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Migration and Urban Transitions in Australia Past Present and Future Iris Levin Full Chapter PDF
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GLOBAL DIVERSITIES
Migration and
Urban Transitions
in Australia
Edited by Iris Levin · Christian A. Nygaard
Peter W. Newton · Sandra M. Gifford
mpimmg
Global Diversities
Series Editors
Steven Vertovec
Department of Socio-Cultural Diversity
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and
Ethnic Diversity
Göttingen, Germany
Ayelet Shachar
Department of Ethics, Law, and Politics
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and
Ethnic Diversity
Göttingen, Germany
Over the past decade, the concept of ‘diversity’ has gained a leading place
in academic thought, business practice, politics and public policy across
the world. However, local conditions and meanings of ‘diversity’ are
highly dissimilar and changing. For these reasons, deeper and more com-
parative understandings of pertinent concepts, processes and phenomena
are in great demand. This series will examine multiple forms and configu-
rations of diversity, how these have been conceived, imagined, and repre-
sented, how they have been or could be regulated or governed, how
different processes of inter-ethnic or inter-religious encounter unfold,
how conflicts arise and how political solutions are negotiated and prac-
ticed, and what truly convivial societies might actually look like. By com-
paratively examining a range of conditions, processes and cases revealing
the contemporary meanings and dynamics of ‘diversity’, this series will be
a key resource for students and professional social scientists. It will repre-
sent a landmark within a field that has become, and will continue to be,
one of the foremost topics of global concern throughout the twenty-first
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and Religious Studies.
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Preface
In 2020, one in three of Australia’s 25.6 million residents was born over-
seas, and more than one in two had a migrant background, meaning they
were either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas (ABS,
2020a, 2021). Most of these migrants live in urban environments, either
in capital cities, secondary cities or large towns. The greatest net gains in
the twenty-first century in population due to immigration1 were in
Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Australia is an urban nation, with 79 per cent of its residents residing
in capital cities and a total of 86 per cent living in urban centres (ABS,
2020b; Knoema, 2020). Indeed, Australian cities have been magnets for
international migration since the large migration waves arriving in
Australia following Federation at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Cities have traditionally offered prospective employment, cultural insti-
tutions, community support for newly arrived migrants, and a safe living
environment. For example, migrants from southern Europe joined their
relatives and village acquaintances when they arrived in Australia in the
late 1940s and 1950s, looking for work and housing. Often, they would
board with their fellow countrymen and women until finding work and
moving into their own housing. Cities have been instrumental in this
process.
Since the beginning of white settlement in Australia, and more
intensely since the end of the Second World War (WWII), Australia has
v
vi Preface
seen migrants arriving on its shores. Migration policy can be seen to have
changed according to political and economic aims and values, shaping
the social composition of the Australian population. It has responded to
internal and global pressures and has always been a tool for national social
engineering, determining who can get into Australia and who cannot.
Initially, migrants were mostly from the British Isles, although the gold
rush years also experienced an inflow from many other countries, includ-
ing China, to the goldfields. Chinese migrants constituted nearly 10 per
cent of male (non-Indigenous) population in Victoria in 1857 (ABS,
2014). The first 40 years following Federation in 1901 principally encour-
aged white British migration under its ‘White Australia’ policy. After
WWII, several Displaced Persons Schemes opened Australia to southern
and eastern European migrants, to supplement continued, but ‘insuffi-
cient’, British migration (DIBP, 2017). In the 1970s, this expanded to
allow migrants from Asia and Africa to enter Australia, many of whom
were also refugees who fled their countries due to war and conflict. This
has led to a cultural diversity that is in stark contrast to settlement up
until the mid-twentieth century. Today, Australia is home to residents
from every country on earth.
Over time, the arrival of diverse waves of migrants has changed the
social fabric of Australia, and consequently has influenced multiple urban
transitions, including the demographic and settlement patterns, the
physical fabric of housing and neighborhoods, the streetscapes and com-
mercial landscapes, the establishment of cultural and religious institu-
tions and communities, and the introduction of food cultures, sports and
other cultural influences. Yet urban Australia still poses many challenges
to newly arrived migrants, and even more so to asylum seekers and refu-
gees, from finding appropriate employment suitable for their skills and
finding housing appropriate for their needs. Many still face systemic dis-
crimination in both areas, especially if they are ‘visible migrants’ (Colic-
Peisker & Tilbury, 2008). Climate change and its impacts on the natural
and built environments, and the COVID-19 pandemic, are both impact
accelerators on policy and expenditure decisions confronting Australian
governments that are likely to frame future policy decisions, including on
immigration.
