This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1538513207313915v1 7/3/214    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Umbach, G. Articles by Wishnoff, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Strategic Self-Orientalism: Urban Planning Policies and the Shaping of New York City's Chinatown, 1950-2005

¹ John Jay College, City University of New York
² Bronx Community College

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gumbach{at}jjay.cuny.edu.

	Abstract

Although Manhattan’s Chinatown bears few traces of it today, from 1950 to 2005 local elites attempted to use city planning schemes to fashion an urban space that exploited exoticized notions of the quarter and its residents. Three ultimately unsuccessful proposals exemplify these "strategic self-orientalizing" endeavors: "China Village," a Title I urban renewal proposal (1950-1954); Chinatown Revitalization Plan, an effort to alter Chinatown’s streetscapes (1975); and The Unity Arch, an ornamental gate (2002-2005). Examining these proposals revises the history of Chinatown-planning nationally while revealing a story of cold-war machinations, changing immigration patterns, and the rise of identity politics.

First published on May 5, 2008, doi:10.1177/1538513207313915

Journal of Planning History 2008;7:214.

A more recent version of this article appeared on August 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?