that “diasporas are the exemplary communities of the transnational moment” (p. 3), so what can diasporas say about the social and cultural processes of globalization that we are experiencing today? (Ang 2001). Globalization, as Tololyan (1991) writes is pre-eminently characterized by the increasing interconnectedness of disparate parts of the world through the intensification of transnational networks, relationships and flows. In this sense, the growing visibility of diasporas - formations of people bound together, at least nominally, by a common ethnic identity despite their physical dispersal across the globe makes them without doubt one of the key instances and symptoms of today’s globalizing world. As such, they are also suitable sites for a reflection on the ramifications of globalization for social relations in contemporary societies, societies which we still tend to define predominantly in national terms, even though the eroding effects of globalization itself are felt by all national societies as their borders are transgressed and worn down by ever-increasing transnational social and cultural traffic (p. 3).

Tololyan argues that the term diaspora once described the historical dispersion of Jewish, Greek, and Armenian peoples, while today this term tends to be used much more generically, referring to almost any group living outside of its country of origin, such as Italians outside Italy, Africans in the Caribbean, North America or Western Europe, Cubans in Miami and Madrid, or Chinese all over the world. Indeed, as Tololyan (1991) remarks: the significant transformation of the last few decades is the move towards re-naming as diasporas … communities of dispersion … which were known by other names until the late 1960s: as exile groups, overseas communities, ethnic and racial minorities, and so forth (p. 3).

As a consequence, Ang (2001) points out that the burgeoning language and consciousness of diaspora are both the manifestation and the effect of intensifying cultural globalization. [W]hile migrations of people have taken place for centuries and have been a major force in the creation of the modern world of nation-states since the nineteenth century, with the increased possibilities of keeping in touch with the old homeland and with co-ethnics in other parts of the world through faster and cheaper jet transport, mass media and electronic telecommunications, that migrant groups are collectively more inclined to see themselves not as minorities within nation-states, but as members of global diasporas which span national boundaries (p. 89).

While “Overseas Chinese” used to be the common English expression to describe the dispersed migrant Chinese communities around the world, for the past decade, Chinese have been collectively described as the “Chinese diaspora.”

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3.4 Urban Hybridization and Globalization In the age of globalization, neither nation-states or cities are no longer ethnically and culturally homogenous. On the contrary, many nation-states, especially those which represent nowadays the destination of mass migrations, are undergoing a process of what Kobena (2000: 234) defines as “multicultural normalization.” This is a massive process of social transformation whereby states are increasingly multicultural, with different, overlapping, and intertwined groups and identities of multiple loyalties and cross-border attachments, exchanges, and interactions. Ang (2001) emphasizes that the metropolitan space of the contemporary global city is more representative of this state of affairs than the nation-state as a whole, where non-metropolitan areas, such as rural Australia, are still characterized by real and imagined homogeneity and militantly commit to its protection. A crucial difference between nation-states and cities is that within the latter, spaces characterized by the constant circulation of various types of locals and non-locals, cannot police their territorial boundaries: There is no border patrol at the perimeter of the cities. At the same time, many metropolitan cities nowadays are becoming deeply internationally oriented, in that they are supported by the cross-border activities of their dynamic and heterogeneous populations in various fields such as trade, finance, media, and tourism. Therefore, they can be described as translocalities: spaces with a sense of place and identity which are “substantially divorced from their national contexts” (Appadurai 1996: 44). In this sense, the global city may be appropriately described as a transnational formation par excellence, in that its “membership,” both permanent and temporary, typically consists of individuals and groups of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, with ongoing connections all over the world. Yet, in contrast with global diasporas, defined by Tololyan as the exemplary communities of the transnational moment, the imagined community of the global city is principally unbounded and open in the sense that no one is a priori excluded from its space on the basis of predetermined kinship or criteria such as race and ethnicity (Ang 2001). As transnational formations, global cities and diasporas represent contrasting metaphors. Ang (2001) argues that, “while diasporas are constituted by ethnic unity in the face of spatial scattering, global cities are shaped by ethnic diversity through spatial convergence.” While what matters for a diaspora is the connection with a symbolic “elsewhere,” a long-distance, a virtual relationship with a global community of belonging, it is the firm orientation toward the “here,” the local, this place that grounds the global city. Similarly, while the transnationality of diasporic communities is one of “sameness in dispersal” across global space, the transnationality of global cities is characterized by intense simultaneity and coexistence, in other terms, by territorial “togetherness in difference.” The analysis of the literature on the Chinese diaspora has already shed light on the complexity of the contemporary concept of Chineseness. Contemporary anthropologists do not consider the Chinese as a racial category. Consequently, the borders of the Chinese physical traits are not really defined. To be Chinese nowadays is definitively

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a cultural element; hence, it is more appropriate to call them “Asian Betweeners,” rather than reducing the phenomenon only to young Chinese. However, the origins of the Chinese diaspora show that this social diasporic system is stratified and in constant evolution. Following the theoretical debate of British cultural studies,1 a good starting point to reflect about identity and ethnicity in a global environment is to move from what identity is to how identity is produced. Hall argues that “the diaspora experience is defined, not by essence or purity, but by the recognition of a necessary heterogeniety and diversity; by a conception of ‘identity’ which lives with and through, not despite, difference; by hybridity. diaspora identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference” (1990: 401–2). From this perspective, it is not important to understand who the young Chinese are, but how they recognize themselves, how they mark differences or express belonging. These are the reasons that ground the choice to call/ name/define this subculture as “The Asian Betweeners.” Perhaps it may be a risk and certainly it is a neologism, but it represents unequivocally the ethnographer’s perception of these youth, “in-the-middle” of the Chinese hybrid network of Milan Chinatown.

3.5 Chinese Cosmopolitanism: An Emergent Chinese Identity? In globalization studies, culture is prominent in the work of anthropologists and sociologists and in media and cultural studies in comparative literature. Some diagnoses have linked globalization with enduring or even increased cultural diversity (Appadurai 1990; Hannerz 1992). From this perspective, globalization theory examines the emergence of a global cultural system that acquires meaning within the social context in which it is embedded. It suggests that global culture is influenced by a variety of social and cultural developments such as the existence of a world-satellite information system, the emergence of global patterns of consumption and consumerism, the cultivation of cosmopolitan lifestyles, and the decline of sovereignty. Globalization has been described as “the concrete structuration of the world as a whole.” In other words, it is the growing awareness, at a global level, that “the world” is a continuously constructed environment.2 Globalization has encouraged several important changes in the contours of community. In opposition to some expectations, the rise of supra-territoriality has not led to the end of territorial solidarities that are centered on the nationality principle. In addition, globalization has promoted the development of various non-territorial affiliations, the growth of cosmopolitanism, and increasing hybridization (Scholte 2000). These reticules tend to find connection in other Chinese communities that are 1

The major reference is the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and the Stuart Hall literature. 2 See Scott and Marshall (2009, p. 286).

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part of the diaspora process, which obviously reflects the process of global economy at the macro-level. Furthermore, cultural copresence often produces a greater quantity of new meanings and forms inasmuch as it is provocative. This brings to mind Semi’s suggestion that the urban dimensions outlined by social mix and diversity do not represent a happy and idyllic model made up of different people, “but a way to look at the configurations of our society from the perspective of what people do—and say they do—and are—and say they are” (2007: 56). As Ong suggests, “an anthropology of the present should analyze people’s everyday actions as a form of cultural politics embedded in specific power contexts” (1999: 6). According to Campani (1994), the Chinese diaspora has the necessary characteristics to achieve economic, transnational operations, as well as a vast ground of promising investments originating from the motherland. As direct products of the diaspora, the transilient migrants are people full of resources, skilled, and experienced, devoted to the promotion of international trade. Moreover, they can overcome the links between the nation-states, and they are able to represent themselves as the new immigrants of the globalization era. The changing status of diasporic Chinese with the operations and globalization of capital and their cultural experiences have raised the need for a new focus on the study of Chinese identities that acquire meanings in dialectical relation to the practices, beliefs, and structures encountered in the spaces of flow across nation and markets (Ong 1999). Chan (1997)3 argues that these spatially displaced families constitute strategic nodes and linkages, which characterize an ever-expanding transnational field within which a new type of Chinese identity is emerging: Chinese cosmopolitanism. Accordingly, family displacement is not simply a “consequence” of migration; and families are not “passive actors” in the diaspora process. On the contrary, they actively create their migration project aiming for strategic investment. Of course, this process involves costs, strains, and stresses. As we can see in the interaction reported in this field note, a new Chinese identity emerges, which is a cultural hybrid in that it is transilient and cosmopolitan, and characterized by provisionality and multiplicity. Oriente Store is one of the oldest and best organized ethnic shops of the area, which sells Chinese clothing products, gift items, and handicrafts. It is located in via Paolo Sarpi 19, at the corner with via Bramante. Peiling welcomes me in this fascinating oriental shop. She manages this activity together with her brothers and cousins, who all belong to the same family. Peiling came to Italy eight years ago, and has been educated here. This woman is characterized by a conscious post-modern irony, which emerges as she declares: “I would define myself an Italian with a slight deformation of the eyes and as a clearly anomalous Chinese!” (Peiling) (« Field note », 2008)

In this continuous global evolution, “home” does not have to be “here,” or “there”; on the contrary, it is tentatively and potentially everywhere. This radically alters the meaning of “home” and, consequently, of homelessness, so that the search for a new vocabulary becomes a priority. Hybridity is by nature multistranded and heterogeneous; it does not respect the primacy of center over periphery, origin over destination, 3

See Kwok Bun Chan and Tong Chee Kiong, “Rethinking Assimilation and Ethnicity: The Chinese in Thailand” International Migration Review, vol. 1, n. 27, (1993) 140–68.

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and exit over entry. As both ideology and reality, it revitalizes and renews the ideals of cultural diversity, relativity, and pluralism (Chan 1997). Chan argues that the scattering of family in a duality or plurality of places provides for a crucial context within which Chinese cosmopolitan identity emerges. Other relevant contexts include the development of a system of intimately intertwined world economies characterized by multidirectional flows of trade and investment, the emergence of a Chinese diasporic economy with ethnically structured networks of nodes and poles (Lever-Tracy and Ip 1996), and the modern technological development of communication and transport, which facilitate the transmission of popular culture (Cohen 2008). “Correspondingly, the phenomenology and anthropology of this new, emergent Chinese identity necessitate a re-thinking of such issues as traditional versus modern Chinese culture; culture loss versus culture gain; and assimilation versus the persistence of ethnic consciousness” (Chan 2005: 117). As a group or class, the resulting diaspora is constituted by the so-called transilients (Richmond 1994), who are the new Overseas Chinese (Skeldon 1994), or the new middle-class Chinese (Li 1983). This emergent Chinese identity may be defined as zhonggen, which could be translated as multiple rootedness or consciousness. The Chinese word zhonggen has three meanings: multiple, regenerative, as in “born again,” and treasuring one’s diverse roots. It leads to an image of succession, with sinking roots as the process and multistranded roots as the outcome (Chan 1997). It is close to what Lee (1991) called “Chinese cosmopolitanism.”

3.6 Second-Generation Asian Subculture in Milan Chinatown: An Ethnographic Exploration Paolo Sarpi neighborhood shows an innovative character, a cosmopolitan ethos, and a transnational lifestyle, with particular respect to young Chinese of the second as well as third generations. They shows how multiple hybrid identities do not make them feel as “linked” to a specific territory. This is the main reason why the local government has committed to struggle against this hybridization process. Through the creation of limiting laws, the local administration aims to establish a sort of “institutional standardization.”4 As Jefferson and Hall (1976) argue in Resistance through Rituals, goods can be “acquired” by a certain group and “homologated” according to its problems, needs, and self-perception. A large part of juvenile culture, including radical culture, involves consumption (Sassatelli 2004). The Chinese young people in Milan are very attentive to accessories, brands, and symbols, as well as to eccentric and innovative clothing. Consumption is an “ambivalent ground” (Sassatelli 2004), where a social

4

The Municipality of Milan strictly controls Chinese business in order to demotivate wholesale. Local governance policies aim to reduce, by indirect means, the Chinese presence in this neighborhood. On this topic, see Manzo (2009).

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actor builds his/her own identity through practices of consumption, reflexivity, and habit. Many Chinese of second/third generation assume different nationalities, speak different languages, profess different religions, and adopt different lifestyles. Hence, a network of Chinese families not only creates successful transnational trade for Chinese companies working in the Sarpi district. Indeed, these family connections, which are embedded in a plurality of places within a new and favorable global environment, promote skills and experiences of young Chinese, who consequently acquire new cosmopolitan identities. As a result, Paolo Sarpi street can set itself as a place “soaked” in multiple meanings, a transnational and intercultural phenomenon that recalls the ethnoscape imaginary described by Appadurai (1996). The purpose of this study was to analyze how a hybrid urban space can be characterized by flows of movement and instability. In the study group, it seems that the Asian Betweeners have a fervent imagination. In their cosmopolitan practices, one can identify an experiential use of urban space, which is influenced by global flows and local networking. Moreover, this imagination is increased by the actual or virtual chances to travel. These youth have both local and Chinese educations, and, perhaps, this leads to the detachment from urban localisms. As one of the members of Associna5 says, the Asian Betweeners are starting to discover themselves as citizens of the world: the classic question is “Do you feel more Italian or Chinese?” It is very curious that many Chinese prefer answering “citizens of the world.” Then, some important aspects concern future and job opportunities. It is very easy that when you ask a young Chinese “Where would you like to work or live…” Certainly s/he will answer “Everywhere,” where there are more opportunities to create a great future. In reality, the membership in a nation state is not so important for Chinese second generations that grow up abroad (Jlanyi, male 27 years old, came from Zhejiang).

As described, the diaspora allows overcoming time and space fragmentation. It also offers to the youngsters both freedom and “technologically skilled” components: They can connect themselves in a reinvented and indeterminate place. In this sense, the space of Paolo Sarpi district may be a hub for the Asian Betweeners global cultural trends. As Colombo (2008) wrote: [w]hat is reality at macro level can only be based on the real actions and interactions, choices, construction of meaning that occur in more micro and ordinary dimension of our existence. But, stressing, in the same time that these real and concrete actions occur in structured contests, characterized by asymmetries of resources, power and personal capacity which are required to be carried out and from which it is inevitable also to start in order to transform them and overcome them. The centrality taken by the micro level is firstly possible because there are specific structural conditions in contemporary society which require that: the terminals of the networks must be relatively autonomous, capable of perception and have the option of encoding, decoding, develop languages. There must be some resources socially shared to allow to individuals the opportunity to work as broadcasters and receptors of information flows (p. x).

5

Associna is the Italian Association of Chinese second generation.

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Fig. 3.2 Young subculture of Asian Betweeners in Milan Chinatown, 2008

My attention was attracted by the expressive ethnicity, as Zamagni would say (2001), that the young Chinese display on the field. This is clearly visible on Saturday afternoons along the roads and shops of the Milan Chinatown. An emergent subculture exists that shows compliance with micro-social structures in which it is possible to identify common fashion, style, and music with other Asian Betweeners. It is relevant to show an aesthetic style that does not necessarily adapt to the local mainstream because it is directly connected to the Asian cultural model (see an example in Fig. 3.2). These practices create a mere distinction because the Asian Betweeners cross over their body surface and mark them culturally. Asian Betweeners in Milan Chinatown uses also social networking systems to construct their transnational urban adaptation. This virtual connection to the global cultural flows constitutes a social imaginary, a “mediascape,” as Appadurai6 wrote, and it clearly symbolizes a great longing for freedom. As research participants explained to me, such imaginary perception of intimacy offered by the new networked technologies fills an emotional void and becomes a way to escape from reality. The social entity of communicative function is remarkable, in that its “meaning for participants is to share similar experiences with regards to technologies, codes, contents, social opportunities, and communicative rituals” (Wolf 1992: 131). Therefore, Paolo Sarpi street may constitute a local driver that provides for transmission of cultural codes on the global scale of the Chinese diaspora. Moreover, this neighborhood 6

Appadurai (1996) articulated the view of cultural activity known as the social imaginary. According to Appadurai, the imaginary is composed of five dimensions of global cultural flow: ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, finanscapes, and ideoscapes.

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represents a sort of showcase: If the urban space is a fluid, diverse area, which can transform ethnic subculture style into fashion, we can infer that Milan Chinatown also has a cool hunting function.7

3.7 Conclusion According to the concept of urban vitality studied by Castells (1996), Milan Chinatown is a symbol of plural urbanity, which involves diverse customs, different functions, and expressions. Moreover, it has active street life, where people interact in the space, and thus give meaning to it. As the development in digital technology and the popularity of social networks show that we are assisting at a process in which space appears collectively built and produces common sense. But how is our capacity to give common sense to a built space? Besides the idea of physical presence, there are relationship spaces and interaction spaces. But what makes a space recognizable? A first response would be the construction of discontinuity, in the sense of borders that close an area through an act of social power, and that, at the same time, give sense at the center, through strongly symbolic actions. As Giddens (1990) describes [i]n the modern era, the level of time-space distanciation is much higher than in any previous period, and the relations between local and distant social forms and events become correspondingly “stretched.” Globalisation refers essentially to that stretching process, in so far as the modes of connection between different social contexts or regions become networked across the earth’s surface as a whole (p. 64).

In my view, this means that space and time have always been dimensions linked to human experience and may be understood as the two basic coordinates for the construction of meaning. On the basis of this approach, my ethnographic exploration was focused on the recent debate over hybridization and globalization in urban settings. With regard to “state’s integrity,” the Milan Chinatown can be brought as a good example of how, today, we are not sure about space as something circumscribed, homogeneous, and centered. Borders are more permeable, and there are multiple centers, including digital/online ones. The challenge for future research is to analyze how globalization causes the end of places and how alternative spaces are developing, even though gentrification forces are undergo.

7

Cool hunting is a method used both in sociology and in marketing to observe the trends and cultural patterns that form or evolve in fields such as media, fashion, music, films, or, more simply, in common life.

References

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References Ang I (2001) On not speaking Chinese: living between Asia and the west. Routledge, London and New York Ang S (2022) Contesting Chineseness: nationality, class, gender and new Chinese migrants. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam Appadurai A (1990) Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory Cult Soc 7(2–3):295–310 Appadurai (1996) Modernity at large. cultural dimensions of globalizations. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis Campani G (1994) La diaspora cinese nel nuovo contesto delle migrazioni internazionali. In: Campani G, Carchedi F, Tassinari A L’immigrazione silenziosa. Le comunità cinesi in Italia. Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino Castells M (1996) The rise of the network society. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford Chan KB (1997) A family affair. Migration, dispersal, and the emergent identity of the Chinese cosmopolitan. Diaspora 6(2):195–214 Chan (2005) Chinese identities, ethnicity and cosmopolitanism. Routledge, London Chun A (1996) Fuck Chineseness: on the ambiguities of ethnicity as culture as identity. Boundary 2(23):111–138 Clifford J (1994) Diasporas. Cult Anthropol 9:302–338 Cohen R (2008) Global diasporas: an introduction. Routledge, London Colombo E (2008) “Costruzione sociale e differenza: alcune riflessioni sul perché ascoltare l’altro in una prospettiva costruzionista”, paper presented to the meeting “A partire da Alberto Melucci… l’invenzione del presente” on October the 9th 2008. University of Milan, Faculty of Political Science Foucault M (1972) The archeology of knowledge and the discourse on language. Trans. A.M. Sheridan. Pantheon, New York Giddens A (1990) The consequences of modernity. Stanford University Press, Stanford Hall S, Jefferson T (1976) Resistance through rituals: youth subcultures in Post-war Britain. Hutchinson, London Hannerz U (1980) Exploring the city. inquiries toward an urban anthropology. Columbia University Press, New York Hannerz (1992) Cultural complexity. studies in the social organization of meaning. Columbia University Press, New York Hong-Liu (2006) The Chinese overseas. Routledge, London and New York Kobena M (2000) A Sociography of diaspora. In: Gilroy P, Grossberg L, McRobbie A (ed) Without guarantees: essays for Stuart hall. Verso, London Lee LO (1991) On the margins of the chinese discourse: some personal thoughts on the cultural meaning of the periphery. Daedalus 120(2):207–226 Lever Tracy C, Ip D (1996) Diaspora capitalism and the homeland: Australian chinese networks into China. Diaspora 5:239–273 Li PS (1983) “Minority business and ethnic neighbourhood: some observations on Chineseowned firms in Vancouver”, paper presented to the annual meeting of Canadian sociology and antropology association. University of British Columbia, Vancouver McKeown A (1999) Conceptualizing Chinese diasporas, 1842 to 1949. J Asian Stud 58(2):306–337 Ong A (1999) Flexible citizenship: the cultural logics of transnationality. Duke University Press, Durham Richmond A (1994) International migration and global change. In: Ong JH, Chan KB, Chew SB (eds) Asian transmigration. National University of Singapore, Singapore Santos CA, Yan G (2008) Representational politics in Chinatown: the ethnic other. Ann Tour Res 35(4):879–899 Sassatelli R (2004) Consumo, cultura e società. Il Mulino, Bologna Scholte JA (2000) Globalization: a critical introduction. Palgrave, London

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Semi G (2007) Teorie multiculturali: approcci normativi, studi ideografici e l’ingombrante presenza del quotidiano. In: Colombo E, Semi G (eds) Multiculturalismo quotidiano. Le pratiche della differenza. Franco Angeli, Milano Skeldon R (1994) Reluctant Exiles? Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese. M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York Tololyan K (1991) The nation-state and its others. In lieu of a preface. Diaspora 1(1):3–7 Tololyan (1996) Rethinking diaspora(s): stateless power in the transnational moment. Diaspora 5(1):3–36 Tu W (1991) Cultural China: the periphery as the center. Daedalus 120(2):1–32 Vasantkumar C (2012) What is this “Chinese” in overseas Chinese? Sojourn workvand the place of china’s minority nationalities in extraterritorial Chinese-Ness. J Asian Stud 71(2):423–446 Wolf M (1992) Effetti sociali dei media. Bompiani, Milano Zamagni S (2001) Migrazioni, multiculturalità e politiche dell’identità. Servizio Migranti, n. 2, anno X, Fondazione Migrantes, Roma

Chapter 4

Diversity in Neighborhood Change: Conflict and Resistance

The capacity to live with difference is, in my view, the coming question of the 21st century. —Stuart Hall (1993: 361).

Abstract In order to come to a deeper understanding of the interplay between gentrification and diversity, this chapter begins by examining the causes that led to the break of an apparent balance in the practices of local cohabitation of the Paolo Sarpi street area of Milan, the so-called Chinatown. It will also examine, on one hand, the relationship of power and conflict between the local government and the social groups, from the point of view of an urban change process. On the other, it aims to address the issue of gentrification through a specific interpretation key: a changing neighborhood as a place of symbolic elaboration of sociocultural boundaries. “No buses, no taxis, no cars and no trading. Why don’t you just build a wall around us?” reads a banner displayed by traders on Sarpi street in the 2008 Christmas season, the first month of controlled traffic flow. The voice of Italian residents is only one of those emerging from the results of this research, along with those of business owners, city users, and local politicians. It is an interplay between antagonism and juxtaposition that highlights the existing conflict and practices of resistance in this urban space. Through a wide ethnographic empirical demonstration, this chapter mobilizes a set of ideas concerning the academic and political debates surrounding the gentrification and diversity of the contemporary city. Keywords Gentrification · Urban diversity · Social mix · Urban conflicts · Resistance · Chinatown · Urban policy

4.1 Introduction This chapter investigates the relationship among gentrification processes, political economy, and the social production of meaning by analyzing how people interact in a multiethnic changing neighborhood in Milan. Milan offers valuable reflections into © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_4

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this process as the city is a paradigm for a “transition zone,” where new neighborhood communities have been created after the disinvestment of factories and laboratories.1 This process has led to a (re)combination and a (re)novation of buildings and residents in a new cultural and creative environment. Particularly, in the Chinatown of Milan, the process of urban renewal was driven by the local government that forced the long-term ethnic entrepreneurs and lower-class residents out of the city center. In the analysis of this case study, however, one prevalent factor emerges, and that is the issue of “control of public space.” The political decision to persecute the Chinese entrepreneurs in Milan also reflects a problem of perception rather than a concrete question of cohabitation. In this context, my interest was not only focused on how people draw boundaries in defining what they call their neighborhood. Here, the tension between residents or users is expressed in terms of “people who are like me” as opposed to “people who are not like me,” in terms of boundaries between different social groups. Most importantly, these cases demonstrate that the problem of cohabitation in a socially mixed neighborhood is a problem of representation and perception, which is essentially political. The final remarks of this chapter, therefore, reflect and search for a way to conceptualize how the process of gentrification can have different results, in respect to different preconditions under which it occurs, according to local/contextual variations.