Preface vii
References
ABS. (2014). 3105.0.65.001 – Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2014.
h t t p s : / / w w w. a b s . g o v. a u / A U S S TAT S / a b s @ . n s f / D e t a i l s Pa g e /
3105.0.65.0012014
ABS. (2020a). 2016 Census QuickStats Australia. https://quickstats.censusdata.
abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/036
ABS. (2020b). 300,000 More People Living Capital Cities. https://www.abs.gov.
au/articles/300000-more-people-living-capital-cities
ABS. (2021). Migration, Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/
population/migration-australia/latest-release
Colic-Peisker, V., & Tilbury, F. (2008). Being Black in Australia: A Case Study
of Intergroup Relations. Race & Class, 49(4), 38–56. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0306396808089286
Department of Immigration and Border Protection. (2017). A History of the
Department of Immigration: Managing Migration to Australia, https://www.
homeaffairs.gov.au/news-subsite/files/immigration-history.pdf
Knoema. (2020). Australian – Urban Population as a Share of Total Population.
https://knoema.com/atlas/Australia/Urban-population
Note
1. In this preface (as well as other chapters in the book), we interchange
between the terms ‘migration’ and ‘immigration’ to indicate international
migration, unless specified otherwise.
Acknowledgements
As ever, there were many who helped bring this collection to life. The idea
for the book evolved after the establishment of the Centre for Urban
Transitions at Swinburne University in 2017 and thus we owe our thanks
to the Centre for Urban Transitions and its director Professor Niki
Frantzeskaki who has supported this work. We are grateful for the edito-
rial support of Zoë Goodall, whose professionalism has guided us during
the preparation of this collection of chapters. We would also like to
acknowledge the support of Sharla Plant and the editorial team at Palgrave
Macmillan. Finally, we would like to thank all the authors of this volume
for their contributions, patience, and assistance with the editorial pro-
cess, through the very difficult and challenging times during a global
pandemic.
Iris would also like to thank the endless support of the three very expe-
rienced and professional co-editors, Christian (Andi), Peter and Sandy. I
am grateful for your guidance and generosity.
xiii
Praise for Migration and Urban Transitions
in Australia
xvii
xviii Contents
15 Epilogue335
Iris Levin, Christian A. Nygaard, Peter W. Newton,
and Sandra M. Gifford
Index345
Notes on Contributors
xxi
xxii Notes on Contributors
xxvii
xxviii List of Figures
Fig. 13.5 Council project promoting high rise social housing as home.
(Photograph: Gifford) 300
Fig. 13.6 Corona virus. COVID-19. CIRT police and mounted horse
section guard the entrance to the Flemington towers where
three people were arrested. (Photo by Jason South. 7 June
2020)301
Fig. 14.1 Food hall-style informal eateries, Box Hill. (Photo courtesy
of The City Lane October 2017. https://thecitylane.com/
box-hill-central-asian-food- exploration/) 319
Fig. 14.2 A major new development in the area, ‘DKSN’ embraces
the contemporary and youthful rebranding of the suburb.
(Photo R. Williamson) 322
Fig. 14.3 Rebranding of Dickson as fusion-Asian, ‘melting pot’
precinct. (Photograph: R. Williamson) 323
Fig. 14.4 Woolley Street’s multicultural food map. (Photograph:
R. Williamson) 324
Fig. 14.5 Statue of Confucius on the corner of Woolley and Badham
Streets. (Photograph: R. Williamson) 325
List of Tables
xxxiii
List of Cases
xxxv
1
Migration and the Shaping
of Australian Cities
Iris Levin, Peter W. Newton, Christian A. Nygaard,
and Sandra M. Gifford
Introduction
Australian cities have been and continue to be shaped by immigration.
Australian cities are now among the world’s most culturally and ethni-
cally diverse and are home to most of the nation’s population. As an
urban migrant nation, there is much to be learned about the ways in
which migration is affecting urban change and transitions in Australia.
Yet since the beginning of the 2000s, research on migration and Australian
cities has diminished, leaving a gap in the published literature at a time
when migration to Australian cities has been expanding. The pause in
I. Levin (*)
Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT University,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
e-mail: Iris.levin@rmit.edu.au
P. W. Newton • C. A. Nygaard • S. M. Gifford
Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
e-mail: pnewton@swin.edu.au; anygaard@swin.edu.au; sgifford@swin.edu.au
changing, and the challenges they face now and in the future, within the
global context of similar hyper-diverse global cities hosting growing pop-
ulations of new migrant arrivals. The research question we pose in this
book is: What are the ways in which migration is shaping urban transitions
in Australia?
We begin with a brief overview of migration trends since the begin-
ning of the twenty-first century, a period that has witnessed unprece-
dented levels of immigration and population growth of the nation’s major
capital cities – the principal destinations of new arrivals. The second sec-
tion briefly examines the impacts of this period of immigration on the
big cities and the key transitions that have resulted and may continue to
emerge, post COVID-19.
the racial perception of the time, which positioned Caucasians at the top
and Aboriginals at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, non-White migrants
were expected to segregate, were not allowed to stay permanently, to
intermarry, or to enjoy the same rights as Caucasians. At the 1947 Census,
the non-European population (except for the Indigenous population
which was not counted until 1967) was only 0.25% of the total Australian
population (Jupp, 2002).
