Making Immigrant Neighbourhoods in Miami's and Toronto's In-Between Cities

Our research team, based at York University in Toronto and University of Miami is interested to compare how new patterns of immigration and settlement in Toronto and Miami have changed the landscape service delivery to new inhabitants of both global cities. This research is a joint effort by York University Professor and Director of the City Institute, Roger Keil and University of Miami Professor and Director of the Miami Consortium for Urban Studies, Jan Nijman, as well as Stephanie Del Campo, graduate student at York University. What is significant in this research on immigration and urbanization in Toronto and Miami is the changing nature of settlement patterns away from the traditional inner city immigrant neighbourhoods to more peripheral, suburban locations. We will expand this perspective to the particular “in-between spaces”, which have now become ports of entry for many immigrants, particularly for those from non-European origin. We are asking specifically:

• How these new areas of settlement fit into the overall urban fabric?
• How these areas provide services for immigrants?
• Whether these spaces create communities different from previous immigrant enclaves?
• To what degree does the emergence of these new immigrant neighbourhoods affect the architecture of governance in Toronto and Miami?
• Whether these enclaves constitute themselves as culturally distinct enclaves in the fabric of the global city?

The areas of immigrant service provision we are proposing to study are transportation, housing and health.