4.2 The Reciprocity Between Gentrification, Diversity, and the Spaces of Encounter In this book, I apply the concepts of diversity to investigate how distinct social categories influence and shape the construction of social boundaries within a diverse community that is experiencing gentrification. First, I consider diversity as a concept linking the new conjunctions and interactions of variables that have arisen based partly on patterns of immigration to Milan over the past decades in order to examine “the conjunction of ethnicity with a range of other variables when considering the nature of various ‘communities,’ their composition, trajectories (and) interactions” (Vertovec 2007, p. 1025). Here, I am referring to what Amin calls an anthropology of “local micro-politics of everyday interaction” (2002: 960), related to what Sandercock describes as “daily habits of perhaps quite banal intercultural categories” (Sandercock 2003: 89). Again, such interactions should be viewed in terms of intersections of multiple variables, not just through the lens of basic and-or separate ethnic categories. 1

The concept of “transition zone” here is not referring to the Burgess’s ecological model (1925) of the internal structure of the city. Current perspectives on neighborhood change and gentrification challenge me to consider a transition zone the urban space which is literally experiencing the transition during the gentrification process, when there is a mixing of population with different classes and different lifestyles.

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Next, considering the analytic tool that feminist and anti-racist scholars deploy for theorizing identity and oppression, I embrace the intersectionality approach, defined as “the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations—as itself a central category of analysis” (McCall 2005: 1771). Research on intersectionality, the influence of race, class, gender, and sexuality, has explored how multiple categories work simultaneously to shape individual identity and behavior. In fact, as Allen argued about the appeals to diversity in the construction of new tastes for urban neighborhoods and housing, “for adults the urban ambience of diversity is a continual source of stimulation and renewal and a reminder of the cultural relativity of one’s own style of life” (Allen 1984: 31–32). Yet even if we pursue this critique of urban renewal following the cultural approach—taking into account the theories of Bourdieu (1984), Jager (1986), Hamnett (1992), and Ley (1996)—we are still left with a fundamental unanswered question: what happens to people who live in a changing neighborhood? In fact, it is precisely because cohabitation in a socially mixed neighborhood is a contested cultural terrain that it promises new insight in the sociospatial2 perspective. In this respect, the cultural turn in urban studies has illuminated the path to a “new urban sociology” that joins political economy and cultural analysis (Zukin 1982, 1995, 2010). There are several excellent studies on gentrification and the relationship between the old residents and the newcomers in gentrifying neighborhoods, as well as on the new middle class’ desire for diversity and difference. However, there is little evidence on which to base the assumption that gentrification will increase the social cohesion and the social mix of urban neighborhoods. According to Rose (2004: 208), there is an “uneasy cohabitation” to take into account. However, focusing on the intergroup relation during the gentrification process, few have thoroughly explored how race, class, and sexual orientation operate and what roles they play in the gentrification process. Conversely, as Vertovec (2007) highlights, it is necessary to investigate the conditions and challenges of diversity that will bring to life a wide variety of material and insight with theoretical bearing. These may include contributions toward a better understanding of “new patterns of inequality and prejudice” and “new experiences of space and ‘contact’” (Ibid.: 1045). People make sense of their worlds through a simple cognitive mechanism of connection and separation of things by drawing lines of distinction that leave a mark in space. As Simmel analyzes in his “Sociology of Space” (1997), spatial boundaries are formed and reproduced by social action and also influence ways of thinking. This semantic organization of an urban space, or “signification rhythm” as Barthes (1997) describes, highlights the relationship between physical places and spatial meaning. Moreover, my focus on social boundaries in a changing neighborhood relates to the production of differences among people, both in terms of social and cultural diversity and of division. Making borders in urban space means “shaping the meaning of 2

Gottdiener (1985, 1997), with Hutchison (2006), has been one of the leading proponents of introducing the importance of symbolic processes within a political economic framework to the study of urban sociology.

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things,” creating sites of encounter and inclusion on one side and lines of division and exclusion on the other. Harvey (1989, 2006) recognizes that those who have the power to command and produce space are therefore able to reproduce and enhance their own power. This power is manifested in the ability to create distance between the high-status in-group and low status outsiders and to define the legitimate use of space to bring the mechanisms of social control to bear on the ways that space is used. Through appropriation and domination, the powerful differentiate public space. It is within the parameters outlined by these practices that the local lives of ordinary urban dwellers take place. As Lamont and Molnar (2002) emphasize, these potential boundaries can acquire a very peculiar symbolic connotation in the social sphere. They might refer to conceptual distinctions, “vocabularies of motives” (Mills 1940), “repertoires of evaluation” (Lamont and Thévenot 2000) and specific cognitive tools used by social actors to classify objects, people, practices, time, and space. However, these new social (re)definitions and (re)constructions can entail social conflicts. The cosmopolitan turn in urban studies (Valentine 2008) has progressed beyond the implications raised by transnationalism and migration (Beck 2002), moving toward a more relational understanding of diversity both empirically and conceptually. This understanding informs recent studies on spaces of encounter (Amin 2002) and planetary urbanism (Brenner and Schmid 2015), among others. Linked to the idea that cosmopolitanism and new urban citizenship provide a welcome antidote to a previous emphasis on cities as sites of social exclusion and conflict, this perspective implies the potential for creating new hybrid cultures and ways of living together with difference (Young 2002). However, urban scholars should pay more attention to how everyday encounters and the power imbalances that structure them are being or might be performed in practice (Sennett 1999; Bridge and Watson 2002). According to Valentine, encounters never take place in a vacuum—a space devoid of history, material conditions, and power: The danger is that contemporary discourses about cosmopolitanism and new urban citizenship, by celebrating the potential of everyday encounters to produce social transformations, potentially allow the knotty issue of inequalities to slip out of the debate (2008: 333).

Despite Gilroy’s (2004) “conviviality” promise that contact can lead to mutual respect for difference, spaces of encounter include a paradoxical gap between cosmopolitan values of openness and under-appreciated local practices of intolerance and exclusion. Van Eck et al. (2020) highlighted the ambiguity of diversity through the analysis of a series of exclusionary policy interventions in Javastraat, a shopping street in Amsterdam. Presented as efforts to promote diversity, these interventions function as symbolically charged strategies that covertly regulate ethnic and class transitions by targeting the retail landscape. In their study of gentrification by Korean immigrants in Los Angeles’s Koreatown, Deverteuil et al. (2019) also consider how even the most cosmopolitan agents must clash against localized, parochial realities. The city has become a site of connection, encounter, and life with others, as well as the cosmopolitan potential of “micro-publics”; that is, the everyday negotiations of urban diversity, as emphasized by Amin (2002).

4.3 Theoretical Perspectives on Gentrification

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It is in this light that the public space of Milan’s Chinatown can be considered a proverbial “contact zone” (Keith 2005; Sandercock 1998; Yeoh 2004), especially for the Chinese minority and the Italian majority. In this zone, vastly different social, economic, and cultural groups following different trajectories ostensibly share the same space. As the following sections will show, the truly open spaces of encounter in Milan’s Chinatown were compromised by the intergroup clashes that occurred during the process of gentrification, which express the larger difficulty of creating meaningful diversity in a city riven by so much inequality (Keil 1998).

4.3 Theoretical Perspectives on Gentrification Structural changes of postindustrial cities—especially Milan, which shifted from an industrial to a corporate city—affected the ability of classes and races to successfully sell their labor (the loss of blue collar and semi-skilled white-collar jobs) while at the same time sustained the growth of professional and managerial professions. After years of white flight and urban abandonment, the term gentrification came into usage in the mid-1960s when more affluent people began “revitalizing” a smattering of relatively low-income neighborhoods. But the so-called urban revival really took off as part of the wretched excess of the 1980s. Even those who were part of the trend professed contempt for Italian yuppies exposing branded clothing, fast cars, and meeting at the historic Bar Basso during the “drinking Milan” era. The trend abated a bit after the stock market collapse of the late 1980s but roared back as the stock market and the overall city economy rebounded in the late 1990s. In prosperous times, more people need housing and can pay more for it. But says Peter Marcuse, a professor of urban planning at Columbia University, “a great economy is not great for everyone.” The newcomers bid up rents and vacant lots become sites for new buildings because, says activist Zack Winestine, “Development feeds on development.”3 The process of gentrification is usually referred to the renewal of run-down housing (rather than industrial) typically in working-class neighborhoods by newcomers who—by rejecting the cultural homogeneity of the suburbs—were interested not only in cheap houses or rents, but also looking for a breath of “authentic diversity” and proximity to the city center (Caulfield 1994; Ley 1994; Smith 1987). Although city planners and housing experts quibble over a precise definition, people who have recently lived in major cities know gentrification when they see it. To be very simple, this process means that “as more outsiders move in, rents and property values creep up, and longtime residents are squeezed out” (Carlson 2003, p. 22). Meanwhile, established businesses close and new ones open up—coffee shops, cafes and specialty stores catering to the neighborhood’s wealthier new residents. In fact, class narratives that emerge within these transformations of urban space have not only a material content, have not only to do with economics but also with a certain kind of look, style, in sum with the symbolic sphere. It is this “synergy of capital 3 Source: Newspaper article by Rebecca Webber. “The New Gentrification.” Gotham Gazette, 11 Dec. 2000.

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4 Diversity in Neighborhood Change: Conflict and Resistance

investment and cultural meaning” (Zukin 1996, p. 45) through which urban spaces are produced. Indeed, changes in the social and physical fabric of cities are reflected, and sometimes presaged, in changes at the level of representation and meaning. Theories that traditionally explain the phenomenon of gentrification as a result of a real estate mechanism—rent gap (Clark 1998; Smith 1979), or changed social attitudes (Ley 1987), combined with individual behavior (Hamnett 1991). The alternative approach, which will follow in the next pages, is that while gentrification clearly involves changes in the structure of the land and property market,4 it can be better seen “as a product of the shift from an industrial to a postindustrial society in particular cities and associated changes in class structure, particularly the growth of an expanded middle class and their social relations, cultural tastes, and consumption practices” (Hamnett 2000, p. 333). In drawing such a connection, the discussion focuses to the material as well the symbolic production of space, which come together to secure the ground for a “cultural claim” on gentrification literature. As Tonkiss clearly points out: Urban meanings, that is, form part of the fabric from which buildings, spaces and images of the city are made and remade (2005: 82).

Finally, this work is an initial attempting to widen the empirical base around gentrification and diversity. Accordingly to Lees (2008), I will do a systematic analysis of both gentrifiers and non-gentrifiers living in the same neighborhood, at different stages of gentrification. In the ethnographic report I will look at how social mix—both in terms of class and ethnic diversity—is experienced and negotiated by the different social groups who live in changing neighborhoods considering recent incomers, the long-term residents, business owners as well as local community institutions. To understand what the nature of this co-existence may be.

4.4 Emerging Spatiality as a Dividing Field As we have seen in Chap. 2, the area of reference with the most ethnic connotations in this sense is Paolo Sarpi street, the so-called Milan Chinatown. The proximity of the Sempione Park5 to the historical center of Milan and the fair zone as well as postwar reconstruction were the main causes that led to the neighborhood’s embryonic gentrification during the late 1970s early 1980s, where both lower and middle classes coexisted. At that time, the neighborhood’s population was composed of working-class people and immigrant (Chinese) entrepreneurs together with pioneering yuppies and 4

The production-side theory of urban gentrification derives from the work of human geographer Neil Smith (1986–1987) explaining gentrification as an economic process consequent to the fluctuating relationships among capital investments and the production of urban space. Smith’s explanation for gentrification is focused on the interrelation between capital and the institutions of the capitalist land market (i.e. developers, real-estate agents, mortgage lenders). 5 Sempione Park is the second largest park in Milan. With its English-style, it owes its name to its position along the line that leads through the Arco della Pace, from the Duomo to the Simplon Pass. The Castello Sforzesco, Arena, Arco della Pace, Triennale and Acquario Civico (some of the city most important sights) stand along the park’s perimeter.

4.4 Emerging Spatiality as a Dividing Field

55

financial mangers that would become the protagonists of Milan’s stock market boom during the fabulous 1980s. The area was both residential and productive. In this phase, the Chinese people used to live in the “backstage” of the neighborhood, in some secondary streets like Via Rosmini, Via Giordano Bruno, Via Giusti, and Via Aleardi, which were minor transit points and housing includes laboratories in courtyards and basements. In addition, markets, bag shops, and restaurants abounded with the developing of Chinese import–export. Indeed, the new law on trade simplified the procedure to start new business activities and this, together with a more general crisis of small proximity shops, led to the growth and diversification of Chinese trade activities in Milan. However, in the early 2000s this balance is broken by the wholesale constant flow of goods, vehicles, vans, trolleys, boxes, fumes, and rubbish. Chaos overwhelms Sarpi street as well as the adjacent thoroughfares. Cohabitation is at risk, wedged between the business needs of the Chinese community and the daily habits of residents—i.e., the Chinese work ethic based on breaking one’s back for 16 h a day—and the new zero tolerance Milanese outlook. Beneath the surface intolerance, exasperation and exhaustion are all simmering. On both sides, Italians and Chinese have been living side by side now for seventy years without any conflict up to April 12, 2007, the first time ever that three hundred Chinese reacted violently against measures imposed by the public authorities (Fig. 4.1). The transformation of the Sarpi neighborhood from a residential and craftsmen’s area into an ethnic area, which is characterized by a socially and economically complex structure, is still an on-going process, which often leads to internal conflicts due to social status diversity and different social needs (Novak 2002, p. 24).

The Sarpi neighborhood is decreasingly productive because of high rent prices, unavailability of spaces, growing intolerance of the residents, and increasing controls on Chinese trade as well as on road conditions. Indeed, it is rapidly evolving toward something more visible and deep-rooted as well as more stable and complex. It is not a mere place of residence, but a growing place of financial and service exchanges,

Fig. 4.1 Urban conflict in Paolo Sarpi street on April 12, 2007

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trade, and both national and international relationships. Moreover, the neighborhood is characterized by the “dynamics of village,” with relationships among neighbors, trade, meetings, and sharing; at the same time, it is characterized by the “dynamics of global relations,” such as the international exchange of goods, information, capital, and persons. In those years, the Sarpi neighborhood featured a great number of wholesale businesses. Over time, as well as issues pertaining to the cohabitation with the local Italian population (an estimated 90–95%6 ). Therefore, as of the 17th of November 2008, the local government of Milan established a limited access zone—the Zona a Traffico Limitato (ZTL). As a result, only residents are allowed access and transit, though taxis and motorcycles are exempt from exclusion. To enforce such provisions, the local authorities have erected a network of CCTV cameras to monitor traffic. This first step toward the zoning of the neighborhood was politically interpreted as an attempt to eradicate Chinese wholesalers from the district. We have taken these steps because we are convinced, and we hope the Chinese will start to emigrate (Riccardo De Corato, Deputy Mayor of Milan and security Councilor, interviewed in December 2008).

No buses, no taxis, no cars, and no trading. Why don’t you just build a wall around us? reads a banner displayed by traders in the 2008 Christmas season, the first month of controlled traffic flow. As we can see in Table 4.1, wholesale companies comprise 45.6% of the total amount of Chinese businesses in the Sarpi neighborhood. But the space “offered” by this territory is very narrow and equally affected by a road choked by traffic conditions caused by both private and public transportation.7 The elaboration of data that were collected on the field in February 2009, which regard the census of trade activities in the Sarpi neighborhood,8 shows the increase of Chinese wholesale activities. This outcome is particularly remarkable when compared to other trade activities. Indeed, there is a balance between Chinese and Italian retail shops, while Italians prevail in the service industry. As Cologna emphasizes in a previous survey,9 this is an impressive datum, undermining the traditional function of the Sarpi neighborhood for Chinese in Milan, once predominantly an area of services, a place for socialization and as well as a place of “symbolic domiciliation” for Chinese identity in the regional context. A great part of the customers in this area is not Chinese: they are Italians, Bangladeshi, Moroccans, and other hawkers 6

Source: Vivisarpi, Association by the neighborhood committee and Associna, Association of the Chinese second generation in Italy. 7 Should be noted that the neighborhood is affected by tram infrastructure networks (on Montello avenue and Bramante Street). Here, we have the rails of the ATM tram (the municipal transport company)—line 3, 4, 12, and 14—in addition to the passage of three different bus lines—number 43, 57, and 94. 8 Personal survey conducted between January and February 2009, two months after the local government order of 17 November 2008, which limits car transit in Via Paolo Sarpi. 9 Daniele Cologna is charter member of the Agenzia Codici, which conducted a survey in October 2007 on trade activities in Sarpi Neighborhood, under the supervision of doc. Alberto Demarchi.

4.4 Emerging Spatiality as a Dividing Field Table 4.1 Trade activities with Chinese owners in the Sarpi neighborhood

57

Feb. 2009

Oct. 2007

Variation

Wholesale

45.6

58.7

−13.1

Retail

34.8

23.0

+11.8

Services

19.6

18.3

+1.3

Total

100

100

A Comparison of two surveys developed in October 2007 and February 2009. Percentage values (For the year 2009 N = 443) Source Author’s elaboration on data collected by Lidia K. C. Manzo

or retailers of different nationalities, even foreigners such as French, Swiss, and Germans (Cologna 2008: 10–11).

Historically, Bramante Street had never attracted many companies to open businesses because of its unfortunate characteristics of poor passage and visibility, being so pressed between the tram tracks and a narrow two-way street with small sidewalks. Yet the first Chinese wholesalers decided to invest in the 90’ here and in other internal streets in the same neighborhood. Because of the intrinsic characteristics of wholesale trade, these businessmen were more interested in obtaining a strategic position near the expansive and important Paolo Sarpi street—the hub for retail and service business for the Chinese community in Milan—in a location with lower commercial value rather than having beautiful windows exposure, as is the case on larger avenues. This brief history highlights on one hand the extreme “determination” of the Chinese business system, and on the other it points out how the commercial frame of this urban space would be heavily transformed. In Table 4.2, the streets with the highest concentration of Chinese wholesale stores in 2009 are presented. As we explained, the first position is taken by Bramante Street, which totaled 48% of wholesales companies in the neighborhood. By making a comparison between the data I collected in 2009 and other research conducted by the research institute Agenzia Codici in 2007, we note that the wholesale phenomenon is taking a negative turn (see also Plate 4.1). The neighborhood is affected by a huge process of metamorphosis, triggered by the very high concentration of Chinese wholesale companies. Over the years, these businesses have created problems of traffic due to the loading and the unloading of goods, and problems of the cohabitation with the Italian residents (estimated at 90–95% of the total residence10 ). Cologna, too, in the analysis of the survey dated October 2007, emphasizes the conversion of wholesale trade in Sarpi, explaining that: there are more and more Chinese entrepreneurs who are choosing to convert their wholesale activities in a retail space or to re-locate their business away (in fact, many milanese wholesalers are being “displaced” by their own, moving for example in the context of Prato, where a new Chinese wholesale hub is developing) (Cologna 2008: 10). 10

Data provided by Vivisarpi—the residents’ association of the Sarpi neighborhood—and confirmed by Associna—the association of second-generation Chinese in Italy.

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Table 4.2 Wholesale activities managed by Chinese companies

Via Bramante

48.0

Via Niccolini

10.4

Via Giusti

8.9

Via G. Bruno

7.4

Via Rosmini

7.4

Via Montello

7.4

Via Sarpi

2.9

Via Messina

2.5

Other streets

5.1

Total

100

An overview of the greatest concentration in the streets of Sarpi neighborhood in 2009. Percentages (N = 202) Source Author’s elaboration on data collected by Lidia K. C. Manzo

COMMERCIAL DATA Milan Chinatown area

TYPE OF ACTIVITY

Retail Wholesale

CHINESE VS ITALIAN ACTIVITIES

Chinese Italian

general

retail

wholesale Source: graphic elaboration on data collected by the author in Jan-Feb 2009

Plate 4.1 Commercial data

Of course, we cannot analyze this countertrend of the wholesale trade in Sarpi using a deterministic explanation. Among the possible motives, we must consider a more general crisis surrounding the global economic system after the collapse of stock markets in autumn 2008 and daily difficulties of maintaining profit margins against more ruthless business competition. With a changing perspective of business in the neighborhood and alongside such confirmations of wholesale–retail trading of clothing, jewelry, and accessories, there are new entries like telephone-computers

4.5 Addressing Urban Conflicts, Diversity, and Local Politics in Milan

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stores and hairdressers. If the first ones are aimed primarily at people in Milan who use Chinese technologies, i.e., computers, cell phones, software, and operating systems specifically for the Chinese language,11 the second ones address a more general kind of customers who seek an inexpensive service.

4.5 Addressing Urban Conflicts, Diversity, and Local Politics in Milan The urban regeneration process in the Paolo Sarpi neighborhood provides the macrolevel context to study local policies about urban government and social mixes. An urban crisis may be considered a pivotal event, one able to put a problem into focus thanks to its evocative power. The problem may previously have been hidden, ignored, underestimated, or neglected, and is now part of the political agenda. The main issue within the problem appears to be one of perception rather than of a concrete question of cohabitation. The issue of the Chinese becoming rooted and strengthening their visibility and dominating role in the area produces a defensive reaction on the part of the local population. As well as fearing that their neighborhood may “disappear,” the local Milanese feel that their real estate interests may suffer, and their lifestyle may be under threat (Novak 2002). But the great wall of Chinese discontent is also made up of the feelings of Italian citizens who feel betrayed and mocked by the local government who, according to them, “has not been able to govern through the changes.” Via Paolo Sarpi is a social workshop in the heart of Milan, a micro-history allowing for a range of analytical frames, the first among which helps to understand the effects of the global economy, as Daniele Cologna explains12 At present Chinese wholesalers are responding to the demand for goods on the part of Streetsellers, markets and immigrants in general. They have located their businesses where there is greater traffic, i.e. where is most convenient for them. Once again, we are before a global challenge, that of creating a commercial platform for the distribution of goods originating from China.

Lanzani (2003) also highlights the far from marginal role that immigration plays within contexts of domestic transformation. If we dwell mainly on generative processes, on evolutionary patterns and on the relations created within the geographical contexts hosting them, perhaps we can single out some rationale, I mean a range of evolutionary processes which appear more evident in their patterns during immigrants’ settling process which do however impact the city and the contemporary area. We can, in other words, think of immigration as an extremely sensitive tool able 11

Obviously, Chinese retailers also have Italian customers, but this kind of selling is concentrated in electronic equipment, or media for data recording (CDs, DVDs, USB memories, etc.). These goods show significantly lower prices on the average than other shops in Milan [observations derived from field research]. 12 Source: “Chinatown, niente trasloco. Gli abitanti presi in giro” on the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on October 11, 2007.

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to identify emerging spatiality and new protocols in spatial organization rationale, singling out deep points of contact with some recent investigations on transformation taking place in the European arena. Mostly importantly, this case demonstrates that the problem of cohabitation in a socially mixed neighborhood is a problem of representation, which is essentially political. Following the sociospatial perspective, my approach analyzes the real estate development as the “leading edge of changes in the metropolitan region,” considering more specifically that “politics to be highly linked to the concern of property development” (Gottdiener and Hutchinson 2006: 77). Whether we consider city or suburban governments, the central feature of the local state—its ability to acquire wealth and channel social resources—has meant that organized interests must compete with one another for control. This struggle for control over urban and suburban settlement space provides the drama of local politics (Ibid: 236).

The political process analyzed in the case study of Milan Chinatown seems indeed operate as the “élite theory” of urban politics (Hunter 1953; Stone 1989). Ethnographic research attempts to study how the mayor and city councilors of Milan made decisions on local political issues including social diversity and urban renewal. Results highlights how behind the local administration there is a select group of powerful and influential developers, or a “Milanese power structure,” that controls the city development toward its specific interests. However, there is another aspect that affects the question of power and control over urban space in the Milanese Chinatown case study. Residents and dealers organized associations and movements to influence the local government. The concept, developed by Castells on urban social movements, described as “urban-orientated mobilizations that influence structural social change and transform the urban meanings” (1983: 305), can be adapted to this study to explore how communities’ associations represent their issues regarding their everyday lives in their neighborhood (Boyte 1980; Logan and Rabrenovic 1990). These observations also suggest that there are many layers of the relationship between the way in which an urban space has been modified and the ways in which it is used. Regarding the Chinese presence in this Milanese neighborhood, these observations also suggest that “cultural habits lead immigrant to change the uses of existing spaces until they can create their own” (Krase 1993: 54). The past decade of immigration has already had a major impact on Italian identity and this can be seen in its streetscapes. This is true not only because of the numbers of newcomers but also because of their visual differences with indigenous Italians. These racial (physical) and ethnic (cultural) differences in their local practices have produced an even greater change in the “appearance” of some of Italy’s well-known urban landscapes (Krase 2007: 102).