After the Second World War, Australia realised it needed to boost its
population for a stronger economy and greater security, prompting a call
to ‘populate or perish’ by the then-Labour Immigration Minister Arthur
Calwell. This led to a large-scale immigration programme that changed
Australia from an insular, British-oriented country to a large and more
diverse society (Castles et al., 2013; Jupp, 2002). It opened Australia to
assisted-passage migrants from Britain and other European countries, as
well as displaced persons, following the Second World War (Jupp, 2002).
In the post-War years, Australia saw the arrival of migrants from Italy,
Greece, Malta, and other Balkan and eastern European countries. Most
of these migrants settled in cities, like most migrants before them (Hugo,
1995), attracted by prospective employment opportunities and cultural
connections. Chain migration played a significant role, with early post-
War European migrants settling where their acquaintances from the same
village or town lived. Due to the heavy concentration of manufacturing
in Melbourne and Sydney, many unskilled migrant labourers settled
there, as well as in Adelaide and Wollongong (Jupp, 2002). Many
migrants settled in crowded and dilapidated inner-city dwellings which
became available when Australian-born residents moved out to the grow-
ing baby-boom suburbs.
With the abolition of the ‘White Australia’ policy in 1973 by the
Whitlam Labor government and the introduction of a policy of multicul-
turalism, Australia changed its approach to migration. Immigration from
Europe and Britain subsequently decreased, and Australia began to
receive large numbers of refugees from the Middle East and Asian coun-
tries, including two major groups in the 1970s and 1980s: refugees from
Vietnam, following the Vietnam War, and refugees from Lebanon, fol-
lowing the Lebanese Civil War. Many of these migrants settled in cities,
joining fellow migrants, due to a strong village chain migration (Burnley,
1 Migration and the Shaping of Australian Cities 5
Table 1.1 Migration and Australia’s capital cities: migrant share of capital city
population, 2016
Sydney Perth Melbourne Darwin Brisbane Adelaide Canberra Hobart
39% 39% 36% 29% 28% 28% 28% 15%
Source: The Australian Government, the Treasury and the Department of Home
Affairs, 2018, p. 9
Table 1.2 Migration and Australia’s capital cities: migrant contribution to capital
city growth, 1996–2016
Sydney Perth Melbourne Canberra Darwin Adelaide Brisbane Hobart
63% 50% 50% 44% 42% 42% 41% 32%
Source: The Australian Government, the Treasury and the Department of Home
Affairs, 2018, p. 9
Since the early 2000s, and following the 9/11 attack in 2001, the mul-
ticultural approach has been criticised in many liberal democracies,
including the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada, with a populist back-
lash claiming it has failed to protect nation states from terrorist attacks.
Instead, other philosophies such as interculturalism have emerged,
although Australia still maintains its bi-partisan support of multicultural-
ism (Tables 1.1 and 1.2).
Centre, 2021; Statistics Canada, 2019; Stats NZ, 2020). In 2019, the
proportion of overseas-born in Sydney (42.9%), Perth (42.7%) and
Melbourne (40.2%) significantly surpassed the national average (29.8%)
of overseas-born (ABS, 2020b).
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
Fig. 1.1 Natural increase and NOM 1981–2060, thousands. (Source: ABS, 2020b;
Treasury, 2021, Note: Intergenerational Report (IGR))
8 I. Levin et al.
their younger average age and the fact that greater housing adjustments
are often needed in the period following arrival (Charles-Edwards et al.,
2018). There were significant differences in mobility levels between the
English-speaking and non-English-speaking migrant groups, however,
with the latter exhibiting significantly lower levels of movement (Hugo
& Harris, 2011).
Frantzeskaki & Rok, 2018), spatial inequality in cities (e.g. Gusdorf et al.,
2008) and to viewing cultural diversity in cities as a driver of transforma-
tive innovation and systemic solutions (e.g. Borgström, 2019; Wolfram,
2016). Below, we present several significant areas where immigration has
made noteworthy impact and initiated urban transitions in Australia.
Until the early 20th century, one in three workers were employed in pri-
mary industry and almost half of the population lived on rural properties
or in towns of less than 3000. By 1960 manufacturing had grown to make
up almost 30 percent of GDP and employ one in four Australians, with a
big presence in suburban areas.
Over the past 220 years, migration enabled a succession of urban eco-
nomic transitions: from convict settlement to coastal commercial centres
in the nineteenth century; then to manufacturing and industrial centres
in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, before transitioning to
post-industrial and service-based centres beginning in the 1970s, a func-
tion that continues to this day.
14 I. Levin et al.
Socio-Cultural Transitions