Stranger adaptations: public/private interfaces, adaptations, and ethnic diversity in Bankstown, Sydney

Abstract

While geographical and planning literature has traditionally adopted a macro-scale focus when studying ethnic diversity, this has been recently supplemented by more fine-grained analyses of “everyday multiculturalism.” Although these micro-scale studies recognise that relationships between socialities and spatialities are important, the role of built form in framing these relationships is not much explored. With a view to extending this literature, this paper examines how experiences of ethnic diversity in public space are influenced by built form in the multicultural suburb of Bankstown, Sydney. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with residents and users of Bankstown’s town centre, along with ArcGIS maps of the area’s urban morphology, the particular focus is on the role of public/private interface adaptations in affecting experiences and perceptions of cultural diversity. It is argued that these adaptations function as both facilitator and foil for the strategies people employ to negotiate the problematic Simmel associated with “the stranger.”