As I will argue in this chapter about Italian urban policies, it seems that the Milanese power structure affects the “undesirables”—using the words of Aalbers, poor groups that are considered problematic and the source of problems and inconvenience for other residents (2011: 1967).

4.6 Contemporary Urban Conflicts: “Stay Away from Sarpi Street or Fight …

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4.6 Contemporary Urban Conflicts: “Stay Away from Sarpi Street or Fight Against City Hall!” As Gottdiener and Hutchinson remark, despite the old saying “You can’t fight city hall,” “many people do just that” (2006, p. 241). According to Castells (1983), urban social movements are usually directed against city hall. The target of this movement was, again, the local Milanese government. The Sarpi “question” is made up of a range of contrasting voices, each witnessing constantly clashing interests. According to Ceccagno, “one thing that must certainly be highlighted is that it is difficult to imagine any interest of the Chinese community as completely separate from those of the Italian one.13 ” But the “Italian question” is extremely complex. If we are to speak of Italians, we shall have to distinguish at least three main interest groups feeding the same number of local trends: residents, traders and those who use the area and the services it provides. In 2005, the Vivisarpi Association was founded by the neighborhood committee established 6 years earlier. To date the organization has 150 members. I was given the chance to speak to its President, Pier Franco, a smart middle-aged man at the helm of this independent front against Chinese wholesale trade. Everything began with the first Chinese wholesaler settlements in Bramante Street. That street already had problems, as the tram rails didn’t allow for parking there. There were some shops that had been shut for a while and some deposits. In 1999, the Chinese suddenly bought all the shops and changed them into wholesale warehouses. The general picture is always that of alarm and restlessness, in that period, big trucks stopped right in the middle of the road every day to unload goods. These unclear signs of change created a situation of alert in the district and that’s when people got together. A 600-people assembly took place, in which the Mayor Moratti took part, together with Mr. De Corato and the Municipal Police chief, Mr. Bezzon. It lasted from 9.00 pm until 12.30 am. During that time frustration exasperation and anger were expressed towards the situation and against the local government (Pier Franco, President of Vivisarpi Association, fight for the resident rights)

However, the main backbone of the Chinese diaspora in Milan is certainly work, and more specifically entrepreneurial and freelance work aimed at a high level of financial gain. Overlooking this would mean to seriously misunderstand the meaning of the Chinese migration experience. The daily life of a Chinese family is truly imbued by the goal of working and earning and reaching the independence that owning a business may bring. These values are the basis of the complex ethnic economies behind Chinese diaspora in the west, and this includes Milan (Breveglieri and Lanzani 1997). Chinese entrepreneurs have slowly replaced the artisan craft shops, which, partly due to changing markets and partly to the loss of the father-toson transmission of skills, were closing fast. Cobblers, upholsterers, furniture makers and restorers, frame makers and barbers and so on have given up their spaces and often their licenses, too. After this, the Chinese realized that this new settlement area 13

Source “ChinatownLa “rivolta” dei migranti di successo” on www.meltingpot.org on April the 30th 2007.

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was not ideal: roads were narrow, parking spaces difficult to come by, and this along with other limits imposed by the local government made trade increasingly difficult. As I prepare to represent the conflict in the Paolo Sarpi setting, I need to make a small detour, introducing a temporary change of scene: from the Chinese community to the Vice-Mayor, from an ethnically diverse neighborhood to the heart of the local government of Milan. Vice-Mayor De Corato immediately makes me aware of his rhetorical dimension. His approach is an alarmist one. He states that the true issue of Europe and of the entire Western world is the Chinese one. Not Romanians or Arabs, but the Chinese—as there are so many: one and a half billion. There are many who arrive, who knows from where (?)… unless they arrive in the containers with the goods, and they bring over all kind of counterfeit stuff from China….not one original piece. Everything they sell is fake (Riccardo De Corato, interview quote).

The limits imposed by the local government made Chinese trade increasingly difficult. The discourse that in a sense blew up in 2008 is connected to exactly this: the fact that all the Chinese wholesalers started to get fined. Therefore, Chinese traders began to feel persecuted, and Jlanyi also (a member of AssoCina14 ) confirms that: These series of fines and prohibitions came from one day to the next and all of the Chinese businessmen found themselves facing difficulties that didn’t use to be there at the start (Jianyi, member of AssoCina, interviewed in November 2008).

The notion of “thresholds of tolerance,” one largely evoked in similar situations, here too reveals its ideological and prejudicial features. This “revenge against minorities” (Smith 1996, p. 45), which responds exclusively to issues of public safety and subservience and it attempts to hide migration phenomena, it proves ineffective at managing the range of social, economic, and town planning meanings that any territorial concentration process entails. The revolt of 2007 is a result of this unease, linked to the fact that sanctions were continually imposed precisely on all those actions and activities that Chinese wholesale trade required. Italian dealers, for example…the ones that load and unload dairy products were completely ignored by the police even if they used handcarts to go around while the Chinese were systematically blocked and fined. When ethnic factors come into play with commercial interests, the risk that is created is very dangerous… explosive! (Jianyi)

Moreover, the neighborhood doesn’t have any public areas. It is mainly made up of densely packed roads and the only real large public area is Paolo Sarpi street, which has always been a commercial Street of the district and a historical meeting point. In addition, when you speak about Chinatown, the large districts of Chinese settlement come to mind, where all the shops, the residents and people on the Streets are Chinese. Instead, in Paolo Sarpi street, the 95% of the resident population are Italian, with the minority being Chinese. I have expressly talked about that with an urban planner at the Politecnico di Milano University, Christian Novak, who clarified to me that: 14

Associna is a non-profit Association, formed by and to support second-generation Chinese in Italy.

4.6 Contemporary Urban Conflicts: “Stay Away from Sarpi Street or Fight …

63

DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN CONFLICT IN MILAN CHINATOWN 2007

2007-2008

From 2008

BREAKING POINT

NEGOTIATION

PEDESTRIAN AREA

Difference of needs and interests between a majority of Italian residents and a majority of Chinese traders and customers Local administration measures: a tactic for gentrification?

Plate 4.2 Development of conflict in Milan Chinatown (In the middle photograph Italian residents show anti-Chinese wholesale store “Chi ingrassa l’ingrosso?” and pro-pedestrianization “Pedonalizzare = Respirare” signs.) The separation between the ground floor and the highest floors is what creates the real problem of cohabitation. The first one is almost completely Chinese in terms of use and attendance and the second one is almost completely Italian (Christian Novak, urban planner, interviewed in November 2008).

This wouldn’t have occurred if the Milanese Chinatown had been put together as in the United States—for instance—where most of the residents are Chinese, as well as the traders and the visitors of the area. The third antagonist between the needs of residents and the local government policies is the entrepreneur’s association (see also a visual representation in Plate 4.2). Here too, the situation is far from simple. More than 180 traders are represented by Associazione Liberi Esercenti Sarpi (ALES), where more than half are Chinese. As one of them stated: For the ALES association we are all entrepreneurs, and we don’t make a difference. We are all traders, all working families on different levels and with different mentalities… we certainly don’t want to create differences. For me, a person who works is a person to be respected… So, today trading is forbidden. Why? Because of “our esteemed residents” who want to walk around in the street. We are not in agreement with this, and we find it absurd and unacceptable for the future of a Milan in the 2015 Expo (Walter, butcher in Paolo Sarpi street, interviewed on May and November 2008).

The rationale behind the idea of pedestrianizing is twofold: firstly, it aims at reclaiming Street furniture and, secondly, at reducing the use of the district as a logistics platform for Chinese wholesalers. This is how the Councilor begins to describe the problem. He welcomes me into his office at the Urban Center, housed within the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele where the department for the renewal of the City of Milan are located. From the rarefied heights of the Town Planning chair, here is Masseroli’s Sarpi plan:

64

4 Diversity in Neighborhood Change: Conflict and Resistance So we have a neighborhood that has been transformed in a span of fifteen years from that of one of the most attractive commercial streets in the city to one of the most chaotic in the city; completely out of control from city organizational point of view (Carlo Masseroli, Assessor, town Councilor in urban policy, interviewed in November 2008).

The Councilor knows that he cannot count on legislation to pursue his cuts on wholesale activities in such a dense area. Therefore, he has resorted to “a kind of scheme consisting of a range of measures to improve conditions in the neighborhood,” as he puts it. The opinion of Vice-Mayor De Corato is even more bluntly articulated, as he explains that his Council has decided for traffic closure in Paolo Sarpi street with the belief that the Chinese will begin to emigrate as “they can’t stay there.” And he adds to this that: Now, Paolo Sarpi Street is a pedestrian area (and they [the traders] didn’t understand this small footway… It’s not that they didn’t understand, because if you and I understood it means that they also understood... because we are not that…). What is the declared purpose of the pedestrian area? It is to make the Chinese wholesale activities go away. Why did we do it? Not because we wanted to increase the air quality in Paolo Sarpi Street but because we want to get rid of these Chinese. If they don’t understand this, what are we supposed to do? (Riccardo De Corato, interview quote).

Naturally the traders have understood this step as well and are even more vexed. They say they will do their very worst and shall protest against these measures. Retailers especially, both Italian and Chinese, speak about a real blow due to the difficulties encountered by clients following the traffic ban for non-residents. ALES, the traders’ association, is basically talking about an abuse of power on the part of the Milan local government. Remo, the President of ALES, is very clear about it: The city got mad with us (the traders) although we have nothing to do with the wholesale. As you know, we started to consider this problem and to listen to everyone before anything else. They forced us to say. “Prohibition of vehicles circulation or pedestrianization?” At this point I was shocked (Remo, President of the dealer Association “ALES”, interviewed in November 2008).

Another idea is to create a more picturesque commercial district that incorporates the characteristics of the neighborhood, with specific shops, like the “Cappelleria Melegari,15 ” or other shops that existed before but also are innovative, mixing a bit with some quality ethnic trade. As Zukin (1982) emphasizes, using preservation rather than new construction constitutes an alternative strategy for the revalorization of the historic heritage of a district. In her recent book, Naked City, Zukin focuses attention on “a gentrifier’s aesthetic appreciation of urban authenticity” (2010: 18), but regarding the power of banks and real estate companies, “the importance of capital in the broadest sense”: the economic, social as well as the “cultural capital of gentrifiers (…) who find their subjective identity in this particular image of urban authenticity” (Zukin 2010: 18). “What happens now, she said, is powerful and breathtakingly fast—a product of upper-middle-class aesthetics, and newspapers, magazines and blogs that compete 15

“Cappelleria” is a shop which sells traditional hats, also handmade.

4.6 Contemporary Urban Conflicts: “Stay Away from Sarpi Street or Fight …

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to find new destination neighborhoods.”16 The voice of Vice-Mayor De Corato even echoes the ancient artisan vocation of Paolo Sarpi: So, retail traders, retail craft I believe being the best vocation for Paolo Sarpi Street. Some residence, the same ones, otherwise… It needs to go back to what it was during the Borgh di Scigolatt, when retail craft prevailed, and I’m not talking about furniture crafts, I’m talking about craftsmanship. There is a vocation on that street, but the problem is the Chinese: if we don’t send a few away where are the craftsmen supposed to go? (Riccardo De Corato).

Finally, there is a great buzz around the Sarpi neighborhood in the context of the outlook regarding the next 2015 Expo Fair. Many initiatives are being considered, and these are aimed at transforming and giving value to the surrounding area in the direction of Fiera City.17 This certainly is whetting the appetite of both residents, who would see an increase in the value of their homes, and speculators always have their ear to the ground too. Furthermore, the effect of new selection dynamics different to trade ones (no to wholesale and yes to retail), in the face of new elite residents promoted by the political and economic system, will certainly create a new interpretation of these spaces. Even Masseroli, the urban policy Councilor, does not appear to be shocked by possible future gentrification scenarios: Yes, if you want, we can talk about gentrification with the Chinese community, however it was something inertial. I mean, the local government aims to provide incentives and create pathways. We want the creative and young people of Milan. I say that the real challenge for a city is to be able to offer strong attractive conditions (Carlo Masseroli, interview quote).

Thus, the gentrification would be configured as a young, upper-middle- class university-educated population who may choose to dwell in a neighborhood of a recent ethnic past that is now looking onto new opportunities given by the pedestrian area, such as the “movida” (nightlife-centric) of the Milanese clubs has already been evident in the closing by Garibaldi– Brera area, all shrouded in a halo of emerging cosmopolitan promise. A pedestrian island characterized by stone pavements, benches… But the residents also expect something else. They expect paths, planted trees, green areas and, above all, tranquility, silence, and something that is much more similar to project-rendering than to reality. Not only it that. It could become, with time, a place where you could re-establish nightlife, which today is quite weak. And if we think about what pedestrian islands have become in the Navigli area in just few months, and what cohabitation problems these create, this is for sure one of the things that residents don’t expect and would never want from the pedestrianization (Christian Novak, interview quote).

16

Powell, Michael. “A Contrarian’s Lament in a Blitz of Gentrification.” New York Times. 19 Feb. 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/nyregion/21gentrify.html. 17 FieraMilano City is the new large-scale exhibition center in the outskirts of Milan (Rho), where will be located the World Expo 2015.

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An interesting comparison is made when we look at the problems emerging in districts where nightlife is lived out by some, and the needs of residents weigh on the other part of the equation: the former are a different tribe, arriving in the evening just to have fun, and have no interest in the abuse or at least intensive use of public space. They are not mindful of soiling or being noisy, and they are not concerned with a space they do not consider theirs, exactly because they do not live there and cannot see the spectacle of abandoned beer bottles at dawn! In conclusion, we could say that the local communities’ associations were capable of showing the ambiguous nature of the Milan city government, probably driven from the “élite” developers’ interests. These social movements constitute a form of politics, ready to fight for their everyday neighborhood practices. At the time, in 2008, this practice was understood to be a channel of resistance (Fig. 4.2) where both ethnic entrepreneurs and Italian residents collectively produced public space to avert the threat of embryonic gentrification. The case of Milan Chinatown and its main shopping street via Sarpi represented a focal point of this discussion.

Fig. 4.2 Protest murals on Sarpi wall in April 2011 (where the big graffiti claim “Rivolta Ovunque” means “Riot everywhere”)

4.7 Displacement, Immigration, and the Role that Local Politics Play …

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4.7 Displacement, Immigration, and the Role that Local Politics Play in Shaping Urban Transformations Ethnographic research was conducted to observe a process of urban transformation taking place as political and cultural gentrification of an urban context, while at the same time building the social construction of stereotypes and prejudice. At the beginning of this chapter, I discussed what and how the Chinese settlement on Sarpi street has contributed to the preservation of the urban fabric of this neighborhood which is historically characterized by a mix of functions for housing, production and sales. The process of expulsion of the Chinese population justified precisely in the name of the ancient cultural heritage and of the recovery of the “Italian” identity neighborhood, would deny the substance of any part of the history of people and places who helped transform and create it, giving the city empty spaces, emptied of meaning” (Monteleone and Manzo 2010: 161).

Starting at the end of 2007 many Chinese entrepreneurs choose to convert their business into a retail business, which began a process of conversion of the wholesale spaces on Sarpi street. Some Chinese wholesalers from Milan and from other parts of Italy decided to relocate the trading to the “Center for International Trade Il Girasole” in Lachiarella, a small logistics site located in the southern suburbs of Milan. The name of this platform that brings together one hundred Chinese companies for the 70% who comes from the Sarpi neighborhood, but also from other cities like Prato, Naples, and Turin, is called “Ingrosso 1.” Marco, Chinese owner of “Amici” store in Sarpi street, confirms that he is one of the many Chinese wholesale shops have left the Sarpi neighborhood. I ask him how big this new platform is and thus, overcoming some initial hesitation, he explains that it is twenty thousand square meters that they were purchased and completely refurbished by a consortium of Chinese businessmen who formed the Chinese company Ingrosso 1 to promote the relocation of Paolo Sarpi wholesalers in Lacchiarella. “So, the Milanese government does not financially help this transfer?” I ask him, anxious to understand; and smiling, he answers me: Nah, we did everything by ourselves, the company opened a loan with the bank, as they say ... Leasing! (Marco)

He told me, again, that all his colleagues who have moved away from Sarpi have done so to have better conditions for the practice of their daily trade activities: “Too far and too many restrictions; it was an obligation to move!” he emphasizes. Mark told me that some Chinese traders are coming right from the Sarpi neighborhood to Lacchiarella. While many of them still only have a retail store there, many simply closed their shops waiting to decide about the future. Marco is also wondering about a possible conversion of his wholesale shop “Amici” into a retail one, although he has not yet decided which type of goods would be sold. As we saw during the previous discussion, different experiences of gentrification correspond diverse kinds of negotiation and definition of changing neighborhoods

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by different social groups. Despite the making of symbolic boundaries or resistance practices, people in Paolo Sarpi neighborhood found a way to coexist. But what might the nature of this co-existence may be? In terms of meaningful social interactions, I have observed that while Chinese- and Italian-owned businesses in Milan had a role in promoting social diversity, the middle-upper class’ ability to create aesthetic distinctions into consumption practices was a more successful agent of social displacement. Paolo Sarpi neighborhood seems still an hybrid space (Manzo 2012b), a symbol of plural urbanity, which involves diverse stores and customs, different functions and expressions. Its active street life characterized by flows of movement and instability can support an inclusive interaction among different social groups, regardless of strict urban regulations or preservationist movements. As a result, three years after the zoning policy, it seems that due to its multiple meanings, the process of Chinese-storefronts displacement is not really getting off the ground. On the other side, thinking about the range of institutional interventions, clearly in Milan we were dealing with the paradox of urban safety policies because of the lack of social policies (Manzo 2012a). The urban safety policies promoted by the Milan local government seem to be targeted toward a “problem” which sheds light on a lack of necessary social policies. Moreover, to analyze the evolution and recent trends of Italian immigration policy requires dealing with a paradox. Italian immigration has triggered more than a fair share of conflicts and controversies, as Colombo and Colombo and Sciortino argue (2004) the attention of policymakers and the heat of public discussion have never been focused on the issue of managing the inflows of foreign workers, which has consequently been both consensually accepted and practically neglected. Both the growth of the population and the densification of the urban centers imply many controversial issues related to the processes of social recomposition in urban portions of inner-city areas. This is an evident phenomenon in the Paolo Sarpi neighborhood, intensely affected by the gentrification process. The question of a difficult cohabitation between Italian residents and Chinese traders is not involved in urban policies but is rather a situation that occurs when an emergency breaks out. The process of setting up of businesses run by Chinese entrepreneurs has created some time ago a path free of any form of regulation designed by the local government. Moreover, the question arrives at the public agenda due to the onset of urban conflict. The local government has only created temporary solutions, such as zoning, that restrict the passage road network in the neighborhood to residents only. No policy provision about a management of these businesses, in terms trade types, urban spaces and shop number to be assigned, was ever taken. So that, the space of the city is becoming more and more narrow. Bricocoli and Savoldi (2009) suggest that it is reducing the field in which a multiplicity of uses of space (place) and the presence of a variety of people (people) can be present. In fact, these urban “free” zones, in which “disorder” occurs, are used by the government as a place of decompression in the face of strong social pressure on immigration, precariousness, and insecurity. Here, we are talking about strategies aimed at places to act on people. Some types of instruments used to change those practices considered “improper” and to induce changes in the related social context are the case of zoning,

4.8 “Hard” Versus “Soft” Gentrification and the Struggle for Moral …

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the provisions relating to regulation of flow, and limiting traffic on wheels until the creation of pedestrian areas. As Bricocoli et al. point out, “the exploration of urban transformations in Milano highlighted how both urban and social policies have been neglecting consideration for the intensive change which is occurring in the use of space in different urban areas. (…) It is within a discourse that is dominated by the frame of insecurities and in a context of overall simplification of the sense and conditions that can produce mixed environments, that ‘separation’ becomes a main principle in the spatial organization of the urban transformations” (2011: 7). As Monteleone and Manzo (2010) explains, the minimalist government of the municipal administration had first rejected the application of the rules contained in the framework law of trade reform, renouncing the planning tools that would have regulated the distribution of businesses in the area. Instead, the local administration approved the residents’ requests and their aspirations for the “thousandth18 government,” a kind of “home” regime that was not the ideal resolution for such complex and delicate public controversies. The perspective of this minimal government lends itself to accommodate the “private interests” of the Italian residents elected as a point of reference (especially electoral) to whose “interested” attention is equally important. In a sense, the local administrators give up the role of mediation between conflicting interests that should characterize the specific political and democratic process and indeed act as a “private” government that captures and brings “private” interests to the public sphere, justifying them as “public.” The confusion between private and public interests, the overlap and the related nature of the “thousandth government” with the “minimal government”, and the combination of deregulation (laissez faire) and security intervention across territories and populations, are all seemingly contradictory aspects of neo-liberal ideas of politics (2010: 161).

4.8 “Hard” Versus “Soft” Gentrification and the Struggle for Moral Displacement At the beginning of this chapter, I discussed what and how the Chinese settlement on Sarpi street has contributed to the preservation of the urban fabric of this neighborhood which is historically characterized by a mix of functions for housing, production, and sales. The reflections on urban commerce in the Sarpi neighborhood interweaves with the starting up processes of a financial renaissance of its commercial strip, in short, a commercial gentrification. As Rankin remarks, in commercial changes it is crucial to analyze the “strategies for retaining those businesses serving the needs of low-income and ethnically mixed residents” (2008: iii). Here, the resistance of both Italian and Chinese long-time businesses explicitly refers to a 18

The thousandth tables representing the house property shares in a building, expressed as the ratio between the value of each unit and the value of the building, that equals to 1000. Therefore, the thousandth table consists in a summary table, in which the proportional values of each individual units are reported. These rates are important both to vote at the property meeting and the bill sharing.

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counter displacement movement against exclusionary policies. Moreover, to understand patterns of gentrification in the case study, it is necessary to address an important aspect of neighborhood change in Italy, because here in Italy, more than in the USA, it affects properties. Here, people who bought their houses in the 80s and 90s made a strong investment, spent a lot of money and so are very determined in preserving their investments. That’s why they fight hard against everything that could decrease their investment value or lower their quality of life (Novak, interview quote).

In this respect, I would pose some reflections about the “Italian” model of gentrification, which can be considered “softer” than the “heavy-handed” US ones, for instance. I argue that, before giving emphasis on the characteristics of stores and cafes which appeal to more affluent consumers—as gentrifiers—we should question the specificity of the Italian housing market which primarily shapes the dwelling conditions. It is in fact well known that in Italy the rented sector accounts for about 20 percent of the housing stock occupied as a main residence19 and the public housing projects are not significant. This means that in Italy—and Milan is not an exception—almost the 70 percent of the households own a home.20 If it is inevitable that a certain degree of displacement is experienced as the result of the changes I have already discussed, the Italian residents in the Paolo Sarpi case study were protected by their own house properties, while it was much easier to affect the commercial activities through restricting urban policies. This has to say that gentrification in Italy seems softer because it affects businesses, rather than houses. However, when we link the production of gentrified spaces to middle class patterns of urban consumption, work, and lifestyle we have to consider the effects of the aestheticization of these everyday practices. Businesses, in fact, are critical to preserve not only the affordability of the neighborhoods but also to create a comfortable urban space where people share their lives together. I am arguing that there is a crucial point in any kind of gentrification, which is the struggle for the moral displacement. In fact, it does not matter if people are owners of their houses or if they have a rent stabilized apartment, because even if they have right to stay in their neighborhoods, they can feel they do not belong anymore to it. If they start to face everyday changes in their usual stores, restaurants, cafes, and even in their neighbors, they can get uncomfortable. The comfort level is a very central issue that needs to be problematized. This chapter highlighted the tensions and interethnic conflicts that occurred in Milan’s Chinatown as the result of the actions taken by a variety of self-interested groups, such as local government officials, entrepreneurs, residents, and city users, who more or less strategically sought to capitalize on multiculturalism and diversity as a new guiding principle (Fainstein 2005). For these reasons, it is urgent to realize 19

See Baldini and Poggio (2012) for a good analysis of the rental sector in Italy. There are many socioeconomic and cultural reasons for the high rate of home ownership in Italy, which is an exemplary case of Mediterranean, or familialistic, welfare regime. Home ownership is an important and multifaceted resource in Italy to both individual well-being and social protection. To read more about the topic see Poggio (2012).

