Stranger Adaptations: Cultural Diversity and Public/private interface adaptations in Bankstown, Sydney

Abstract

While geographical and planning literature has traditionally adopted a macro-scale focus when studying cultural diversity, in recent years this has been supplemented by an emerging concern for 'everyday multiculturalism', including more fine-grained analyses of lived experiences of cultural diversity in places such as shopping strips, gyms and community gardens. Although these micro-scale studies recognise that relationships between socialities and spatialities are important, the more specific role of built form in framing these relationships is not much explored. With a view to extending this literature, the current paper examines how intercultural encounters in public space are influenced by built form in the culturally diverse suburb of Bankstown, Sydney. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with residents and users of Bankstown's town centre, the particular focus is on the role of public/private interface adaptations in mediating interactions within and between different cultural groups. It is argued that these adaptations function as both facilitator and foil for the strategies people employ to negotiate the problematic Simmel long ago associated with 'the stranger': the ineluctable presence in urban environments of people who are physically close yet socially distant.