The dramatic expansion of the historically marginalized gaming industry has led to a proliferation of casinos in the American landscape. Casinos now draw concentrated flows of people, capital, and goods—-the basic definitions of a city--into the urban periphery. In regions with existing Chinese populations, these flows of casino patrons and workers have also brought recent Chinese immigrants into these sub-urban areas. These immigrants introduce urban notions of density, diversity, and dynamism into the seemingly suburban fabric surrounding the casinos.

By examining these unique types of urbanizations that have emerged within existing sub-urban communities, SubUrbanisms explores the ways in which these casino company towns and china towns challenge the cultural assumptions, values, and norms rooted in the American suburban landscape. By documenting, interpreting, and speculating upon these urban transformations of the suburban fabric, SubUrbanisms abstracts principles from these case studies of the Chinese diaspora in the United States, in order to address sustainabilities of suburban living worldwide.

With contributors representing fields ranging from anthropology to public policy, to urban and architectural history, this multidisciplinary study explores architecture and urbanism as it engages with social, political, and economic affairs of local, national, and global significance. These include national identity claims, multiculturalism, and property rights vis a vis local impacts of global Chinese migration on architecture, landscapes, and planning policies.

In sum, SubUrbanisms interprets how the everyday built environment and cultural landscape, embedded with particular cultural, financial, and aesthetic values, serve as contested media through which identities are constructed and social relationships negotiated. Understanding how we are spatially situated—from different global/local scales and different cultural perspectives—allows us to see how our lives are shaped by space and, in turn, empowers us to shape our lives. 



American Studies / Anthropology / Architecture / Cultural Studies / Ethnic Studies / Geography / History / Planning / Public Policy / Sociology / Urban Studies