20

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the role played by diversity in neighborhood change and its understating should inform more in depth the practices of planning and urban policies in order to avoid not only gentrification effects but also social and moral effects, which means the loss of diversity in multiethnic areas of the city. In the next chapter, we will see how this seems the case in Milan’s Chinatown.

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Fainstein SS (2005) Cities and diversity: should we want it? can we plan for it? Urb Affairs Rev 41(1):3–19 Gilroy P (2004) After empire: melancholia or convivial culture? Routledge, London Gottdiener M (1985) The social production of urban space. University of Texas Press, Austin Gottdiener M (1997) The theming of America: dreams, visions, and commercial spaces. Westview Press, Boulder, CO Gottdiener M, Hutchison R (2006) The new urban sociology, 3rd edn. Westview Press, Boulder, CO Hall S (1993) Culture, community, nation. Cult Stud 7:349–363 Hamnett C (1991) The blind the elephant: the explanation of gentrification. Trans Inst Br Geogr 16(2):173–189 Hamnett C (1992) Gentrifiers or lemmings? A response to neil smith. Trans Inst Br Geogr 17(1):116– 119 Hamnett C (2000) Gentrification, Postindustrialism, and industrial and occupational restructuring in global cities. In: Bridge G, Watson S (eds) A companion to the city. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, pp 231–241 Harvey D (1989) The urban experience. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore Harvey D (2006) Spaces of global capitalism. Verso, London Jager M (1986) Class definition and the aesthetics of gentrification: victoriana in Melbourne. In Smith P, Neil W (eds) Gentrification of the city. Allen & Unwin, London, pp 78–91 Krase J (1993) Traces of home. A Quarterly J Environ Des 8(4):46–55 Krase J (2007) Ethnic crossroads: toward a theory of immigrant global neighborhoods. In: Hutchinson R & J. Krase J (eds) Ethnic landscapes in an Urban World. Res Urban Soc 8:97–119. Elsevier/JAI Press, With Tarry Hum, With photos, Amsterdam Keil R (1998) Los Angeles. Blackwell, London Keith M (2005) After the cosmopolitan? Multicultural cities and the future of racism. Routledge, London Lamont M, Molnár V (2002) The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Ann Rev Sociol 28(1):167–195 Lamont M, Thévenot L (eds) (2000) Rethinking comparative cultural sociology: repertoires of evaluation in France and the United States. Cambridge University Press, New York Lanzani A (2003) Metamorfosi urbane. I luoghi dell’immigrazione. Pescara: Dipartimento di Architettura Infrastruttura e Paesaggio, collana Ossimori. Lees L (2008) Gentrification and social mixing: towards an inclusive urban renaissance? Urb Stud 45(12):2449–2470 Ley D (1987) Reply: the rent gap revisited. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77(3):465–468 Ley D (1994) Gentrification and the politics of the new middle class. Environ Plann d: Soc Sp 12(1):53–74 Ley D (1996) The new middle class and the remaking of the central city. Oxford University Press, Oxford Logan JR, Rabrenovic G (1990) Neighborhood associations: their issues, their allies, and their opponents. Urban Aff Q 26(1):68–94 Manzo LKC (2012a) Emergent spaces, contemporary urban conflicts. Experiences of social mix in changing neighborhoods: the case study Milan Chinatown. In: Camp Yeakey C (ed) Living on the boundaries: urban marginality in national and international contexts. Emerald, Bristol Manzo LKC (2012b) Paesaggi ibridi della (nella) città diffusa. Via (da) Paolo Sarpi. Una ricerca etnografica nella Chinatown di Milano. In: Zanni F (ed) Urban hybridization. Maggioli, Milano McCall L (2005) The complexity of intersectionality. Signs J Women Cult Soc 30(3):1771–1800 Mills CW (1940) Situated actions and vocabularies of motive. Am Sociol Rev 5(6):904 Monteleone R, Manzo LKC (2010) Un quartiere storico in fuga dal presente. In: Bricocoli M, Savoldi P (eds) Downtown Milano. Azione pubblica e luoghi dell’abitare. Et Al. Edizioni, Milano

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Novak C (2002) Il quartiere cinese di Canonica Sarpi in bilico fra radicamento e conflitto. In: Cologna D (ed) La Cina sotto casa. Convivenza e conflitti tra cinesi e italiani in due quartieri di Milano. Franco Angeli, Milano, pp 19–26 Poggio T (2012) The housing pillar of the Mediterranean welfare regime: relations between home ownership and other dimensions of welfare in Italy. In Ronald R, Elsinga M (eds) Beyond home ownership. Housing, welfare and society. Routledge, Abingdon and New York Rankin KN (2008) Commercial change in Toronto’s West-Central neighbourhoods. University of Toronto, Cities Centre Rose D (2004) The uneasy cohabitation of gentrification and ‘social mix’: a case study of residents of infill condominiums in montreal. In: INRS-Urbanisation, Culture et Société (April). Montréal, Québec Sandercock L (1998) Towards cosmopolis: planning for multicultural cities. Wiley, London Sandercock L (2003) Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century. Continuum International Publishing Group, London and New York Sarica F (2008) Drinking Milan. VICE magazine Sennett R (1999) The spaces of democracy. In: Beauregard R, Body-Gendrot S (eds) The urban moment. Cosmopolitan essays on the late 20th century city. Sage, London Simmel G (1997) The sociology of space. In: Frisby M, David, Featherstone (eds) Simmel on culture: selected writings. Sage Publications, London, pp 137–169 Slater T (2013) Gentrification of the city. In: Bridge G, Watson S (eds) The new Blackwell companion to the city. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford Smith N (1979) Toward a theory of gentrification a back to the city movement by capital, not people. J Am Plann Assoc 45(4):538–548 Smith N (1987) Gentrification and the rent gap. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77(3):462–465 Smith N (1996) The new urban frontier: gentrification and the revanchist city. Routledge, London and New York Tonkiss F (2005) Space, the city and social theory: social relations and urban forms. Polity, Cambridge Valentine G (2008) Living with difference: reflections on geographies of encounter. Prog Hum Geogr 32:323–337 Van Eck et al. (2020) The ambiguity of diversity: management of ethnic and class transitions in a gentrifying local shopping street Urban Studies 57(16):3299–3314. https://doi.org/10.1177/004 2098019897008 Vertovec S (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethn Racial Stud 30(6):1024–1054 Yeoh B (2004) Cosmopolitanism and its exclusions in Singapore. Urb Stud 41:2431–2445 Young IM (2002) Inclusion and democracy. Oxford University Press, Oxford Zukin S (1982) Loft living. Culture and capital in urban change. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London Zukin S (1995) The cultures of cities. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford Zukin S (1996) Space and symbols in an age of decline. In King AD (ed) Re-presenting the city: ethnicity, capital and culture in the 21st-century metropolis. New York University Press, New York Zukin S (2010) Naked city. The death and life of authentic urban places. Oxford University Press, New York

Chapter 5

Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods

Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody. —Jane Jacobs (1961).

Abstract A critical discussion of the gentrification of Milan Chinatown after the riots in Paolo Sarpi street requires analyzing the area’s physical, economic, and social change longitudinally. This chapter discusses both the role played by the main actors in the gentrification process and the socioeconomic drivers of change. It also examines the failure of the local government and the speculative market interests that have led to a damaging aestheticization of diversity in the process of value creation in this predominantly Chinese multiethnic neighborhood. Keywords Gentrification · Urban diversity · Territorialization of difference · Commodification of diversity · Experience economy · Chinatown · Milan

5.1 Introduction A critical discussion of the gentrification of Milan Chinatown after the riots in Paolo Sarpi street requires analyzing the area’s physical, economic, and social change longitudinally. The transformation of the public and commercial spaces of the area’s main street—Via Paolo Sarpi—is of special significance to such a discussion. This study examines both the role of the main actors and the socioeconomic drivers of change, paying particular attention to the effects of public management and corporatist/speculative interests in the process of urban value creation. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the study investigates the interaction between the territorialization of difference and the aestheticization of diversity in this predominantly Chinese multiethnic neighborhood. As Bricocoli and Cucca (2012) have argued, the Milan context requires focusing on mixité (social diversity) and exploring the living conditions of underrepresented groups. Doing so may allow us to develop policies that balance market interests against socially sustainable urban planning. This study, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_5

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therefore, wishes to reflect on the urban life of a neighborhood, the changes it has undergone, and the practices of those who inhabit it.

5.2 The Changing Face of Multiethnic Neighborhoods and the Territorialization of Difference: Creating Division or Value? The transformations that have taken place in Milan Sarpi neighborhood are an excellent case for scholars interested in the relationship between migration and urban change. This is particularly true with reference to the territorialization of difference (Cancelleri 2014), its effects in terms of conflict/resistance (Manzo 2012b) and the processes of value creation based on the consumption and aestheticization of difference (Zukin 2008, 2010). This study views the city primarily as a site of division and inequality (Harvey 1973; Marcuse 1989; Mollenkopf and Castells 1991; Fainstein et al. 1992; Brenner and Theodore 2002). Therefore, it places significant emphasis on the notion of spatial justice,1 which is articulated with the literature on gentrification,2 migration-induced urban change,3 and difference. Gentrification is usually explained using theories of production and consumption. In other words, it is seen as a result of speculative real estate investments (Smith 1979; Clark 1998) or the changing lifestyles of the middle and upper classes (Ley 1987). The consumption choices of these classes (Santoro et al. 2008) are based on a “gentrification aesthetic” (Bridge 2001; Manzo 2013a) that generates symbols and models aimed at creating social distinction (Bourdieu 1984) and redefining class boundaries (Lamont and Fournier 1992; Lamont and Molnár 2002). Gentrification presupposes the existence of a sufficient number of residents who are interested in moving to the area in question,4 which must be desirable in terms of everyday life (Zukin 1998; Annunziata 2009; Annunziata and Manzo 2013). For example, the area must include places of consumption, entertainment, and recreation; it must also be well connected to places of work and urban services. Its real estate must be affordable 1

See also the special issue edited by Cancellieri and Ostanel (2014) in the journal Mondi Migranti. The term “gentrification” usually refers to the process by which poorer urban neighbourhoods and former industrial areas are redeveloped as a result of an influx of private capital and middleclass homeowners and renters (Glass 1964; Smith 1979, 1996; Lees et al. 2008; Slater 2013). In Milan, another interesting case is the Isola neighbourhood, which Caselli and Ferreri (2013) have investigated in terms of the power relations and interests among the various actors involved in the area’s transformation. 3 See, for example, Arrigoni (2011) and Alietti (2012) on the stigmatization in Padova street, and Marzorati (2010) on the development of migrant entrepreneurship in two neighborhoods in north-west Milan. 4 This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as back-to-the-city movement. It was first documented in the USA during the 1970s when white young people with high cultural capital and progressive political values rejected the suburban residential myth of their parents and sought a new urban lifestyle (see Hyra 2014). 2

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GENTRIFICATION, 1 «One by one, many of the working class neighbourhoods of London have been invaded by the middle class - upper and lower… Once this process of ‘gentrification’ starts in a district it goes on rapidly, until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.» Ruth Glass (1964, p.

xvii).

«Precisely because the language of gentrification tells the truth about the class shift involved in the ‘regeneration’ of the city, it has become a dirty word to developers, politicians and financiers.» Neil Smith (2002, p. 445).

Displacement of residents with scarse economic resources of the neighborhood Aesthetic and functional improvement of the area Increase in the value of real estate assets

GENTRIFICATION, 2 «Gentrification commonly occurs in urban areas where prior disinvestment in the urban infrastructure creates opportunities for profitable redevelopment, where the needs and concerns of business and policy elites are met at the expense of urban residents affected by work instability, unemployment, and stigmatization. It also occurs in those societies where a loss of manufacturing employment and an increase in service employment has led to expansion in the amount of middle-class professionals with a disposition towards central city living and an associated rejection of suburbia.» Tom Slater, (2013, p. 572). «Gentrification gets widespread attention, but is often unanticipated. Despite its visible prominence and material effects, it is not the most important urban trend. And, although local residents and shops disappear when housing prices rise and a neighborhood is “gentrified,” it is not a narrow process of gentrification, but a powerful nexus of ambitions and investment that is responsible for their displacement.» Sharon Zukin (2016, p. 202). «[D]espite the new middle classes' desire for diversity and difference they tend to self-segregate and, far from being tolerant, gentrification is part of an aggressive, revanchist ideology designed to retake the inner city for the middle classes. In light of this, it is argued that these new policies of social mixing require critical attention with regard to their ability to produce an inclusive urban renaissance and the potentially detrimental gentrifying effects they may inflict on the communities they intend to help.» Loretta Lees (2008, p. 2449).

Transition from Fordism to post-Fordism Growth of urban service and cultural economies Desire for diversity and difference

Plate 5.1 Part a and b gentrification theories

(prices are usually low due to previous divestment) and aesthetically stimulating (Ley 2003). The neighborhood must be primarily inhabited by working-class residents or people who have lower incomes compared to those of the gentrifiers5 (a summary of the theories of gentrification is provided in Plate 5.1 part a and part b). Inequality is key to the gentrification process. The shift from the have-nots to the haves that is at the core of gentrification does not take place only through displacement.6 It is also linked to the differential access to positional and symbolic goods within the urban space. According to Annunziata (2014), even though residents have mostly not been displaced from Milan Chinatown, the area is still experiencing gentrification in the shape of cultural change. Manzo (2012a) supports this view by noting 5

One should note here that these demographic and structural conditions are always contextdependent. 6 Displacement is defined here as the movement of working-class residents to other areas determined by market forces.

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how the high level of home ownership and low residential mobility7 in the Italian property market means that a significant substitution of residents in the short-medium term is extremely unlikely. To study the cultural and commercial gentrification of a neighborhood, it is necessary to examine its effects on the practices of everyday life. Long-term residents may feel unease due to changes in the social composition of the neighborhood and the way the area is used, including shops and places of entertainment becoming too elegant and expensive. This experience of discomfort and pressure (Marcuse 1985; Slater 2009) is crucial to the gentrification process and reveals a “moral suffering” (Manzo 2012b: 23) that can reach unsustainable levels. When this happens, even those residents who have the right to remain might decide to leave the neighborhood for good. In a changing multiethnic area, the relationship between gentrification and diversity is complex and paradoxical (Annunziata and Manzo 2013; Brown-Saracino 2009; Tissot 2014). One of its aspects is the transformation of places into sites of consumer experience. While diversity (in all its forms) is a necessary condition to anchor the gentrification process, the opposite is not true. When gentrification intensifies, the multiplication of bourgeois urban forms erodes diversity instead of contributing to it. The interplay between gentrification, diversity, and the territorialization of difference is thus influenced by policies, real estate and commercial investments, sociocultural changes, and people’s possible resistance to these factors.

5.3 The Gentrification of Sarpi Street To understand “the entirety of this transformation” (Hackworth and Smith 2001: 466), the gentrification of Sarpi street has been analyzed following its various phases (see Fig. 5.1). The first one, which took place at the end of the 1980s, saw the gradual substitution of the working classes by the small and middle bourgeoisie. This change was linked to the decline of artisanal activities run by Italian residents and the growth of Chinese wholesale retail. In the second phase, Sarpi street became a strategic commercial site, which eventually led to the unrest of 2007. The evocative power of this urban crisis (Allasino et al. 2000) highlighted the anomaly8 of wholesale retail in the area and thrust it under the media and political spotlight. Although the local government admitted that the kind of commerce in question was not suitable for a central residential neighborhood, it chose to levy fines for traffic law violations instead of dealing with the problem holistically. This failure is ultimately what generated the negative feelings of Italian residents and shop owners, 7

In Italy, including in Milan, roughly 75% of the population own their home. In a context in which renting reaches only 20%, therefore, even though a certain degree of displacement might take place, a significant substitution of residents will not happen in the short-medium term (see also Poggio 2012). 8 In 1998, the Bersani Law allowed regional and municipal governments to decide which commercial activities should be opened in a given area. Milan, however, never exercised this power.

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Fig. 5.1 Milan Chinatown development of gentrification from the 1980s to 2015. Graphic design by Tommaso Romagnoli

who often spoke of having been betrayed by the local government.9 However, very similar feelings have also been harbored by the local Chinese population, as the following quote shows: First they allowed us to open our shops here, and now they want to drive us away using excuses – let’s call them indirect ways, to use a euphemism… Their actions are unpleasant. They rely on fines and strict controls! (Jianyi Lin, 34, engineer, Associna’s representative for northern Italy. Interview date: November 2008).

Views such as Jianyi’s are key to understanding the stereotypes put forward by the local media (see Fig. 5.2). These have focused on an alleged “Chinatown danger” (Manzo 2007; Tarantino and Tosoni 2009; Briata 2013) that the then-mayor Moratti10 took advantage of to legitimize its government’s hampering of Chinese wholesale businesses. What is the avowed aim of the pedestrianized area? To drive away the wholesalers. We didn’t do it because we want to improve the air quality in Sarpi street, but because we want 9

Several protests have been led by residents’ associations (e.g., Vivisarpi) and local business groups (e.g., Ales, which includes both Italians and Chinese, and Sarpi doc, which comprises “traditional” Italian shops). 10 Letizia Moratti was mayor of Milan between 2006 and 2011. She was supported by the center-right coalition Casa delle Libertà.

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5 Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods to get rid of these people! (Riccardo De Corato, vice-mayor of Milan during the Moratti administration. Interview date: December 2008).

Multiethnic neighborhoods are characterized by a plurality of informal processes. Governing them, therefore, requires a form of adaptive planning and management

Fig. 5.2 Media representation of the clashes that took place in the Sarpi area on April 12, 2007, a selection of local newspapers (the titles read as follow in English: Chinatown uprising: the Milan banlieue explodes; urban violence, guerrilla warfare in downtown; rebels for the first time rebels in Milan’s Chinatown; yellow fever; red flag flies over Milan; but Moratti [the city mayor] doesn’t give up: away from Sarpi all wholesalers). Source Manzo (2007)

5.3 The Gentrification of Sarpi Street

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(Tosi 1997). In contrast, previous studies have shown that the Moratti administration used discriminatory policies that were allegedly intended to benefit the area’s residents but were instruments of financial and real estate speculation (Hatziprokopiou and Montagna 2012; Manzo 2012c). The pedestrianization of Sarpi street began under the Moratti administration in 2010. However, it was completed the following year by the new mayor, Pisapia.11 The year 2011 is a turning point in the political history of the city, and the same can be said of the transformations that have happened in the Sarpi neighborhood. Despite abandoning a discourse of fear toward migrants, the local government has still not achieved its goal of creating social cohesion. Local tensions have not been canceled. They have gone from being direct and explicit (e.g., the riots, the discriminatory policies) to being indirect and implicit (e.g., the commercial investments, the area’s aesthetics, the strategic projects).

5.3.1 The Sarpi Pedestrian Area: Food, Music, Art, and Design The local government spent approximately 5.5 million euro to pedestrianize Sarpi street. The pedestrian area, subdivided into three subenvironments, is only accessible to authorized vehicles and is under video surveillance (there are five video cameras). The new street plan is on one level and does not have sidewalks. It is paved with beola cobblestones, and there are 650 m2 , green flowerbeds on either side of the street. Thirty-six holm trees adorn the principal intersections (Fig. 5.3). To verify whether these changes have been successful, the neighborhood’s commercial activities were surveyed.12 The results show that Chinese businesses are still predominant. As given in Table 5.1, 71% of premises are owned and run by Chinese; of these, 16% are wholesale activities. These data are very interesting, especially when compared to those concerning the other local businesses. In the services sector, there is a balance between Italians (17%) and Chinese (15%). On the contrary, among the small shops, the Chinese have 40% of the total. The key aspects, therefore, are the small presence of wholesalers and the large one of retailers. In both cases, the Chinese are the protagonists (see also a graphic elaboration in Plate 5.2). To shed light on the overall trend, the above data were compared to those of a survey carried out in 2009 (Table 5.2). Eight years after the attempts to reduce the presence of Chinese wholesalers began, there has been a 20% decrease in their numbers. However, there has also been a 15% rise in the number of Chinese retailers. As the total of the two kinds of businesses has not changed substantially between 2009

11

Giuliano Pisapia was Milan’s first center-left-wing mayor in twenty years. The survey was conducted in the following streets: Sarpi, Bramante, Montello, Rosmini, Niccolini, Lomazzo, and Signorelli.

12

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Fig. 5.3 “Via Sarpi si fa BELLA” (Sarpi street gets BEAUTIFUL), Flyer of the requalification work for the pedestrianization of Paolo Sarpi street in 2010 (the graphics explain in Italian the details of the materials used for the new street furniture: beola slabs for sidewalks, granite street curbs, plants, etc.). Source www.comune.milano.it Table 5.1 Ethnicity of the business owners and the types of businesses in the Sarpi neighborhood (February 2015)

Retail

Italians

Chinese

12

40

Total 52 16

Wholesale

–

16

Services

17

15

32

Total

29

71

100

Percentage values (N = 389) Source The author

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COMMERCIAL DATA The Sarpi Street

CHINESE VS ITALIAN ACTIVITIES

wholesale

general

Chinese Italian

retail

2014 Source: graphic elaboration on data

2009

collected by the author in 2009 and 2014

Plate 5.2 Commercial data Table 5.2 Types of Chinese-owned enterprises in the Sarpi neighborhood in 2009 and 2015. Percentage values

Feb 2009

Feb 2015

Retail

25

40

Variation + 15

Wholesale

36

16

− 20

Services

11

15

+4

Total

72

71

−1

Source The author

(72%) and 2015 (71%), one may suggest that Chinese entrepreneurs are converting wholesale trade into retail or delocalizing the former.13 Concerning the new pedestrianized area, the main changes have taken place among the Italian enterprises: Retail ones have decreased by 14%, while services ones have increased by 5%. Places of entertainment and consumption seem to have become the key commercial sites in Sarpi street, which reflects the wider trend discussed by Bell (2007: 9): “Sites where people eat and drink have become central components of all the neighborhoods under regeneration. These sites can attract new residents and become highly sought-after gastronomic destinations.” On her part, Sassatelli (2007: 169) believes that restaurants represent “key institutions of consumption and [that] 13

In the Milan province, the main sites of Chinese wholesale trade are Lacchiarella and Agrate. The area around Prato in Tuscany represents a valid alternative in northern Italy.

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Table 5.3 Food and drink businesses on Sarpi street

Feb 2009

Feb 2015

Variation

Italians

6

20

+ 14

Chinese

5

24

+ 19

Total

11

44

+ 33

Percentage values (N = 216 in 2015) Source The author

eating out is one of the most popular contemporary recreational activities.” This view is confirmed by the evolution of food and drink enterprises (e.g., restaurants, wine shops, pubs, bars, ice cream shops) in Sarpi street between 2009 and 2015. Table 5.3 shows a significant increase (33%), with Italian businesses trailing Chinese ones 14–19% (see also a graphic map of the Milan’s Chinatown commercial strip in Plate 5.3). Once a manufacturing area, the Sarpi neighborhood is now engaged in a new type of production—that of culture. As a result of a process of constant aestheticization, the neighborhood has become a focal point for the creative and entertainment industries. Chinese entrepreneurs have played a key role in this process, driven by the commodification of ethno-cultural diversity (Aytar & Rath, 2012). The pedestrianization of the area seems to have changed “the skin and the soul” of Sarpi street (Manzo 2012b). On one hand, this change is seen with favor by residents and visitors; on the other, it can lead to the re-emergence of an anti-Chinese discourse. The police constantly patrol the area. Some residents, moreover, have organized initiatives to push an agenda of urban decorum: MAPPING THE MILAN CHINATOWN COMMERCIAL STRIP Paolo Sarpi Street CHINESE VS ITALIAN ACTIVITIES

73%

Italian activities

32%

Italian

68%

Chinese Source: graphic elaboration on data collected by the author in 2014

Plate 5.3 Mapping commercial data

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He keeps everything there. I get so angry when I leave the building. There’s always this damned Chinese who occupies the sidewalk with his little trolleys full of mops and cardboard boxes. There’s such a lack of education, of aesthetic sense. That’s what I hate. I really hate it. I’m not against the Chinese. That’s your job? Ok, but do it with some decency. You should respect others. That’s why we organized “Let’s clean our neighborhood”! (Mariella, 67, pensioner, former manager. Interview date: April 2013).

