More From Our Geographers

David Ley is an urban geographer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He is widely regarded as one of the leaders in the field of urban geography, focusing on the social organization, internal structure, and shape of cities.

In Vancouver: Hong Kong East, Ley comments on the conflicts that have evolved at the neighborhood level when Chinese immigrant values clashed with those of Anglo residents over the type and style of newly constructed housing. His use of the geographic concept of scale to explain his observations is rich with meaning: on the one hand, the very scale of the newer houses is at odds with traditional Tudor homes; on the other hand, the economic and political forces that encourage landed-immigrant status for Chinese Canadians are national and global in scope.

In the final analysis, differing views of the purpose and function of houses in Vancouver are at the root of the conflict. Ultimately, the neighborhood that is undergoing change will mediate the matter through revision of the area's zoning code. In the course of ameliorating heated emotions, geographic insight reminds us that the rules and regulations governing how land is used, and how houses are built, are a reflection of a variety of urban community values that must be blended together.

David Ley on the return of wealthy Chinese migrants from Vancouver to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

One of the reasons that so many have returned is that they found the economic culture here more difficult than they anticipated. A number of the wealthier migrants, at least half of them, didn't speak English. And that was a very significant handicap to enter, to be entrepreneurs here. A number, of course, went into the ethnic enclave economy, selling essentially to other Chinese migrants. But there are only so many Chinese restaurants [and] take-outs that the market can support. And to break out of that enclave has proven very difficult.

The kinds of things that people tell you, and I've done a number of interviews with ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs, is that the regulatory culture here is very complex and very difficult to work with. The taxation structure is so demanding that it hardly seems worth the effort. There's concern about red tape, about licensing, about labor and environmental regulations -- the whole regulatory environment here is very difficult to address. And it's so much easier to go back to Hong Kong or to Taiwan with a 15% income tax, flat tax, much lower levels of regulation, and make money very much faster. So that's what's happened. Many have, indeed, chosen to do that.

David Ley on immigration of educated but less wealthy mainland Chinese to Vancouver in the beginning of the 21st Century.

With the move towards a free market in the People's Republic of China, there's a high level of unemployment that has been created. Really at all levels. And, as well as that, a great desire for upward mobility which does now seem a possibility. But. . . . it's simply impossible for the Chinese economy to absorb the new work force each year that's coming onto the market. . . . With the economic changes in China, there's a period that we're going through now of very severe unemployment. The Chinese government is quite prepared to endure a brain drain rather than have unemployed intellectuals around who might make trouble.