Mariella is referring here to an educational project organized in collaboration with the municipal waste collection company. Taking advantage of her cultural and social capital, she spearheaded the project: So, we contacted the company and the local government. Then I called this friend of mine who is a famous journalist and we scheduled an appointment with the managing director to introduce the project to them. They gave us the go-ahead. I went to the local priest, don Liu, and asked him for some boys who could act as translators. In the end, we wrote a whole rulebook in Chinese on how to confer your rubbish (Mariella, same interview).

The excerpt above highlights the corrosive effects of diversity among the classes (Hackworth and Smith 2001) and the role that everyday practices such as dealing with waste can play in ethnic relations. But they’re not educated, they’re just not educated… They’re all the same. If you take them individually, you might find a clever one. But the rest of them really are mules. Do you know what I mean? On Saturdays and Sundays, all their shops are open. These people don’t enjoy life, they just work! (Mariella, same interview)

The problem here seems to be not so much one of ethnic conflict but aesthetic decorum in a public space. What Mariella’s case shows is the role of powerful moral evaluations (Manzo 2013b: 49) and the desire by middle- and upper-class people to convey and reproduce their social status (Mills 1951). The new pedestrian area has led to an increase and a diversification of cultural events. Historically, the only celebrations in the area were linked to individual streets and the Chinese New Year. At present, though, the neighborhood is engaged in a constant flow of activities that underscore the “growth of the event economy in this territory” (Citroni 2012: 90). The remodeling of urban practices through the organization of festivals (Johansson and Kociatkiewicz 2011) does not appear to be aimed at creating inclusion, however. Rather, it seems to be a promotional strategy for the consumption of the “sociability experiences” created by the events themselves. In 2013, for instance, the Art in Sarpi festival represented an attempt to reconstruct a new “geography of fun” by promoting those shops that were deemed to be the most fashionable, or to have more “style” as Milanese people would say (Fig. 5.4). As part of the event, about one hundred artists and designers used the shop windows of local restaurants, barber shops and butcher shops, and even people’s balconies, as temporary galleries. This artistic representation of the neighborhood was also developed through a promotional video14 and a blog.15 The festival’s general message

14 15

See Giacomo Favilla’s teaser at https://youtu.be/g1EnTSSIRzc. See www.arteinsarpi.wordpress.com.

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Fig. 5.4 Art in Sarpi 2013, Milan Chinatown initiative flyer

to the public is exemplified by a newspaper article entitled Transforming Chinatown with art.16 Only a month after Art in Sarpi, the first edition of Jazz in Sarpi was held (see Fig. 5.5). This event combined music, food, and wine by setting up temporary stages in front of bars and restaurants. Both festivals were organized with the input of the owner of a historic neighborhood bakery, who is also a member of the Sarpi doc association. In his words: “The goal isn’t just to redevelop the street and give it a more commercial feeling for the Expo. We want to relaunch the entire area and turn it into a strategic site.”17 These examples testify to a complex picture of actors and economic interests that by deploying a discourse of community well-being legitimize a political agenda aimed at creating new financial value for real estate holders (Logan and Molotch 1987; Molotch 1976). This phenomenon is a product of the return to urban life that sees “the city center becoming once more, and unexpectedly, precious and perversely lucrative” (Smith 1996: 6). The art installation in Sarpi street for the thirteenth edition of the Fuorisalone Sarpi Bridge is another pragmatic example (Fig. 5.6). On the outside, this work of art looked like a takeaway food container. Inside it, however, the visitor found a 16

The article was written by Luca Testoni and appeared on Il Giornale on 8 June 2013. The excerpt is taken from the newspaper article Sarpi street, a crystal ceiling for the Chinatown ‘gallery’, written by Laura Asnaghi for La Repubblica on 23 July 2013.

17

5.3 The Gentrification of Sarpi Street

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Fig. 5.5 Jazz in Sarpi 2013, Milan Chinatown initiative flyer

traditional Chinese representation.18 The work was created by the artists and activists of Far Waste and was part of the Milan spin-off of Paratissima, the prominent street art festival held in Turin’s multiethnic neighborhood of San Salvario since 2008.19 The examination of the gentrification of a multiethnic neighborhood requires not only the consideration of real estate speculations but also an attention to the commodification of diversity in the creation of new destinations of the cultural and creative industries (Zukin, 2004, 2008, 2010). What is also interesting in this case is that, when it comes to creating new value out of the diversity of multiethnic neighborhoods, capital flows move strategically from one creative industry destination (Paratissima in Turin) to another (Fuorisalone Sarpi Bridge in Milan). They often promote creative networks in gentrifying neighborhoods, where spaces are abundant, and rents are more affordable. Giving new value to urban areas also entails innovation. In Sarpi street, two services exemplify this aspect: Impact Hub and Presso. The first one is a coworking space, which is part of a larger international network. Impact Hub offers young entrepreneurs and creative people a place to learn, access resources, develop new relationships, and find opportunities. Presso is a start-up company created by three young entrepreneurs that rents open-plan kitchens. In addition to having Sarpi street as their headquarters, these two initiatives have in common a specific philosophy based on the idea of sharing experiences:

18

This event is entirely dedicated to Oriental design and is linked to Milan’s prominent furniture exhibition, the Salone del Mobile. 19 For the San Salvario case, including its gentrification, see Bolzoni (2019) and Semi (2004).

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5 Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods

Fig. 5.6 Art installation for the 2013 Design Fair Fuorisalone Sarpi Bridge

Being part of the Impact Hub community means more than sharing a workspace. It means meeting extraordinary people and projects daily, in a place you can call home.20

The concept of sharing is key both for the people who network at Impact Hub and for the clients of Presso, Italy’s first cook-sharing business, a service that allows one to rent a kitchen to organize a dinner with friends, enjoy a designer living room, and perhaps hire a chef to cook. Thus, when I ask Fabio, one of the founders of Presso, to explain their philosophy, he speaks to me of the desire to recreate a domestic atmosphere: This is what we are looking for. We live in a society that no longer chooses goods as such; we choose the values that accompany the goods. This is what determines the price of a good or service. We offer a service. So, in my opinion, what’s lacking today is a certain atmosphere, which we can call a domestic atmosphere! (Fabio, 32, founding member of Presso. Interview date: February 2013).

These cases show how the intermediaries of gentrification—the entrepreneurs— help clients live “a meaningful experience [and] feel in a certain way, they provide them with the cognitive and emotional tools they need to read and enjoy the scene they are entering” (Sassatelli 2004: 204). As already mentioned above, the hospitality and entertainment sectors are at the core of Sarpi street’s transformation. Investment is being directed toward an “economy of the experience” (Pine and Gilmore 2011) and of the spectacle-event, both of which are linked to processes of urban aestheticization as it is further evident in the artistic light display installed on the façade of Presso during Fuorisalone 2014, shown in Fig. 5.7. 20

This quote is taken from http://milan.impacthub.net (accessed November 2014).

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Fig. 5.7 Light installation on the façade of Presso-Cook Sharing in Sarpi street during the Fuorisalone design “Romeo and Juliet” event in 2014. Source www.presso.it

5.3.2 Future Expectations: The Dangers, Challenges, and Opportunities of Difference Future projects for the Sarpi area are also based on the idea of creating new value out of the neighborhood. These projects are in keeping with those of the previous administration and are aimed at attracting a new “creative class” (Fig. 5.8): We are looking for creative, young people. You could talk of gentrification led by university graduates. The true challenge for a city is to create the right conditions to attract the people you want to see in a given place (Carlo Masseroli, councilor responsible for territorial development of the Moratti administration. Interview date: November 2008).

In this context, one of the newest projects is Porta Volta. This entails the redevelopment of 17,000 m2 between Crispi avenue and Pasubio avenue. The architect Herzog is overseeing the project (Fig. 5.9). Two twin buildings will host the new headquarters of the famous Italian publisher Feltrinelli, as well as conference spaces, shops, a bookstore, and an underground parking lot. A third building will be used by the municipality as offices. The area will include many green spaces and pedestrian and cycling routes. Another important site of redevelopment is the area that belonged to the national energy provider Enel, opposite the monumental cemetery, which occupies 31,000 m2 . The investment here amounts to more than e60 million. This sum will be used to build a hotel, shops, offices, residential properties, and the new headquarters of the

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5 Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods

Fig. 5.8 Cartographic representations of the redevelopment projects in the Milan Chinatown. At the bottom right Sarpi is between historic central sites (white), redevelopment projects (violet) and tertiary axes (dotted line)

Fig. 5.9 Porta Volta redevelopment at the edge of Milan Chinatown, rendering view. Source www. herzogdemeuron.com

Association for Industrial Design, which will include a museum. A new underground railway station will also be built to better connect the neighborhood to the rest of the city. All these projects are expected to increase the value of the local real estate (Fig. 5.10).

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91

New station of the subway Line 5 (Monumentale stop)

Ex Enel redevelopment - 7.681 m2 Mix of functions: residential, commercial, green spaces

Feltrinelli Headquarter - 17.268 m2 - Feltrinelli Foundation - City of Milan offices - Library

Fig. 5.10 Future redevelopment projects in the Sarpi area

Regarding everyday life in the neighborhood, it is still unclear to what extent residents continue to feel tension and conflict, especially as a result of the ambiguities of the measures taken to diminish the Chinese presence. Contradictory information and fear of the future seem to abound. I believe the pedestrianization has been one of the most important elements, and I claim it as one of our achievements. What we haven’t achieved… I’m still concerned that we will drift back towards Chinatown, towards a bad Chinatown… A neighborhood that follows other rules (Pier Franco, 71, pensioner, former engineer, president of the Vivisarpi association. Interview date: June 2014).

Pedestrianizing Sarpi street has improved the quality of the public space. The problems linked to businesses loading and unloading their goods are now limited to the secondary roads. Despite the persistence of these problems, most residents believe that the new pedestrianized area has contributed to improving local business21 and the neighborhood’s image. As one resident explained: “Now people come here also because it’s become an innovative place, because it’s a Chinatown” The neighborhood groups and associations are still divided, however. Despite the local government’s attempts to coordinate them,22 these groups work largely in a fragmented manner, reflecting their different interests (e.g., residents’ quality of life, commerce, investment opportunities, promoting culture, bringing people together). The Chinese perspective is perhaps summed up in the following words: One of our main goals is to change the image of the Chinese entrepreneur! We also want to create a dialogue with the local institutions. We wish to act as mediators to achieve better 21

Initially, small shops suffered as a result of the limiting of vehicular traffic in December 2008 and of the various phases of pedestrianization that ended in 2011. 22 These attempts have been led by the municipality’s zone councils 1 and 8.

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5 Gentrification in Multiethnic Neighborhoods economic integration, which means talking to the various sector associations, such as Confartigianato and Confcommercio. We are doing this very slowly (Francesco, 34, entrepreneur, president of the Italian-Chinese Young Entrepreneurs’ Union, Associna’s representative for northern Italy).

The recurring theme among committee representatives is their request for the Municipality to provide clear and urban politics on the future of the neighborhood. Some attempts to facilitate the discourse were explored through local interzone meetings, as the neighborhood is divided into two administrative districts: Zone 1 (historic center) and Zone 8 (Lorenteggio, Baggio, San Siro): There was the opportunity to conduct this meeting to allow the different representatives to understand the status of the neighborhood in the moment in which there was a necessity, a desire to create an initiative, here you go guys, you know who you are, talk to each other and help each other out (…) don’t get into a frenzy because of some old questions, conflicts… if there is an association that wants to organize something, approach them and create a sort of collective festival! In conclusion, all of these things seem to have some difficulties in emerging every once in a while, but because of personal behaviors (Igor, 36 years of age, Professional and group head at the Zona 8 Counsel of the Municipality of Milan. Interviewed May 2013). Most members of the local groups and associations believe that the neighborhood “lacks cohesion” and that “facts do not follow words.” Some people mention the local saying chi vusa più se la vaca le sua (“the person who shouts the most gets the cow”), signaling that despite much talk of community harmony, there is still a sense of prevarication. Because the point of all this, the meeting to introduce the associations, their realities… is to make them collaborate, to make them share, to call on each other, in a dream, in utopia to say great, you are all here, everyone with their own diversity that shouldn’t be a source of fragmentation but rather of enrichment (Igor, in the same interview).

The newest projects mentioned above, however, seem to have gained the favor of almost all the interest groups. The participants in a collaborative workshop23 mentioned the neighborhood’s central position, its architectural heritage, and the multicultural context as important resources for creating a cultural hub. This project could coordinate the aesthetics of place by improving street furniture and the practices of shop owners and visitors, as well as nurture a form of territorial marketing. Residents and entrepreneurs, Italian and Chinese alike, believe that culture can be at the core of a “new Chinatown” As we learned at the beginning of this book, diversity represents the new guiding principle for city planners (Fainstein 2005). At the same time, characterizations of Chinatown as “different in a good way” help to reinforce this ideology and help diversity to remain a positively viewed, and thus marketable, phenomenon. In this manner, the use of destination branding and marketing, the practice of Othering, and how Chineseness is celebrated make dynamics of social exclusion persist and 23

“Planning a new atmosphere for via Sarpi” was the title of a community collaborative workshop conducted by the author in April 2013.

References

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illustrate the difficulty of using diversity to foster both justice and growth. The following, concluding chapter will draw from the findings of this chapter and to highlight the paradoxes of the politics of diversity in the gentrification of multiethnic neighborhoods.

References Aalbers MB (2011) A socio-spatial approach. In: Place, exclusion, and mortgage markets. WileyBlackwell, Oxford Allasino E, Bobbio L, Neri S (2000) Crisi Urbane: che cosa succede dopo? Le politiche per la gestione della conflittualità legata all’immigrazione. Polis XIV(3):431–449. https://doi.org/10. 1424/2849 Alietti A (2009) Quei soggetti spinti ai confini della società. Note critiche sul concetto di coesione sociale. Animazione Sociale 6/7:12–19 Alietti A (2012) Stigmatizzazione territoriale, stato di eccezione e quartieri multietnici: una riflessione critica a partire dal caso di Milano. In: Cancellieri A, Scandurra G (eds) Tracce urbane. Alla ricerca della città. Franco Angeli, Milano Annunziata S (2009) Urbanity and Desire: neighborhood change in contemporary economy. The case of Brooklyn. In: Qu L, Yang C, Hui X et al (eds) The new urban question. Urbanism beyond neo-liberalism. International Forum on Urbanism, Delft Annunziata S (2014) Gentrification and public policies in Italy. In: Calafati AG (eds) The changing Italian cities: emerging imbalances and conflicts. GSSI Urban Studies—Working Papers 6, L’Aquila Annunziata S, Manzo LKC (2013) Desire for diversity and difference in gentrified Brooklyn. Dialogue between a planner and a sociologist. Cambio. Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali 6 (Cities and neighborhood undergoing transformation, December), pp 71–88 Arrigoni P (2011) Terre di nessuno. Come nasce la paura metropolitana. Melampo, Milano Aytar V, Rath J (eds) (2012) Selling ethnic neighborhoods: the rise of neighborhoods as places of leisure and consumption. Routledge, New York Bell D (2007) The hospitable city: social relations in commercial spaces. Prog Hum Geogr 31(1):7– 22 Bolzoni M (2019) Who shape the city? Non-profit associations and civil society initiatives in urban change processes: role and ambivalences. Partecipazione e Conflitto 12(2):436–459 Bourdieu P (1984) Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Brenner N, Theodore N (eds) (2002) Spaces of neoliberalism: urban restructuring in North America and Western Europe. Blackwell, Oxford Briata P (2013) Conflitti, risorse e politiche territoriali nella ‘Chinatown’ di Milano: narrazioni a confronto. Archivio Di Studi Urbani e Regionali, Franco Angeli 106(1):134–141 Bricocoli M, Cucca R (2012) Mix Sociale: da categoria analitica a strumento delle politiche? Una riflessione a partire dal caso milanese. Archivio Di Studi Urbani e Regionali XLIII(105):143–152 Bridge G (2001) Estate agents as interpreters of economic and cultural capital: the gentrification premium in the sydney housing market. Int J Urb Region Res 25(1) Brown-Saracino J (2009) A neighborhood that never changes: gentrification, social preservation, and the search for authenticity. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Cancellieri A (2014) Giustizia spaziale: una nuova prospettiva per gli studi sull’ immigrazione ? Mondi Migranti 1:121–136 Cancellieri A, Ostanel E (2014) Immigrazione e giustizia spaziale. Pratiche, politiche e immaginari. Mondi Migranti 1:23–24

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Caselli D, Ferreri M (2013) Acting in the emerging void. Notes on gentrification at Isola. In: Isola Art Center (ed) Fight-specific isola: art, architecture, activism and the future of the CityMil. Archive Books, Milano, pp 335–361 Citroni S (2012) Rigenerare la vita pubblica con il barbecue? Animazione Sociale 42:89–98 Clark E (1998) The rent-gap and transformation of the built environment: case studies in Malmo 1860–1985. Geografiska Annaler Ser B Hum Geogr 70(2):241–254 Fainstein SS (2005) Cities and Diversity. Urban Aff Rev 41(1):3–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/107 8087405278968 Fainstein S, Gordon I, Harloe M (eds) (1992) Divided cities: New York and London in the contemporary world. Blackwell, Oxford Glass R (1964) Introduction: aspects of change. In: Centre for Urban Studies (ed) London: aspects of change. MacKibbon e Kee, pp xiii–xlii Hackworth J, Smith N (2002, 2001) The changing state of gentrification Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 92(4):464–477. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.2001.92.issue-4, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9663.00172. Harvey D (1973) Social justice and the city. Edward Arnold, London Hatziprokopiou P, Montagna N (2012) Contested Chinatown: Chinese migrants ’ incorporation and the urban space in London and Milan. Ethnicities 12(6):706–729 Hyra DS (2014) The back-to-the-city movement: neighborhood redevelopment and processes of political and cultural displacement. Urb Stud 1–21 Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities. Random House Johansson M, Kociatkiewicz J (2011) City festivals: creativity and control in staged urban experiences. Eur Urb Reg Stud 18(4):392–405 Lamont M (1992) Money, morals, and manners: the culture of the French and American uppermiddle class. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Lamont M, Fournier M (eds) (1992) Cultivating differences: symbolic boundaries and the making of inequality. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Lamont M, Molnár V (2002) The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Ann Rev Sociol 28(1):167–195 Lees L (2008) Gentrification and social mixing: towards an inclusive urban renaissance? Urb Stud 45(12):2449–2470 Lees L, Slater T, Wyly EK (2008) Gentrification. Routledge, London Lefèbvre H (1991) The production of space. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford Ley D (1987) Reply: the rent gap revisited. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77(3):465–468 Ley D (2003) Artists, aestheticisation and the field of gentrification. Urb Stud 40(12):2527–2544 Logan JR, Molotch HL (1987) Urban fortunes: the political economy of place. University of California Press, Los Angeles Manzo LKC (2007) Milan, Paolo Sarpi street, April 12, 2007. The orientalistic representation of an urban revolt (in Italian). Thesis for the BA degree at the Political Science Faculty of the University of Milan Manzo LKC (2012a) On people in changing neighborhoods. Gentrification and social mix: boundaries and resistance. A comparative ethnography of two historic neighborhoods in Milan (Italy) and Brooklyn (New York, USA). Cidades, Comunidades e Territórios 24:1–29 Manzo LKC (2012b) Paesaggi ibridi della (nella) città diffusa. Via (da) Paolo Sarpi. Una ricerca etnografica nella Chinatown di Milano. In: Zanni F (ed) Urban hybridization. Maggioli, Milano Manzo LKC (2012c) Emergent spaces, contemporary urban conflicts. Experiences of social mix in changing neighborhoods: the case study Milan’s Chinatown. In: Camp Yeakey C (ed) Living on the boundaries: urban mMarginality in national and international contexts, Bristol, En: Emerald Inc, pp. 415–449. ISBN-13: 978-1780520322 Manzo LKC (2013a) Gentrificación de sensibilidades. Política y estética en un barrio en transformación de la Ciudad de Nueva York. Quid 16. Revista de Área de Estudios Urbanos No 3(Issue on ‘Ciudades neoliberales’: políticas urbanas, diseño y justicia social), 62–94

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Manzo LKC (2013b) Il Quartiere: il nostro campo di gioco. Verso una sociologia ‘spazialista’. I libri di Emil, Bologna Marcuse P (1985) Gentrification, abandonment, and displacement: connections, causes, and policy responses in New York City. J Urb Contemp Law 28:195–240 Marcuse P (1989) ‘Dual city’: a muddy metaphor for a quartered city. Int J Urban Reg Res 13(4):697– 708 Marcuse P (1993) What’s so new about divided cities? Int J Urban Reg Res 17(3):355–365 Marzorati R (2010) «Non c’entrano niente con la via» Rappresentazioni della differenza e immaginari urbani nella trasformazione commerciale di due quartieri a Milano. Rassegna Italiana Di Sociologia 3:485–510 Mills CW (1951) White collar: the american middle classes. Oxford University Press, Oxford Mollenkopf JH, Castells M (1991) Dual city: restructuring New York. Russell Sage Foundation, New York Molotch HL (1976) The city as a growth machine: toward a political economy of place. Am J Sociol 82(2):309–332 Pine BJ II, Gilmore JH (2011) The experience economy. Harvard Business Press, Boston Poggio T (2012) The housing pillar of the Mediterranean welfare regime: relations between home ownership and other dimensions of welfare in Italy. In: Ronald R, Elsinga M (eds) Beyond home ownership. Housing, welfare and society. Routledge, Abingdon and New York Said EW (1978) Orientalism. Pantheon books, New York Sandercock L, Attili G (2014) Changing the lens: film as action research and therapeutic planning practice. J Plan Educ Res 34(1):19–29 Santoro M, Sassatelli R, Semi G (2008) Quello che i consumi rivelano: spazi, pratiche e confini del ceto medio. In: Bagnasco A (ed) Ceto medio. Perché e come occuparsene. Il Mulino, Bologna Sassatelli R (2004) Consumo, cultura e società. Il Mulino, Bologna Sassatelli R (2007) Consumer culture: history, theory and politics. Sage Publications, London Semi G (2004) Il quartiere che (si) distingue Un caso di «gentrification» a Torino. Studi Culturali 1(1):83–107 Slater T (2009) Missing Marcuse: on gentrification and displacement. City 13(2):292–311 Slater T (2013) Gentrification of the city. In: Bridge G, Watson S (eds) The new blackwell companion to the city. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford Smith N (1979) Toward a theory of gentrification a back to the city movement by capital, not people. J Am Plan Assoc 45(4):538–548 Smith N (1996) The new urban frontier: gentrification and the revanchist City. Routledge, London and New York Smith N (2002) New globalism, new urbanism: gentrification as global urban strategy. Antipode 34(3):427–450 Tarantino M, Tosoni S (2009) The battle of Milan: social representations of the april 12th riots by two Italian Chinese communities. In: Johanson G, Smyth R, French R (eds) Living outside the walls: the Chinese in Prato. Cambridge Scholar Publishing, London Tissot S (2014) Loving diversity/controlling diversity: exploring the ambivalent mobilization of upper-middle-class gentrifiers, south end, Boston. Int J Urban Reg Res 38(4):1181–1194 Tosi A (1997) Famiglia e abitazione. In: Barbagli M, Saraceno C (ed) La famiglia in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, pp. 130–143 Zukin S (1998) Urban lifestyles: diversity and standardisation in spaces of consumption. Urb Stud 35(5–6):825–839 Zukin S (2004) Point of purchase: how shopping changed American culture. Routledge, New York Zukin S (2008) Consuming authenticity. Cult Stud 22(5):724–748 Zukin S (2010) Naked city. The death and life of authentic urban places. Oxford University Press, New York Zukin S (2016) Gentrification in three paradoxes. City Community 15(3):202–207 Zukin S, Kasinitz P, Chen X (eds) (2015) Global cities, local streets everyday diversity from New York to Shanghai. Routledge, New York

Chapter 6

The “Style” of Milan (New) Chinatown

Yes, cities have always been brands, in the truest sense of the word. Paris is romance, Milan is style, and New York is energy. These are the brands of cities and they are inextricably tied to the histories and destinies of these places. —The Anholt City Brands Index, 2005

Abstract The interests or lifestyle of a group should not be favored simply because it is at a disadvantage. This occurred in Milan, where Chinese entrepreneurs were able to move from “being dominated” by the revanchist policies of the local government to “being the dominant” actors in the rise of a commodified multiethnic neighborhood. It is necessary to investigate whether such an action would displace other groups. This is exactly how the ambiguity of diversity emerges: On the one hand, it defines urban appeal, fosters creativity, and breeds tolerance, while on the other hand, it can undermine democracy if individuals’ loyalty to group interests or symbols is greater than their interest in the common good. This chapter finally reflects on the factors that have turned Milan Chinatown into a new “stylish” landmark for the city’s revitalization and marketing strategies. The public policies aimed at reducing the presence of low-quality ethnic shops and developing the entertainment sector, the media’s attention stemming from the Chinese protests in 2007 and subsequently fueled by the actions of “visibility” operated by various interest groups, along with the redevelopment works and the new strategic projects, the multiethnic mix of residents, entrepreneurs and users, artists and creatives, its commercial heritage, the crucial proximity to the historical city center, and the peculiar architectural and morphological characteristics that resemble a village have produced a new image of the Milan Chinatown which is tied to the consumption of diversity, creativity, “style,” and entertainment.

The original version of this chapter has been revised by updating the section title 6.2. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_8 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, corrected publication 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_6

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Keywords Gentrification · Urban diversity · Resistance · Style · Chinatown · Milan

As we have discussed in the previous chapters, this book focuses on the relationship between gentrification and discourses concerning Milan’s Chinatown by examining how the local government and entrepreneurs have “repackaged” this ethnic enclave to make it desirable for visitors in the context of the global flows of fashion and design in Milan. As part of this process, these actors have, in some ways, continued to engage with earlier discourses of Chinatown as a space of the (Chinese) other produced by the dominant Italian society. This examination enables a better understanding of the construction of Chinatown as a new cultural destination; it also illuminates the dynamics taking place between changing socioeconomic conditions and evolving discourses of place as the area undergoes gentrification. The ethnographic research underlies how ambiguities exist in both the production and consumption of diversity in the process of gentrification and resistance of Milan Chinatown. The ambiguities of diversity therefore involve “the conflation of social inclusion with economic competitiveness” (Fainstein 2005, p. 12). When diversity is commodified by making space for more high-end shops and celebrating them on a symbolic level, as in the case of Milan Chinatown, we risk to neglect “the real social diversity on the ground that needs a different approach and sensitivity” (Zukin et al. 2015, p. 122). We must be critical in our acts of resistance, especially when we can take into account the temporalities of gentrification processes. According to Annunziata and Rivas (2018), time is a crucial variable for the dynamics of resistance. One must understand the evolution across time of the positions that different actors take and the narratives they draw. From this perspective, the case of Milan Chinatown contributes to a theory of resistances to gentrification by examining the microscale of everyday life that critically engage with diversity in gentrifying neighborhoods and the formation of identities in postmodern society. (Annunziata 2017). Moreover, the interests or lifestyle of a group should not be favored simply because it is at a disadvantage. This occurred in Milan, where Chinese entrepreneurs were able to move from being dominated by the revanchist policies of the local government to being the dominant actors in the rise of a “commodified” multiethnic neighborhood. Understanding the implications of diversity is necessary to investigate if a “multicultural” approach would eventually displace other groups, or if an intergroup coalition would organize to combat displacement (see Annunziata and Lees 2016 on interclass forms of resistance to gentrification in Southern Europe). This is exactly how the ambiguity of diversity emerges: On the one hand, it defines urban appeal, fosters creativity, and breeds tolerance, while on the other hand, it can undermine democracy if individuals’ loyalty to group interests or symbols is greater than their interest in the common good. The creation of new value in Sarpi street has been largely achieved by transforming its retail and services landscape and pedestrianizing the area. These achievements highlight the increased role played by the municipality and the local

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entrepreneurs, both Italian and Chinese. They also show a “realignment of the local government’s planning activities in a business-friendly direction,” as Kelly explains: [This phenomenon] signals the adoption of an entrepreneurial and neoliberal urban governance, in keeping with a wider international trend. [This adoption] shifts the traditional model of local welfare in favour of policies aimed at attracting global financial capital. [It] promotes local economic development strategies and the revitalization of former industrial areas and historic city centres (Kelly 2014: 176).

In the case of Sarpi street, the local government has promoted redevelopment through indirect means, that is, by influencing the kind of commercial investments in the area. Hagemans et al. (2015: 108) call this “the ABC of gentrification: art galleries, boutiques and cafés.” The goal no longer seems to be to eliminate the ethnic component, but to help Chinese entrepreneurs improve the aesthetic style of their shops so as to attract a more bourgeois clientele (Fig. 6.1). Today, residents and visitors appreciate the multiethnic spectacle of the new Chinatown as a form of “visual” authenticity (Zukin 2010). However, they reject those elements of authenticity (i.e., diversity) that provoke unease or fail to live up to the standards of the middle and upper-middle classes. As Giorgio Armani observed before his show for the 2021 Milan Fashion Week, the appetites for style and capital accumulation have just been reignited in the post COVID-19 era: Milano really is the capital of innovation and change, and fashion can have a huge role in the renewal of the Italian scenario. I have been part of that movement in the ’70s and (…) this interdisciplinary aspect is what we need to bring back.1

At present, it is impossible to definitively evaluate the outcomes of this urban transformation, especially the long-term ones. Clearly, Chinese entrepreneurs have proven themselves very adaptable. They have managed to respond to the political and administrative pressure of the municipality by playing an active role in the commercial reconversion of Sarpi street, as we can see in the cover of the magazine in Fig. 6.1, where young Chinese entrepreneurs pose as the “owners.” However, the policies adopted after the protests of 2007 have focused on opening new spaces of consumption and bringing in new investment. They have thus failed to engender community participation and social cohesion (Alietti 2009). As Vitale (2012: 13) explains, “many urban conflicts do not seem to claim either a right to the city or some sort of urban revolution aimed at extending citizenship rights.” The spatial contestation that takes place in multiethnic neighborhoods highlights the failure of public institutions and of the “territorial” lever that could, in theory, guide a virtuous process of change (Bifulco and Broccoli 2010). One possibility would be to promote community-based actions and participatory processes for the creation of inclusive spaces. These actions are usually the purview of small third sector organizations. As argued by Barberis et al. (2014: 33), the Milan municipality seems unable to “confront diversity” both for structural reasons (e.g., a lack of engagement with civil 1

Article by Luke Leitch published on Vogue on June 22, 2021: https://www.vogue.com/article/mil anesi-a-milano-street-style-instagram.

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Fig. 6.1 “Se il padrone è cinese” (When the owner is Chinese) is the “L’Espresso” Italian magazine cover for an article by Fabrizio Gatti analyzing the dynamic role of a new generation of young Chinese entrepreneurs in Milan employing Italian people, June 2013

society, an inability to define clear objectives) and temporary ones (e.g., a lack of resources due to the economic crisis, migratory policies still in their infancy). The commercial upgrade of Sarpi street, along with these last research results on the desires of the local community, should force planners to reflect upon the significance of the creative industries and commodified cultural diversity in multiethnic neighborhoods. At this point in the urban transformation of Milan Chinatown, it is important to identify and possibly guide those (diabolic) synergies that can emerge when there are financial, real estate, and cultural industries interests simultaneously at play. Especially when public spaces are planned and promoted leveraging upon the development of consumption and cultural manifestations, it would be good to understand for what type of street, neighborhood, or city it is planned. We are talking about the possibility of cultural use of an urban space or are we talking about a cultural

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industry and market interests? And what can we say with reference to relationships (evermore diabolic) between gentrification processes and destinations for the cultural industry? Finally, what makes Sarpi an incubator for creativity? We would like to say that it is ethnic diversity and that sense of openness that creates—among peoples of different cultures—that clash which encourages artistic expression. Thanks to this level of detail concerning changes to a single neighborhood over 15 years, we can now fully question the current hierarchy, thus emphasizing the limits of city branding strategies even in this supposedly global age and in the most global of areas (Chinatown) and cities (Milan). The politics of diversity in gentrification processes emerge as a series of conflicted paradoxes as well as creative tensions: spaces of contact and encounter marked by a gap between the promise of positive open spaces and the reality of displacement pressures. Interestingly, as part of their resistance, the Chinese entrepreneurs dismissed the essentialism inherent to the idea that Chineseness lies in practicing specific cultural traditions or strictly upholding the values of the motherland. They were able to reshape and remarket their ethnic commercial activities through a strategic use and maneuvering of the ethnic other (Deverteuil et al. 2019). This capacity involves a conscious process of revisitation, reconstruction, and re-representation of Milan’s Chinatown, as well as of the history of the Chinese in Italy—in other words, of cultural commodification. However, this does not mean that the Chinese entrepreneurs (and the residents) have come to terms with and passively accept the social stigmas faced by Chinatown’s Chinese. On the contrary, as we saw in the detailed ethnographic account, they continue to struggle against the stigmatizing labels others have chosen to impose on them. According to this longitudinal analysis,2 the following factors have been the main gentrification drivers in Sarpi street: The public policies aimed at reducing the presence of low-quality ethnic shops and developing the entertainment sector, the media’s attention stemming from the Chinese protests in 2007, and subsequently fueled by the actions of “visibility” operated by various interest groups, along with the activities organized by local interest groups to highlight the neighborhood’s problems, the redevelopment works and the new strategic projects, and the wider process of aestheticization and cultural reconstruction promoted by local entrepreneurs. All these factors have turned Milan Chinatown into a new landmark for the city’s revitalization and marketing (Vicari and D’Ovidio 2010; Vicari 2009). The multiethnic mix of residents, entrepreneurs and users, artists and creatives, its commercial heritage, the crucial proximity to the historical city center, and the peculiar architectural and morphological characteristics that resemble a village have produced a new image of the neighborhood which is tied to the consumption of diversity, creativity, “style,” and entertainment (Debord 1994; Schroeder 2002). This is a result of the blurring of public and private interests and the combination of deregulation, securitization, and 2

The lack of longitudinal data on the changing class profiles of the neighborhood’s residents is one of the shortcomings of this study. Furthermore, due to the effects of the economic crisis that began in 2008, real estate prices in the area have not been considered. Estimates for the end of 2009 showed that the prices for prewar buildings increased by 8% and those for modern buildings by 14%. In 2011, when Sarpi street was pedestrianized, rents rose by 13%. Source: Focus città, Casa24 Plus, Il Sole 24 Ore (accessed February 2015).

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value creation. It is also a consequence of the increasing number of highly skilled professionals, upper-class individuals that are deeply integrated into their cities and neighborhoods, exhibiting a strong sense of territoriality (Andreotti et al. 2015). The neoliberal notion of urban policy (Monteleone and Manzo 2010) that underpins these phenomena reveals how politicians increasingly act as agents of capital (Smith 2002) and impact on the city’s competitiveness and—as we have learned—on the social construction of the new stylish brand “Milan Chinatown.”

6.1 Epilogue During the 2015 World Expo, the Municipality of Milan’s Zone 1 proposed the temporary installation of two traditional Chinese gates to mark the entrances to Milan Chinatown. For the first time, Paolo Sarpi street could have boasted a visible sign of its association with the Chinatowns of the world. The red paifang that characterize also San Francisco’s Chinatown (Fig. 6.2) would have represented the new Milanese Chinatown. The project, which was presented and financially supported by the entrepreneurs associations Ales and Uniic, was not supported by residents and other more conservative groups, such as Sarpi doc. These individuals and groups argue against the lack of a participatory process in this decision, despite the “good intentions” proclaimed by the representatives of the Chinese community. Just like that, no sharing of information… The contrast in opinions, as you can see, existed and still exists and the politicians should have found a solution that eliminated conflicts and avoided rancor. But someone didn’t want to believe what we had reported for some time, and these are the results. I am sorry, very sorry. (Pier Franco, Vivisarpi association, commentary on the Chinese gates in April 2015). The problem in Sarpi doesn’t need to be so forced, it seems to me to be an exaggeration, it is a cultural rift, a sociocultural rift, a rift with the population (…) we scrambled everything, a wholesale pole was created, the Local Government should take responsibility, they should build adequate structures, it should hire professionals to do so or ask us, make some proposals, no? But they should truly give us a hand and possibility to improve the situation, it can’t be done, it is a question of responsibilities, we all know that there are some issues (Francesco, Uniic Association, January 2015).

Urban conflicts in a neighborhood are not only strengthened by ethnic and cultural diversity, as Turam (2013) states. After Sarpi street became a pedestrian zone, the interactions between those of different social groups with their different lifestyles and consumer habits increased with the daily use of the public space. As a result, new tensions could arise, emerging from the process of commodification that branding implies. This clash encourages creativity on the one hand and, on the other, can provoke new conflicts if not kept under control. This is the primary challenge for contemporary urban transformations: to maintain balance in social and economic challenges on the macro-level with “micro-networks of social action that people create, move in, and act upon in their daily lives” (Smith 2001, p. 6) with the goal of developing true diversity in the civic sphere.

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Fig. 6.2 Render of the proposed Chinese Gates in Sarpi street. Source Uniic, April 2015

I don’t think it’s right, it’s part of Milan not China and it is beautiful as is, why do we have to ghettify it? (Franca, 54 years of age, resident. Interview April 2015). From here on our goal is to make the area beautiful… the Chinese gates are beautiful, and let’s not always yell anathemas against change, we are from Milan, Milan changes. If they don’t want change they can go live in the countryside! (Paolo, 37 years of age, resident and operator. Interviewed April 2015). Only where things can be seen by many in a variety of aspects without changing their identity, so that those who are gathered around them know they see sameness in utter diversity, can worldly reality truly and reliably appear (Arendt 1958, p. 57).

Gentrification is one of the main processes of class-based restructuring and recomposition of urban space, while the cultural diversity brought about by global migration flows is key to cities’ current demographic changes. However, these two phenomena have rarely been tackled together by scholars. Doing so rebalances the economic and the cultural and highlights the fact that gentrifiers and migrants are no longer mutually exclusive in the ethnic enclaves of global cities. This is an important empirical contribution. This book advances the literature on gentrification and diversity by

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using a case study that pushes the academic debate toward a more rigorous understanding of global–local gentrification. Until recently, the literature suffered from being confined to insular discussions and theories based on political economy. In contrast, this book calls for a more culturally oriented, decolonized approach (Wyly 2015).

6.2 Concluding Remarks 6.2.1 What Happens When a Neighborhood Starts to Sell Its Soul? When dense, diverse, and vital neighborhoods, the ones that are Jacobs’ ideal are subject to residential or commercial gentrification they can miss their “authenticity.” As Zukin (2010) argues, when nothing is done to limit this process, a neighborhood gradually loses its soul. As we saw in Milan, the process of expulsion of the Chinese population—politically justified in the name of the ancient cultural heritage and of the recovery of its “Italian” identity—would deny the substance of any part of the history of people and places who helped transform and create the neighborhood, “engendering a change of skin and soul” (Manzo, 2012a, p. 435), (see a visual evidence in Fig. 6.3). In conclusion, we can argue that people in changing neighborhood become attached to the way that their place looks (old buildings suggest history, small locally owned shops suggest neighborhood identity). In this respect, shifts at the level of class and capital during gentrification produce new patterns of spatial stratification and also reshape urban identities. Zukin, who focuses her attention on a gentrifier’s aesthetic appreciation of urban authenticity,” states that many urban dwellers today “find their subjective identity in this particular image of urban authenticity” (2010: 18). And what happens now is powerful and breathtakingly fast—a product of uppermiddle class aesthetics and newspapers, magazines, and blogs that compete to find new “destination neighborhoods.”3 Gentrification “has always been symptomatic of a new middle class that is so aesthetically self-reflexive” (Bridge 2013, p. 117) and the very nature of gentrification practices, in these accounts, remains irredeemably bourgeois both in the structure and sensibilities (codes of legitimacy, eating out at restaurants, and other aesthetic displays of cultured consumption in housing and leisure). When I am talking about sensibilities, I am approaching the moral sphere that, needless to say, is a complex term. However, to analyze morals and repertoires of values typical of a group’s minds means to understand the lifestyle that distinguishes and defines them, their system of meaning, in sum, their culture (Manzo 2012b, p. 36). 3

Sharon Zukin interviewed by Powell, Michael. “A Contrarian’s Lament in a Blitz of Gentrification.” New York Times, 19 Feb. 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/nyregion/21gentrify. html.

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Fig. 6.3 Pedestrianization of Sarpi street in Milan Chinatown, 2014. Credits to Cecilia Chiarini

The extent of gentrification and its implications for urban communities are poorly understood. On the one hand, rising property values can bring new wealth to longtime homeowners in poor neighborhoods. Fairly or not, new money often brings better services from city government—police, sanitation, schools—which may benefit all residents. On the other hand, as Carlson states, there’s often a tipping point: the moment at which the soul of the neighborhood is irredeemably changed. The old residents are displaced and the urban gentry remain ensconced in a neighborhood of newly expensive homes and swanky stores (2003: 22).

Finally, the gentrification of Milan’s Chinatown has policy consequences because the commodification of ethnic enclaves is an unavoidable outcome of turning multiethnic neighborhoods into a leisure/tourism product in the globalized urban space and in the wake of the gentrification and homogenization of the postindustrial city. The case of Milan’s Chinatown raises also moral dilemmas regarding the preservation of multiethnic communities by local government. As discussed at the very beginning of this book, we are witnessing a trend toward the preservation and representation of ethnic neighborhoods as both living communities and cultural attractions. Some authors suggest this is the direct result of European multiculturalist policies (Santos and Yan 2008). This issue opens new research avenues for scholars interested in studying gentrification and diversity.

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References Alietti A (2009) Quei soggetti spinti ai confini della società. Note critiche sul concetto di coesione sociale. Animazione Sociale 6/7:12–19 Andreotti A, Le Galès P, Moreno-Fuentes FJ (2015) Globalised minds, roots in the City: urban upper-middle classes in Europe. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ Annunziata S, Lees L (2016) Resisting ‘austerity gentrification’ and displacement in Southern Europe. Sociol Res Online 21(3):1–9 Annunziata S, Rivas-Alonso C (2018) Resisting gentrification. In: Lees L, Philips M (eds) Handbook of gentrification studies. Edward Elgar, London, pp 393–412 Annunziata S (2017) Anti-gentrification, an anti-displacement urban (political) agenda special issue. Stay put! Anti-gentrification practices in Southern Europe” in UrbanisticaTre, Journal of Urban Design and Planning of Università degli Studi Roma Tre 5(13):5–11 Arendt H (1958) The human condition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Barberis E, Kazepov Y, Angelucci A (2014) Urban Policies on Diversity in Milan, Italy. DESP, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino Bifulco L, Bricocoli M (2010) Organizing urban space. Tools, processes and public action. In: Colletta C, Sonda G, Gabbi F (eds) Urban plots. Ashgate, Organizing Cities, London, pp 67–84 Bridge G (2013) Reason in the city of difference: pragmatism, communicative action and contemporary urbanism. Routledge, New York Carlson N (2003) Urban gentry. What happens when a neighborhood starts to sell its soul? In: Ford foundation report. New York Debord G (1994) The society of the spectacle (translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith). Zone Books, New York Deverteuil G, Yun O, Choi C (2019) Between the cosmopolitan and the parochial: the immigrant gentrifier in Koreatown Los Angeles. Soc Cult Geogr 20(1):64–86 Fainstein SS (2005) Cities and diversity: should we want it? Can we plan for it? Urban Aff Rev 41(1):3–19 Hagemans I, Hendriks A, Rath J et al (2015) From greengrocers to Cafés: Producing social diversity in Amsterdam. In: Zukin S, Kasinitz P, Chen X (eds) Global cities, local streets: everyday diversity from New York to Shanghai. Routledge, New York, pp 90–119 Kelly S (2014) Taking liberties: gentrification as neoliberal urban policy in Dublin. In: MacLaran A, Kelly S (eds) Neoliberal urban policy and the transformation of the city: reshaping dublin. Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke Manzo LKC (2012a) Emergent spaces, contemporary urban conflicts. Experiences of social mix in changing neighborhoods: the case study Milan’s Chinatown. In: Camp Yeakey C (ed) Living on the boundaries: urban marginality in national and international contexts. Emerald, Bristol Manzo LKC (2012b) The gentrification of sensibilities: politics and aesthetics in a NYC changing neighborhood. Second ISA forum of sociology: social justice and democratization. RC21 regional and urban development—panel: the role of design and social justice in 21st century cities: paradoxes and challenges. Buenos Aires, Argentina Monteleone R, Manzo LKC (2010) Un quartiere storico in fuga dal presente. In: Bricocoli M, Savoldi P (eds) Downtown Milano. Azione pubblica e luoghi dell’abitare. Et Al. Edizioni, Milano Santos CA, Yan G (2008) Representational politics in Chinatown: the ethnic other. Ann Tour Res 35(4):879–899 Schroeder JE (2002) Visual consumption. Routledge, London and New York Smith MP (2001) Transnational urbanism: location globalization. Blackwell, Oxford Smith (2002) New globalism new urbanism: gentrification as global urban strategy antipode. 34(3):427-450. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.2002.34.issue-3, https://doi.org/10.1111/ 1467-8330.00249 Turam B (2013) The primacy of space in politics: bargaining rights, freedom and power in an Istanbul neighborhood. Int J Urban Reg Res 37(2):409–429

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Vicari Haddock S, D’Ovidio M (2010) Introduction. In: Vicari Haddock S (ed) Brand-building: the creative city. A critical look at current concepts and practices. Firenze: Firenze University Press Vicari Haddock S (2009) La rigenerazione urbana: un concetto da rigenerare. In: Vicari Haddock S, Moulaert F (eds) Rigenerare la città. Pratiche di innovazione sociale nelle città europee. Il Mulino, Bologna Vitale T (2012) Conflitti urbani nei percorsi di cittadinanza degli immigrati. Una Introduzione. Partecipazione e Conflitto 3:5–20. https://doi.org/10.3280/PACO2012-003001 Wyly E (2015) Turner’s Noösphere: planetary urban frontiers of gentrification. Urb Stud 52:2515– 2550 Zukin S (2010) Naked city. The death and life of authentic urban places. Oxford University Press, New York Zukin S, Kasinitz P, Chen X (eds) (2015) Global cities, local streets: everyday diversity from New York to Shanghai. Roudledge, London

Chapter 7

Engaging with Multiple Voices: Video Ethnography and Urban Critical Research

To collaborate means, literally, to work together, especially in an intellectual effort. While collaboration is central to the practice of ethnography, realizing a more deliberate and explicit collaborative ethnography implies resituating collaborative practice at every stage of the ethnographic process, from fieldwork to writing and back again. —Lassiter (2005: 15).

Abstract Despite growing interest in video-based methods in urban research, the use of collaborative ethnographic documentaries is rare. Researchers interested in spatial justice interventions could benefit from the theoretical and methodological union of critical urban ethnography with social documentary techniques to (a) enable the participation of social groups with conflicting interests, (b) expose the material effects of inequality and domination in a unique and vivid manner, and (c) increase the public’s knowledge and practical benefits of the findings. The use of collaborative ethnographic documentaries also offers alternatives to traditional forms of inquiry and encourages the researcher to assume a clear position in order to intervene in hegemonic practices. To increase our understanding of how under-explored techniques can contribute to praxis for more democratic urbanization, the author first reviews the available literature and consider its strengths, limitations, and ethical concerns. By using selected video-ethnographic vignettes from fieldwork conducted during the conflicts that followed the 2007 riots in Milan’s Chinatown, the author then discusses how such an approach involves issues of ethics, voice, form, and politics. Collaborative ethnographic documentary facilitates greater trust and communication between researchers and participants, thus enabling the social, moral, and political perception of a highly conflictual urban terrain. Keywords Urban democracy · Video ethnography · Urban inequality · Gentrification empowerment · Social documentary · Chinatown · Milan

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_7

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7.1 Introduction Visual social research is an umbrella term for analyses of data that are visual rather than textual, such as paintings, photographs, videos, maps, drawings, print media, and other types of material culture. There are a growing number of specific methods in the visual approach, including quantitative visual content analysis (Bell 2001). There are also multiple methodological approaches in the paradigm of visual analysis or what Luttrell (2010) has called a mode of visual research and analysis. This appendix section aims to bring to the fore the contribution of collaborative ethnographic documentaries applied to urban spaces; that is, the relationship built between ethnographers, media professionals, and research participants. Collaborative research can greatly enhance ethnographic techniques and analysis. While participant observation is by definition a subjective method that requires systematic self-reflection, within a coproduced ethnographic process, collaborators have the advantage of being able to constantly share and examine interpretations and insights (Bourgois and Schonberg 2009). Indeed, collaboration with participants represents one of the most important ethical, theoretical, and methodological issues in anthropology and sociology (Hymes 1972; Jaarsma 2002; Marcus 2001). Today, forms of participation and cooperation in field research are much less taken for granted than they used to be; they often represent prerequisites that can influence its initial design and the dissemination of its outcomes. As Marcus (1999) suggested, this kind of collaborative intent has the critical potential to combine ethnographic research with social activism. Of course, ethnographers have always had the opportunity to carry out action research interventions, and many of them have undoubtedly also used visual methods (Mitchell 2011; Nathansohn and Zuev 2013; Rose 2001). However, practicing the collaborative ethnographic documentary research technique I am referring to requires systematically extending that collaboration to the entire research process, from fieldwork, analysis, and video editing to the sharing of results. As will be discussed in more detail in the next sections, when applied to urban studies, this collaborative framework brings out the potential of an applied ethnography aimed both at promoting the emancipation and self-determination of research subjects and creating critical and public debate on sociospatial inequality. This chapter, therefore, describes and discusses the approaches, practices, and implications of what is known as collaborative video ethnography, distinguishing it from similar forms of inquiry, such as participatory action research, based on three main reasons. First, ethnography refers not only to the tools and methods used (none of which are exclusive to video techniques) but also to the ethnographic approach as a whole and how it is integrated into the development of multimedia initiatives. These are part of ethnographic research and are intended to monitor, evaluate and, consequently, influence its development. Second, collaborative ethnographic video documentaries use the conceptual framework of collaborative ethnography (Lassiter 2005), which pays special attention to the broader context of the community being studied, its formal and informal aspects, the margins of social intervention, and the possibilities of creating change. Third, visual media are used as

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an action research tool—they go from being tools for exploration and data collection to being powerful opportunities for the public dissemination of knowledge, which are capable of promoting democratic dialogue aimed at diverse audiences. The discussion of these themes is divided into two sections: theoretical and methodological issues and fieldwork practice. The first section aims to situate the collaborative approach within the framework of the American tradition and feminist and postmodern theories of ethnography. This discussion will provide the critical basis for addressing the practical aspects of urban research. The second section outlines the steps to realize collaborative video ethnographies that have the critical intention of creating social change beyond their theoretical assumptions. This is a discussion based on my experience and understanding as a social researcher; but, of course, mine is by no means the only perspective available. The purpose here is precisely to offer insights into the potential of collaborative practice without seeking to overlap with other methods of doing field research (e.g., participant observation). In light of the most recent challenges that call for the recognition of differences—be they cultural, ethno-racial, sexual, or gender-based—the question arises as to what contribution field research can make within a broader inquiry aimed at social justice. Especially at the urban scale, this work seeks to understand how collaborative ethnography and photo-video productions can open a space to address issues of identity, voice, and the right to the city (Harvey 2008; Lefebvre 1968; Smith and McQuarrie 2012). My answer is to expand the idea of ethnographic praxis beyond the usual clichés, considering collaborative video ethnography as a relevant approach that can produce those complex and “morally negotiated” cultural representations (Manzo 2015) that are at the heart of the social sciences.

7.2 Theoretical and Methodological Approaches Doing ethnography, in practice, means collaboration. Indeed, it is not possible to approach the communities we study without being involved in the daily lives of the social actors we work with. These relationships between ethnographers and research participants are precisely what enable the construction of our ethnographic texts. However, collaborative ethnography expands and repositions the concept of collaboration, which is no longer something that remains in the background—that is taken for granted—but acquires “a central” role (Lassiter 2005, 16). It becomes “a key trope and transformative practice for the whole ethnographic enterprise” (Marcus 2001, 522). Underlying collaborative video ethnography, then, is an approach that deliberately and explicitly emphasizes collaboration at every stage of the ethnographic process, from planning and fieldwork to the analysis of the results and their presentation to the communities involved. Although many ethnographers have already emphasized the benefits of collaborative relationships among researchers conducting ethnography as teams, this approach does not necessarily imply the inclusion of participants. What, then, is meant by collaborative ethnography? As we shall see in the following

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pages, it is a theoretical and methodological approach that sets as its main goal active collaboration with research participants, who are able to influence its development and negotiate the writing of the ethnographic text, which becomes coauthored as a result. This collaborative “ethos” emerging from the recent approaches I have referred to challenges traditional fieldwork practices. In part, these transformations began with the revision of social theories brought about by “reflexive modernization” (Beck et al. 1994); however, when we discuss collaborative ethnography, we refer to a broader concept of reflexivity. When ethnographic inquiry includes the reflections of those who participate in the research process, these reflections can no longer be considered only as the “native’s point of view,” as anthropology did in the past. In this situation, participants’ reflexivity has a fundamentally semi-sociological character and becomes part of the ethnographer’s reflections. This breaks down the boundary between those who conduct the analysis and those who are its objects, thus contributing to the construction of new dimensions and meanings. This radical transformation (Marcus 2001) has the enormous potential to reformulate a public ethnography that engages ethnographers and participants in representational projects that employ an explicit collaborative practice. The recent emergence of critical ethnography (Madison 2005) emphasizes the process of reflection and choice between theoretical and practical alternatives as an opportunity “to challenge research, policy, and other forms of human activity” (Thomas 1993, 4), which coincides with the collaborative focus adopted in applied (Austin 2003; LeCompte et al. 1999) and public anthropology1 (Basch et al. 1999; MacClancy 2002). Anthropologists and social scientists are increasingly challenged both by the Western hegemony of knowledge and by the very power structures that ethnography can reiterate (Campbell and Lassiter 2015). In an attempt to resolve this “crisis of representation” (Lassiter 2005, 48) of human experience in a postcolonial and postindustrial world, feminist theories and research practices (Devault 1990; Harding 1987; Oakley 1981), as well as postmodernist ones (Clifford and Marcus 1986; Clifford 1983, 1988; Denzin 2000; Marcus and Cushman 1982; Marcus and Fischer 1986; van Maanen 1988), question the ethnographic process itself—from the object of research to the methods employed, and from the interpretive stage to the writing process. This critique now forms the basis of the construction of a collaborative, intersubjective ethnography that, on the one hand, addresses the question of the distance between “researcher” and “participants” (between the object and subjects of research) and, on the other hand, has the explicit intention of creating social change (Stull and Schensul 1987). Of course, this action research frame is not exclusive to the collaborative ethnographic approach. However, as we shall see, when it is applied to urban studies, it brings out the potential of applied, public

1

Public anthropology is concerned with disseminating the knowledge produced by the various branches of the discipline to both academic and nonacademic audiences, seeking to produce materials (books, articles, websites, CDs, videos, and films, among others) that speak diverse and accessible languages. Sociology has also recommended “public” positioning (see Burawoy 2005).

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ethnographic research, which aims to contribute to social change in the communities we study according to mutually negotiated ethical and moral schemes. Cities represent not only dynamic social facts but also “paradigmatic sites for the visual and symbolic competition of the groups that live and work within them” (Manzo 2013, 46). In recent decades, one of the most interesting scenarios to study has been precisely the transformation produced by migration, such as the creation of contested urban spaces—places where the everyday practices of both the disadvantaged and the “advantaged” take on a multiplicity of visible and, very often, conflicting forms (Krase 2007, 2012). Thus, the visual approach may prove crucial in demonstrating the sociospatial effects of the symbolic representations of ethnic and class differences. Urban video-ethnographic practices (e.g., documentaries) problematize the debate about “digital” research techniques. Today, these methods can open up new channels for applied action research, particularly for those scholars who wish to engage in collaborative projects and social intervention (Pink 2011). For example, when looking at the usefulness of this approach in the study of phenomena of urban inequality, where dominant social groups have more financial and cultural capital to realize their interests (Harvey 1989, 2006), we may ask how the voices of the most vulnerable can be represented. There are a number of contributions from sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, city planners, and activists who have realized collaborative visual projects with the aim of contributing to more egalitarian and sustainable research practices in support of communities (Butcher and Dickens 2015; Crinall 2015; Sandercock and Attili 2014; Shortell and Aderer 2014). Reflecting on my collaborative ethnographic documentary experience in Milan’s Chinatown, I believe that producing a video documentary allowed me to work in the direction of a research process aimed at urban democratization. Collaborating with research participants and making visible and audible the voices of a stigmatized community exposes the social effects of urban transformation processes in a unique and vivid way; it also encourages ethnographers to take a stance of opposition and resistance against those hegemonic practices that one wants to denounce (Carspecken and Apple 1992; Fine 1994; Madison 2005).

7.3 Determining Urgent Research Topics: Collaborative Practice in the Field As illustrated in the methodological section, instead of starting from “theoretically grounded” hypotheses, the initial objectives of the research can also emerge from concerns expressed by the informants. Especially in ethnography, these concerns have a “weight” and scientific interest capable of determining urgent topics of inquiry. Of course, inductive truth is “socially constructed and experientially subjective,” as stated by Bourgois and Schonberg (2009, 12) in reference to their collaborative photo ethnography conducted in a community of drug addicts in Philadelphia. Such truth

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is realized through the exploration of participants’ life histories and benefits from a comparison with different members of the research group to triangulate meanings and personal biases. The authors emphasize that doing ethnography is “an artisanal practice that involves interpretive and political choices” (ibid.). On the one hand, the ethnographer participates in the activities of the community they study, builds relationships of acquaintance and friendship, and immerses themselves in conversations and interactions. On the other hand, they must mentally observe and record the meaning of what is happening and, simultaneously, devise strategies to deepen that understanding. Ethnographers, photographers, and video makers are “conduits for power” (ibid., 13) because they bring messages from different worlds that are traversed by cultural, ethnic, and class differences. However, they are also able to develop trusting relationships with the people who generously welcome them into their daily lives. Doing collaborative ethnography with video recordings is first and foremost a practical challenge that has political and scientific implications. Just think of the performativity of oral discourse and proxemics, which alone can convey important data on gender, ethnicity, class, educational level, and geographic origin. While these complex features are extremely difficult to express in a text, collaborative video ethnography has the potential to faithfully reproduce both a person’s inflections and body language. This possibility opens the door to the critical scenario of representation (Colombo 2015; Hall 1997), which is essentially political. When dealing with issues of poverty, ethnic discrimination, and spatial segregation, the use of the visual confronts ethnographers with the choice of how to represent these conditions of vulnerability and suffering. If too “negative” a connotation runs the risk of corroborating deterministic assumptions of individual failure, an exclusively “positive” representation risks producing a superficial analysis. In my collaborative video research, I use an approach that is based on an “ethics of care”—a positioning with origins in feminist theory that foregrounds a relationship of trust with participants (see my most recent project).2 This relationship implies a strong ethical-moral responsibility toward the meanings conveyed through participants’ representations and life stories. In the case discussed in the following paragraphs, I tried to convey the participants’ experiences of social and structural oppression through the alternating use of vignettes from the documentary. I aimed not to eliminate negative situations in order to present a “sanitized” version (Bourgois 2003, 15) of the field. On the one hand, I eliminated some interactions that appeared excessively harsh, including insults, racist epithets, and scenes of illegal activities, which were not the focus of my investigation. On the other hand, I kept the contents that were capable of conveying with strength and depth the sense of everyday exclusion that characterizes the gentrification process of Milan’s Chinatown. In this work, I pose a series of questions that problematize current debates about digital ethnographic intervention techniques. It is tempting to imagine alternative knowledge about the urban sphere that may lead to projects that promote socioeconomically even growth, which would be optimal. How can we achieve more 2

See publications and research manifesto at www.cityofcare.org.

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egalitarian neighborhoods considering that stakeholders have conflicting interests and some will always have more financial and cultural capital than others (Harvey 2006)? Drawing on several years of field research on the multiethnic neighborhood of Paolo Sarpi street—Milan’s ‘Chinatown’—I explore how methodological union of video ethnography with critical research contribute to praxis and more democratic urbanization beyond theoretical assumptions. I sustain this argument because, in many cases, the voices of the “urban powerless” are often misrepresented by the prejudicial narratives provided by both the media and government institutions. Revanchist tactics (Smith 1996) have defined the rhetorical paradigm “against minorities” and inform local urban renewal policies in multiethnic neighborhoods in Milan (Manzo , 2012; Verga 2016). “Global capitalism all but guarantees that there will be constant pressure on these neighborhoods,” Shortell and Aderer argue about other Chinatowns in the world. They stress that collective identity shows, even in the face of this pressure, “some of the ways that meaning-making, and therefore, community-building (and sustaining) is embedded in urban public space” (2014, 127). Two objectives stemmed from this research endeavor. The first objective is to describe how the video-ethnographic project was created in the study community. The second objective is to demonstrate how this project succeeded in promoting more democratic urbanization. I argue that video ethnographies reveal the material effects of inequality and domination in a unique and vivid manner, uncovering how “power mechanisms” (Foucault 1983) are exercised in relation to place, people, and practices. They also offer alternative meanings and encourage the ethnographer to assume a clear position in intervening on hegemonic practices (Carspecken and Apple 1992; Fine 1994; Madison 2005). The chapter will discuss how ethnographic video engages with issues of ethics, voice, form, and politics. The conclusion explains that the production and consumption of such documentaries channel the engagement of multiple stakeholders—both powerful and powerless—to spread awareness among social scientists, the public, and community members of a neighborhood in conflict.

7.4 Video Ethnography, Multiple Voicing, and Community Empowerment as an Applied Framework Video ethnography is approached from a specific angle in this work: as a collective thinking process, intended to be the result of the cooperative interactions between the ethnographer and social actors that would not exist if not for the camera.3 This participatory mode of research constructs worlds of meaning based on interviewees’ knowledge practices and has the potential to transform the way authors and audiences interpret an issue through documentary techniques (Pink 2007; MacDougall 2006; Banks 2001; Strandvad 2013). The quest of representation becomes constitutive of the same process of knowledge-making (Colombo 2015), and it thus deals with 3

It is what Rouch and Morin defined cinéma vérité (see also Rothman, 2009).

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Fig. 7.1 Video still of Sang Wang—better known as “Zio (uncle) Romanino”—one of the pioneers of Chinese settlement in Milan and a point of reference for the Milan Chinatown Community, recorded on Via Paolo Sarpi. (RT = 4:04)

issues of validity. In an effort to resolve this “crisis of representation” (Lassiter 2005: 48), video ethnographers can usefully “borrow” some of the richest and most innovative reflections available in the domain of qualitative inquiry (Denzin and Lincoln 1994). According to Gergen and Gergen (2000), perhaps the most promising developments are the conceptual and methodological explorations of polyvocality to empower research. Their importance derives partly from “the way they challenge the traditional binary between research and representation” (p. 1027) and partly from their potential to expand “the range of communities in which the work can stimulate dialogue” (p. 1030). A polyvocal approach is especially promising in its capacity to provide a rich array of interpretations, particularly in matters that involve a range of conflicting perspectives. Within this research architecture, the ethnographer can serve as “director” of those interpretive activities and take a position on the stylized representation of both audio and visual contents. In other words, the ethnographer can use literary styling signals, both in the video editing or the written report, to signal to the audience that “the account does not function as a map of the world (and indeed, that the mapping metaphor is flawed), but as an interpretive activity addressed to a community of interlocutors” (Gergen and Gergen 2000: 1029). Those signals may take the form of fiction, poetry, autobiographical invention, and even performance (Denzin 2003; Conquergood 1989). In this way, participants and the researcher share power and control over the research, and participants feel responsible for the dissemination of the final outcome.

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Positive participation and community empowerment are not an easy research feat, however. This is particularly true in conflicting communities, where the ethnographer cooperates with different social groups to reduce difference and foster understanding.4 The longitudinal work conducted by Elijah Anderson (1999, 1990, 2011) on both marginalized low-income African American groups and mainstream middleupper Whites in Chicago and Philadelphia shows how engaging in dialogue requires the ethnographer “a strong desire, at times with a degree of courage.” Desire and courage are needed to represent informants’ worlds “accurately” for readers, “who may have such strong preconceptions that no amount of ethnographic evidence to the contrary will be convincing” (Anderson 2002: 1538). Community empowerment is a result of ethnographic work. An inherent challenge of ethnography is providing truthful representations as the ethnographic work continues to unfold and as the audience’s awareness “(grows) with the consumption of that work” (p. 1548). The value of this theoretical and methodological framework lies in its potential to be applied in the field of critical urban research to shed light on the system of power relations behind processes of uneven development (Harvey 1982). Consequently, politically or morally motivated ethnographers (Manzo 2016a) may look into ways to intervene “in the form of changing how their audience perceives an issue or bringing to the fore a controversial issue” (Pink 2011: 442). Ethnographic video documentaries make visible what was previously incomprehensible. Accordingly to Panagia (2009), this act of power is able to change the way we view ourselves and others, as well as how we view events, objects or processes. In “rendering perceptible” the microoperations of power, the researcher not only enhances his or her understanding— increasing meaning and significance through video ethnography—but also promotes politics of resistance. Crinall calls for the visual emergence of spatial political actions, to be understood as “a site of resistance occurring at the social level, where ideological contestation is publicly expressed with the goal of bringing about change in the practices, values and beliefs” (2015: 23–24). If ethnographers can be seen as “a kind of vessel” (Anderson 2002: 1538) or “conduits for power” (Bourgois and Schonberg 2009: 13), then it needs to be acknowledged that video ethnography can be a channel through which political action can spur resistance. The following sections introduce the case study of Milan Chinatown and empirically discuss how video ethnography can contribute to praxis for more democratic urbanization, particularly in socially, ethnically, and politically charged communities.

4

In the context of urban research, the passion for raising awareness must be disciplined by a sense of regard for the relationship with the studied community. In other words, the ethical and moral commitment to not harm participants or exploit their vulnerabilities must be made.

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7.5 Via Paolo Sarpi: Milan Chinatown The first Chinese immigrants that settled in Milan in the late 1920s came from the coastal province of Zhejiang in southern China. This small group of men decided that the metropolis was the ideal place to “make good fortune.” Milan seemed to be a relatively promising city, and throughout the 1930s, it became one of the destinations for Chinese emigrants to Europe (see in Fig. 7.1 a still photo of one of the pioneers of Chinese settlement in Milan). This first community settled in Sarpi, a semi-central neighborhood on the northwest border with Parco Sempione (the main city park). It was a working-class district with boutiques where housing was inexpensive and composed of a growing number of Italian migrants. Sarpi street became the spine of the neighborhood’s commerce, along which Case a Pigione houses with internal courtyards and ground floor commercial and artisan shops, were erected. During the 1980s, Milan’s economy experienced tertiarization, which attracted a new population of high-profile managers and professionals from other parts of Italy and abroad. This, in turn, resulted in the progressive expulsion of the lower classes from central parts of the city, due particularly to the increase in property values in historic areas. In the 1990s, after the simplification of the new law on commerce, there was a gradual substitution of small stores in the neighborhood with retail and wholesale Chinese-owned operations (Manzo 2016a). Today, the neighborhood is virtually closed to newcomers: Real estate is sold and leased at “the price of gold,” and

Fig. 7.2 Urban conflict in Via Paolo Sarpi. On April 12, 2007, 300 Chinese residents and entrepreneurs reacted violently against a provision of municipal security forces, causing the riot along via Paolo Sarpi and intersecting streets

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there is no room for the form of subsistence entrepreneurship that was characteristic of the first Chinese immigrants in the neighborhood: “Chinatown” has become the neighborhood window display of those who “have made it,” it is the ideal place to open innovative and “ethnically dedicated” commercial activities, where to locate meeting places (bars, restaurants, night clubs frequented by Chinese) and representative activities (headquarters of associations) (Mancini and Cologna 2000, p. 71).

In Milan Chinatown, despite a multiethnic mix of entrepreneurs and users, the residents today are almost all Italian. This homogeneous ethnic composition is the main point of tension for the local community (Novak 2002). There is a constant equilibrium between the commercial needs of retailers and wholesalers and the lifestyle and consumer habits of residents and visitors. It is a social model under which “intolerance, exasperation, and exhaustion boil. From both sides. Italian and Chinese.” The urban riot of 2007 can be said to be the result of the unease felt by Chinese entrepreneurs (see a visual evidence in Fig. 7.2). Italian residents incessantly complained about the Chinese merchants’ practices. Furthermore, the local government, that had criminalized Chinese wholesale as the symbol of illegality and insecurity during the previous Mayor Moratti term, was issuing fines to Chinese wholesalers and retailers. Hiding behind the presumed interest of public order, the “zero tolerance” municipal politics created new obstacles for Chinese wholesale activity in 2008. The political force against these activities was so strong that the main street, Sarpi street, was finally closed for over a year (2010/2011) to pedestrianize the area. The project had been politically declared as a last resort to discourage the development of Chinese commerce and promote the speculative renewal of the Sarpi neighborhood. Milan Chinatown is the multi-ethnic neighborhood on Via Paolo Sarpi where streets, the international flow of Chinese goods, and the daily routines of elderly Italians and local families intersect. It is also the setting of the Chinese riot that broke out in 2007. Thoughts, memories, desires, and fears of ordinary people living, using, and working in the neighborhood are testimonials of residents, store owners, key informants, and city rulers. They provide perceptions and feelings that expose the effect of the stigmatized rhetoric produced by ‘the powerful’ in the name of speculative intents. Pursuing social analysis, advocacy, and provocation with ironic effectiveness, A-way from Paolo Sarpi paints the Milan Chinatown conflict as a political-economy question, moving us to inner debate and realization. (Synopsis for A-way from Paolo Sarpi © the author, 2009)

The next section of this chapter describes how the production and consumption of the video-ethnographic project were created with the aim of engaging multiple stakeholders and raising awareness among members of Milan Chinatown community, other social scientists, and the public.

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7.6 Video Ethnography as a Channel for More Democratic Urbanization The ethnographic video documentary A-way from Paolo Sarpi attempts to explain how two urban populations—the Chinese entrepreneurs and the Italian residents and storeowners—perceived the neighborhood conflict and negotiated the terms of public space on its main street, Via Paolo Sarpi. The following questions were addressed as part of the project: Which tensions—socio-cultural, political, and economic—caused the 2007 riots in via Paolo Sarpi?; To what extent did urban policies provoke the conflict? and What were the perceptions of all social actors of the riot’s effects on the community? I engaged on a video-ethnographic project which included participant observation and in-depth interviews to answer these questions. Audiovisual data were collected from various parts of the neighborhood in both public (streets and sidewalks) and semi-public (cafés, restaurants, Italian and Chinese shops, and the local Catholic Church) spaces. A-way from Paolo Sarpi paints a “thick description” (Geertz 1973) of public life in Milan Chinatown. The documentary includes Italian residents’ and Chinese entrepreneurs’ firsthand accounts of life in the community and everything they wished to share about the urban conflict and new government policies that had emerged before and after the riot. City Councilors and key informants were interviewed too, and they are part of the video production.

7.6.1 The Production: Engaging with Multiple Voices When I initially began my ethnographic research on Milan Chinatown as an undergraduate student, I had difficulty finding research participants. Few people from both Italian and Chinese social circles wanted to share thoughts about their neighborhood with me. Residents and storeowners were wary because, after the riot, many journalists swooped down onto Via Paolo Sarpi to interview them. The level of tension between the different social groups was so high at that time that the idea of a participatory video project was nonsensical. I did believe it was possible to develop a form of collaboration with different community leaders, however. From my early participant observation and research, I had developed a complex network of contacts. These contacts helped give me access to those different groups. The gatekeepers were fundamental in negotiating the necessary trust with the community under study. Some of them were easier to meet, like the local resident group representatives or the Italian storeowners. Regarding the politicians, I took advantage of my professional network and was able to get in touch with friends of mine who worked in the city press office (the good reputation of the researcher is an indispensable asset). One of the leaders of the Chinese community had a very difficult time accepting me. In fact, I literally followed the president of the second-generation Chinese association Associna for quite some time, attending public meetings and cultural events.

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Later, I met Jianyi in Sarpi street. We walked toward the little square in Santissima Trinità and sat down on a bench, observed the kids coming out the kindergarten, and talked about the tensions in the Chinatown. Not long into our conversation, I began to realize that for Jianyi, choosing to participate in my video project meant much more than providing a better understanding of his community. He wanted to help me understand the basic characteristics of the Chinese culture, like guanxi (relation) and mianzi (prestige face), but he had other reasons for participating as well. He wanted to share his struggle of being a first-generation Italian resident who had been living in Italy for 27 years without having the legal opportunity to become a citizen, vote, or simply be represented in local public discussions. He wanted Italians to understand this perspective as well (« Field note », 21.11.2008).

The result of his cooperation was a representative Chinese voice in the video ethnography. The distinct voices of my gatekeepers and informants enriched my understanding of the reasons for the tension, instead of diluting or thinning the level of discourse (Lassiter 2005). They helped me to identify cries for social justice more clearly than I could have by merely delving into theoretical questions. The cinematographic style was motivated by practicality; it was not a stylistic choice. The same can be said for the sound, which almost always includes background noises. I made the conscious choice to use the “raw visual material” that I could collect with my own personal equipment. With this in mind, I decided to record the interviews myself using a non-professional camera, and I occasionally asked friends of mine to record those interviews in which I preferred to have a direct dialogue with the participant, rather than speaking “through” a video camera. In the end, the handheld shots were more appropriate for the subject matter because the camera movements reflected the dynamic urbanity of the neighborhood. The impression of urban authenticity conveyed through the video was happenstance; its powerful meaning began with the raw cinematic image and the appearance of movement. While the video interviews with the research participants were planned, the recordings of the neighborhood’s public spaces were not. Frankly, I have never experienced any particular problem when asking passersby to be video recorded and sign the appropriate release. In my experience, young Chinese adults were the most willing to show off their new fancy branded shoes or bags in front of the camera, curious to know more about the video project, and likely to suggest chatting over coffee. Elderly Italian residents were much more reserved. Video-ethnographic practice helped me record evidence that disproved stereotypes of the “silent Chinese people” that “never leave their laboratories,” and, most importantly, that “don’t speak Italian!” The Chinese interviewees spoke perfect Italian, with a typical Milanese accent. My first recording on the main street, for instance, was unforgettable: I was just showing Via Paolo Sarpi to my camera assistant when I saw three incredibly fashionable Chinese guys walking toward us on the sidewalk. ‘They are so cool… I can’t miss this scene,’ I thought. So, I asked the cameraman to start shooting, and while they walked toward us, we begin to record walking backwards… crazy, from the main street to a narrow side street, keeping my right hand behind the cameraman to help her walk safely. The guys are interesting characters, with a haughty smile… trendy haircuts… one of them has long blonde wild hair all over around his head, others wear leather jackets, have a gallant move… Ah-ha, unbelievable, they bring us where they work: Baidu, one of the local Chinese hairdressers of the neighborhood! And I start to wonder: where is that Chinese community depicted as hidden and terribly dangerous? (« Field note », 25.10.2008) (Fig. 7.3).

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Via Paolo Sarpi presented to me an innovative character, a cosmopolitan ethos, and a transnational lifestyle, particularly due to the young, first- and second-generation Italians of Chinese descent. They display how multiple hybrid identities do not make them feel as “linked” to a specific territory. This is also one of the main reasons why the local government has been committed to oppose this hybridization process (Manzo 2011) with policies aimed at normalizing ethnic groups to the dominant social order. Indeed, that scene gave me the strength to produce the video. The production phase of A-way from Paolo Sarpi clearly raises the issue of “voice,” the form in which the argument is logically organized and (re)presented. Since the different social groups were not willing to work together at that time, I edited the work myself. A polyvocal text has been produced relying on an interview storytelling structure, avoiding the voice-over commentary to give the documentary a testimonial and compelling quality. I made my voice as author/ethnographer emerge from the careful texture of the selected interview material. I adopted a narrative strategy that brought together people and organizations to adopt an ethical approach as a responsible advocate (Banerjea 2014). This video-ethnographic “platform” proved to boost

Fig. 7.3 Baidu Chinese hairdressers in Via Paolo Sarpi, video still (RT = 18:10). Chinese hairdressers have been at the center of controversy in Milan for quite some time due to their ability to attract customers at very cheap prices. Numerous popular prejudiced narratives were shared describing these shops as covers for prostitution or other illegal activities or for the use of harmful/ non-controlled products, such as hair dye, which “comes from China.” In the video, Baidu is shown as an innovative beauty salon for the type of cuts (Asian hair styles), the design of the store (with flat screens that broadcast manga on the walls), and for the trendiness of its hairstylists

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Fig. 7.4 Arc of changing pressures that represents the narrative structure of A-way from Paolo Sarpi in three acts: I: the rising spatial implications of sociocultural diversity; II: the intersection of Chinese entrepreneurs and Italian residents and storeowners with the speculative urban regeneration policies of the local government; and III: the final confrontation of the social actors who participated in the video ethnography and their perceptions on their community’s uncertain future

awareness and alleviate rising authority/power issues tied to the social construction of knowledge. To explain this, I organized the story into three parts: (1) introduction of the urban setting, description of the social actors, and definition of the conflict in the Chinatown (Act I), (2) the highlighting of socioeconomic implications by showing the characters’ engagement in social struggles (Act II), and (3) the climax, or final confrontation, which also offers an interpretation of the whole work (Rabiger 2009). The “dramatic curve” can be considered as an arc of changing pressures used to interpret the unfolding cultural scenes during recording (Fig. 7.4). Building upon the legacy of participatory documentary, theater, and social critique, I decided to expose interplay between antagonism and juxtaposition to highlight the existing conflict with the aim of understanding and explaining the tension in this urban space. This narrative of the video builds on a mosaic format (White et al. 2011) represented by the subjective perspectives of 23 participants5 involved in this political and social discontent. The following interview excerpts create a dialogue between local resident group representatives (Pierfranco Lionetto), the Chinese youth (Jianyi Lin), the urban policy councilor (Carlo Masseroli), and a professional urban planner (Christian Novak).

5

Research participants agreed to appear in this video ethnography for research and political purposes, not commercial ones. They also agreed not to be anonymous by giving their names to the author and consenting to their publication.

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7 Engaging with Multiple Voices: Video Ethnography and Urban Critical … (RT =6:36) Loading goods and everyday Chinatown Neighborhood practices Pierfranco Lionetto, voice only:

Everything began with the first Chinese wholesaler settlements on via Bramante. That street already had problems, as the tram rails didn’t allow parking there. There were some shops that had been shut for a while and some warehouses. In 1999, the Chinese suddenly bought all the shops and changed them into wholesale warehouses. In that period, big trucks stopped right in the middle of the road every day to unload goods. Pierfranco Lionetto on camera: These unclear signs of change created an emergency in the neighborhood, and that’s when people got together. A 600-person assembly took place. Mayor Moratti participated, along with Mr. De Corato and the Municipal Police chief, Mr. Bezzon. Chinese dealers and local Police on Via Paolo Sarpi Pierfranco Lionetto, voice only: It lasted from 9:00 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. During that time, frustration, exasperation, and anger were expressed toward the situation and against local governance. Carlo Masseroli on camera: The pedestrianization of via Paolo Sarpi was a response to one of the most important commercial parts of Milan being quietly invaded by the Chinese community. The problem lies in the fact that a street of such dimensions, located in the city center, is totally inadequate to serve as a freight logistics center. Christian Novak on camera: The neighborhood doesn’t have any public spaces. It is mainly made up of densely packed roads, and the only large public space is via Paolo Sarpi, A Child plays with a little car on the sidewalk Christian Novak, voice only: which has always been a commercial street of the neighborhood and a historical meeting point, recognized by everyone as such. (RT =9:18) Jianyi Lin on camera: The term Chinatown is a bit inappropriate. The Milan Chinatown Neighborhood (video images) Jianyi Lin, voice only: When you talk about Chinatown, the large neighborhoods of Chinese settlement come to mind, where all the shops, the residents, and people on the streets are Chinese. Instead, in via Paolo Sarpi, everyone knows that 95% of the resident population is Italian, with the minority being Chinese. Christian Novak on camera:

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The separation between the ground floor and the highest floors is what creates the real problem of cohabitation. The former is almost entirely Chinese, in terms of use and attendance, and the latter is almost completely Italian. This wouldn’t have occurred if our Chinatown had developed as the ones in the United States, where most of the residents, traders, and users are Chinese.

The video is intercut with images shot in the neighborhood that tell a different story from the biased one typically represented in the local media and political rhetoric. At its heart is a set of everyday practices and behavior that reflect a search for community. Community drives public life and contradictions within Milan Chinatown. The distinct rhythm of Chinese retail and wholesale stores—with their fervid loading and unloading of goods for customers coming from all over Milan and storefronts full of cardboard boxes—provides a stark contrast with old traditional Italian mom and pop shops, which display a meticulous attention for detail deeply rooted in Italian culture. Elderly residents’ daily strolls on the sidewalks of Via Paolo Sarpi intersect those of Chinese youth who work or relax in the neighborhood. Simultaneously, both Italian and Chinese mothers walk their children to school, go to Chinese hairdressers, shop at the local butcher, or meet at the parish with other members of the community. Italian young adults also flood these streets beginning at 6:00 p.m. for the aperitivo at the local enoteca6 ; they are attracted by the many Asian food markets and cheap Chinese stores. The visual display of Sarpi street lively and colorful public life shows the inclusive hybridity of everyday practices and places (Manzo 2011), enabling the realization of the revanchist rhetoric hidden behind the narratives of local politicians. The following script excerpts depict these contradictions, making the Deputy Mayor Riccardo De Corato and the representative of Associna—the second-generation Italian Chinese association speaking “in dialogue” on the matter. (RT =30:19) Riccardo De Corato on camera: Every day I work with 150 ethnic groups that are present in our city. The one I am most concerned about are the Chinese because they work hard. The others, some are idlers, and a few are like us Europeans…the Arabs, there are like 80,000 Muslims…but still, can be managed. With the Chinese you can’t do anything… I even know some of them, and I respect them. I think to myself: ‘shit… these people work hard. What can you do to them?’ Jianyi Lin on camera: The Chinese businessmen of via Paolo Sarpi took over Italian companies paying a price much higher than market value. The Milan Chinatown Neighborhood (video images) Jianyi Lin, voice only: They had this opportunity because, in the 1990s, anyone could get a commercial license, and it became typical for Chinese investors to open their businesses there. The discourse that kind of blew up last year is connected to exactly this: the fact that all the Chinese wholesalers started to get fined! 6

Wine bar.

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7 Engaging with Multiple Voices: Video Ethnography and Urban Critical … Jianyi Lin on camera:

These series of fines and prohibitions came overnight; all the Chinese entrepreneurs found themselves facing difficulties that they hadn’t in the beginning. Riccardo De Corato on camera: Yes, the handcarts, we are making war against the handcarts, but it isn’t the hand-carts. The problem is much bigger!!! The Milan Chinatown Neighborhood (video images) Jianyi Lin, voice only: Italian distributors, for example… the ones that load and unload dairy products… Jianyi Lin on camera: …were completely ignored by the police even if they use handcarts to go around Chinese workers with their handcarts Jianyi Lin, voice only: while the Chinese were systematically stopped and fined. This type of discrimination bothered people. Jianyi Lin on camera: When ethnic factors come into play with commercial interests, the risk that is created is very dangerous… explosive!!!

Voice in video ethnography acquires the function of style in fiction films but operates differently. This form of documentary testifies the ethnographer’s ethical stance and serves as evidence of research reliability, stemming from the multiple voices of the community.

7.6.2 The Consumption: Enabling Awareness Although the ethnographic video finally produced in 2009 was temporal and specific for the investigation of the extent of the Chinese riot of 2007, its consumption in various screenings and debates resulted in enabling further awareness developed at different levels and involving different audiences. It has been screened many times both in national and international academic contexts, as well as at community-based meetings in Milan. The video ethnography actively assisted in a broader, grassroots social empowerment scheme, providing platforms from which “the struggle of others” could be known and heard (Manzo 2015). At the community level, Jianyi, Pierfranco, and the other representatives used the video for their own purposes to resist the state-led process of gentrification the neighborhood is undergoing (Manzo 2016a, b), demanding sustainable planning interventions. Based on my successive six years of fieldwork, I can say that the

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screening of the video during meetings and debates made the very same research participants evoke their own self-representations, experiential knowledge, and feelings. The polyvocal approach highlighted the multiplicity of competing interests, contradictory values, and different orientations. The video channeled a democratic dialogue between members of Milan Chinatown who could not find a point of unity. The video provides the opportunity for Italian residents to reevaluate stereotypes of Chinese residents and workers, and it challenges young Chinese entrepreneurs to work together to promote the sustainable development of the neighborhood against the speculative interests of the local government. More generally, the video succeeded in demonstrating the role of local government in the conflict and how the revanchist narratives drove the conflict in Milan Chinatown.

7.7 Conclusions: A Premise for Social Change The most recent theoretical developments of ethnography, drawn from the overlay of feminist theory, participatory action, and critical research, call for its constitutive potential to bring about positive change. In the above discussion, the polyvocal documentary practice was understood to be a channel of resistance, where research participants collectively produced public space. In such a way, video ethnography can be a part of a more democratic urbanization process, and it can perhaps be a way to provide the audience with a new perspective, to encourage self-development, and to spur social change. As Benjamin (1970) states in his brilliant discussion of the role of “author as producer,” the visual can truly subvert the mechanism of framing, as an apparatus “capable of making co-workers out of readers or spectators” (Ibid.: 93). Eco’s theory of interpretative cooperation (1984) stresses the same essential role given to the reader (the audience) in the process of meaning negotiation carried out with the author (the ethnographer). It is in this light that video ethnography practice “must function as a form of activism and transform readers/viewers into producers” (Sikand 2015: 52), blurring the line between the subject/social actors, the ethnographer, and the audience. Representing others in ethnography—particularly in video ethnography— involves addressing this threefold relationship, which in turn determines the type of documentary the ethnographer will produce. This chapter discussed concrete ways in which social scientists can support, strengthen, and contribute to activist movements and social change striving toward progressive political action. If politics “begins with the rendering perceptible of that which has been previously insensible” (Panagia 2009: 153), when a light is shed on what was previously neglected or subjected to prejudice, then what was once invisible becomes “comprehended, explained to others, and can inform social interventions” (Pink 2011: 446). Advocacy video ethnographies, such as the one presented in this chapter, aim to challenge our comprehension and ethics, calling the researcher to respond and take responsible action in the field.

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This collaborative ethnographic documentary realized a continuum of actions, from the coconstruction of visual products to the coconception of local public initiatives. This collaboration from research intentions and visual text to ethnographic practice blurs the lines between academia and its objects of study, as well as between theory and practice. It thus situates collaborative video ethnography among the many kinds of public efforts that scholars and activists are bringing to the field. As Frisina explains, this kind of filmmaking can also have as its purpose social change, meaning that it can. activate different “feedback loops” in which the film’s protagonists (the citizens to be activated, networked with each other, and made to dialogue with those who make decisions that affect their lives) see each other in the video [and] discuss what to keep and what to change in the editing in order to be seen in an unprecedented way, increasing their reflective capacity and ability to act in the public sphere (Frisina 2013, 106).

At the beginning of this chapter, I asked how we could produce collaborative video ethnographies based on these intentions. In the last two sections, I have argued that the intersection of visual production of urban ethnographic research, ethical and moral responsibility, and participant collaboration at all stages of the project form the basis to achieve this goal. At the individual level, this means embracing collaborative action as an extension of research and a necessary condition of ethnographic practice. At the disciplinary level, it presupposes placing collaborative practice within the tradition of public sociology, which, as explained by Burawoy (2005), cannot be “second-rate” sociology. Public sociology will succeed if it comes from below and only when it “captures the imagination of sociologists” who know how to promote it “as a social movement beyond the academy” (ibid., 37). To understand its modes of production, I envision an ethnography through which sociologists and their audiences collaborate in defining and implementing critical interventions on the urban territory aimed at social change. The documentary film about the gentrification process of Paolo Sarpi street in Milan’s Chinatown played an important role in the lives of the people who participated in its production. It also created a new consciousness by unpacking supposed differences and difficulties, and it “opened an ethical space where film meanings are constructed together by filmmakers, subjects, communities, and authorities” (Frisina 2013, 108). It is precisely from this perspective that the emancipation and self-determination that underlie the process of collaboration with research subjects should be emphasized. These subjects, after all, are the creators of their own representations and thus agents of their own change. The ethnographer is also called upon to restructure collaboration as a research tool and strategy due to new experience and newly acquired knowledge, reflexively assessing their positioning in the construction of a mediated cultural representation. Personally, I believe that the creation of an ethnographic project that can be read, screened, discussed, and distributed through a multiplicity of channels constitutes a contribution that extends the public prominence of social research. I learned an important lesson from representing the voices of my research informants through video ethnography: their drive to collaborate for a more democratic urbanization “speaks aptly to our broader responsibilities as researchers to serve others through

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Correction to: The “Style” of Milan (New) Chinatown

Correction to: Chapter 6 in: L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_6 In the original version of the chapter, the following correction has been incorporated: In Chapter 6 the section title for Section 6.2 ‘Concluding Remarks’ was incorrectly written as ‘Concluding Remarks What Happens When a Neighborhood Starts to Sell Its Soul?’ This has been corrected. The correction chapter and the book have been updated with the changes.

The updated version of this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_6 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_8

C1

Index

A Aalbers, M. B., 8, 60 Aestheticization, 5, 8, 11, 70, 75, 76, 84, 88, 101 Alietti, A., 76, 99 Amin, A., 50, 52 Ang, I., 35, 39, 40 Annunziata, S., 3, 6, 76–78, 98 Anti-displacement practices, 1, 10 Appadurai, A., 40, 41, 44, 45 Armani, G., 1, 5, 99 Authenticity urban, 64, 104, 121

B Barthes, R., 51 Betweeners, 35, 37, 41, 44, 45 Boundaries, socio-cultural, 49 Bourdieu, P., 2, 51, 76 Branding, city, 100 Bricocoli, M., 68, 69, 75 Burgess, E. W., 50

C Castells, M., 46, 60, 61, 76 Ceccagno, A., 16, 61 Change neighborhood, 49, 50, 70, 71 urban, 6, 35, 49, 76 Chan, K.B., 42, 43 Chinatown, 1–7, 9–12, 15–18, 22, 26, 28, 33, 35–37, 41, 43, 45, 46, 49, 50, 53, 54, 59–63, 66, 70, 71, 75, 77, 79, 80,

84, 86, 87, 90–92, 97–102, 105, 109, 113–117, 119–121, 123–128 Chineseness identity, 35 Clifford, J., 37, 112 Cologna, D., 20, 22, 24–26, 56, 57, 59, 119 Colombo, E., 44, 68, 114, 115 Commodification, 3, 5, 6, 35, 84, 87, 101, 102, 105 Conflict urban, 55, 59, 61, 68, 99, 102, 118, 120 Cool Hunting, 46 Cosmopolitanism, 41–43, 52 Creative industries, 87, 99 Cultural turn, 51 Culture consumption, 36 urban, 9

D Defamation, 15, 16 Democracy urban, 113 Diaspora, 37–45, 61 Displacement moral, 69, 70 Distinction, 6, 29, 45, 51, 52, 68, 76 Diversity as difference, 41, 51 as spectacle, 3 consumption of, 2, 6, 97, 98, 101 controlling, 6 desire for, 5, 6, 51 ethno-cultural, 5, 84 production of, 2, 98

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 L. K. C. Manzo, Gentrification and Diversity, The Urban Book Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3

133

134 territorialization of, 3, 78 urban, 1, 2, 7, 35, 52 Documentary, 3, 9, 10, 12, 109, 110, 113–115, 120, 122, 123, 126–128 D’Ovidio, M., 101

E Empowerment community, 115, 117 participants, 115, 117 Enclave ethnic, 11, 20, 21, 97, 103, 105 Entrepreneurs Chinese, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 19, 24, 26, 50, 57, 61, 67, 68, 83, 84, 91, 97–101, 119, 120, 123, 126, 127 neighborhood, 6 urban, 118 Ethnic economies, 61 entrepreneurs, 3, 25, 26, 36, 50, 66 shops, 42, 97, 101 Exclusion practices of, 52 EXPO fair, 65

F Foucault, M., 36, 115

G Gentrification embryonic, 3, 27, 54, 66 Gentrifiers, 1, 2, 6, 11, 54, 64, 70, 77, 103, 104 Giddens, A., 46 Globalization global cities, 40 Goffman, E., 16

H Hannerz, U., 41 Harvey, D., 52, 76, 111, 113, 115, 117 Home ownership, 78 Hybridity hybridization, 35 urban, 2

I Inclusion

Index practices of, 3 Intersectionality, 51 J Jacobs, J., 2, 75, 104 K Krase, J., 60, 113 L Lamont, M., 52, 76 Lees, L., 3, 54, 76, 98 Lega Nord, 30, 32 Lifestyle, 2, 3, 36, 43, 44, 50, 59, 70, 76, 97, 98, 102, 104, 119, 122 Local Government municipality, 98 M MacDougall, D., 115 Maloutas, T., 3 Manzo, L. K. C., 2, 3, 6, 12, 16, 43, 57, 58, 67–69, 76–81, 84, 85, 101, 104, 111, 113, 115, 117, 118, 122, 125, 126 Marcuse, P., 53, 76, 78 McKeown, A., 37, 38 Media, 6–9, 12, 15, 16, 18, 29, 31, 32, 39–41, 46, 59, 78–80, 97, 101, 110, 115, 125 mediascape, 45 Migration Chinese, 37, 61 Milan, 1–7, 9–12, 15, 18–28, 31, 33, 35–37, 41, 43, 45, 46, 49, 50, 53–57, 59–68, 70, 71, 75–81, 83, 84, 86, 87, 90, 92, 97–102, 104, 105, 109, 113–120, 122, 124–128 Mills, C. W., 52, 85 Minorities, 3, 17, 39, 62, 115 Mitchell, C., 110 Molnár, V., 76 Multi-ethnic communities, 1, 10 neighborhoods, 11, 12, 15, 75, 76, 80, 87, 99, 115, 119 N Nightlife, 65, 66 Novak, C., 18, 26, 55, 59, 62, 63, 65, 70, 119, 123, 124

Index O Ong, A., 36, 38, 42

P Pedestrian pedestrianization, 64, 65, 81, 82, 84, 91, 105, 124 Pink, S., 113, 115, 117, 127 Policies safety, 68 social, 68, 69 urban, 8, 32, 60, 64, 65, 68, 70, 71, 101, 120, 123 Political economy, 7, 11, 49, 51, 103 Power symbolic, 16 Public space, 3, 8, 10, 11, 37, 50, 52, 53, 66, 85, 91, 99, 102, 115, 120, 121, 124, 127

R Resistance, 1–3, 6, 10, 33, 43, 49, 66, 68, 69, 76, 78, 98, 101, 113, 117, 127 Revanchist tacticts, 3, 115 Revitalization, 1, 12, 97, 98, 101 Rose, D., 51, 101, 110

S Sassatelli, R., 43, 83, 88 Savoldi, P., 68 Segregation, 6, 17, 23, 114 Semi, G., 42, 87 Slater, T., 3, 16, 76, 78 Smith, N., 3, 53, 54, 62, 76, 78, 85, 86, 101, 115 Social mix mixité, 75 Social networks, 46 Sociospatial approach

135 perspective, 51, 60 Stigmatization stigma, 16 territorial stigma, 15–17 Streetlife, 46, 68 Style fashion, 5, 45, 46 stylish, 6, 12, 97, 101 Subculture, 35, 37, 41, 45, 46

T Tissot, S., 6, 78 Tololyan, K., 39, 40 Transition zone, 50

U Urbanity, 36, 37, 46, 68, 121

V Vertovec, S., 50, 51 Vicari Haddock, S., 101 Vitale, T., 99 Voice, 12, 49, 61, 65, 109–111, 113, 115, 120–122, 124–126, 128

W Wacquant, L. J. D., 7, 15, 16 Wholesale, 22, 28, 29, 43, 55–58, 61–65, 67, 78, 79, 81–83, 102, 118, 119, 124, 125

Z Zero tolerance, 3, 55, 119 Zhejiang, 18, 19, 21, 22, 44, 118 Zoning, 56, 68 Zukin, S., 2, 3, 8, 9, 32, 51, 54, 64, 76, 87, 98, 99, 104