Place, Space, Identity: A Spatial Semiotics of the Urban Vernacular in Global Cities
Although urban communities in global cities appear quite different, particularly at first
glance, spatial semiotic analysis reveals similarities in ‘glocalized’ spaces. People change
the meaning of social spaces by changing the way these places look, through their
activities and by their presence. Understanding how this meaning-making happens is
critical to the study of urban places and cultures. Because of globalization, diverse people
frequently live within the same political boundaries, but the real test of community takes
place during the course of everyday life on the streets, in the shops, and in public spaces
of neighborhoods. Class, racial, and ethnic hierarchies mark urban space with differential
meanings. Though disadvantaged in conflicts with elites, ordinary urban dwellers express
their agency in the ways they challenge and sometimes subvert the ‘official’ uses of
social space. This entails, in part, remaking the space to look familiar in order to make
the space their own place. Through their social interactions and their material traces,
urban dwellers fill social space with expressive, conative and phatic signs of their
collective identity. The spatial semiotic perspective, we argue, offers a way to transcend
the usual global/local dichotomy of globalization research. Immigrant urban cultures
produce spaces of mixture, where both similarity and difference co-exist. We present data
from urban neighborhood communities in US and European cities. Our spatial semiotic
analysis reveals how micro-segregation and group interactions produce urban culture,
constrained by and challenging existing power arrangements, at the beginning of the
twenty-first century.
Timothy Shortell and Jerome Krase, Department of Sociology, Brooklyn College CUNY,
USA.
Place, Space, Identity: A Spatial Semiotics of the Urban Vernacular in Global Cities
Much of the recent work on global cities examines global capitalism and the
function of cities within it. Often neglected in this literature is the role of global flows of
people and cultures. The cities identified as global as a result of their position in world
economy are often also centers of global im/migration. Just as the institutions of global
capitalism have changed urban places and spaces, so too has the movement of people
from one culture to another. In the vernacular spaces of urban neighborhoods, the effects
of im/migration are easily seen.
Visual analysis of social space in urban vernacular neighborhoods reveals much
about the phenomenological nature of globalization. An examination of the quotidian
rhythms of urban life is as important to our understanding of the nature of globalization
as the analysis of large scale social forces and institutions. The everyday lives of urban
dwellers are shaped by forces outside of their control, certainly, but people assert agency
in a multitude of ways. We can see this in their practices when they perform identity,
making the social spaces they occupy like ‘home.’
The everyday practices of ordinary people who have been brought together by
globalization are examples of what Robertson (1997) meant when he coined the term
‘glocalization.’ According to Osterhammel and Petersson (2005:7), ‘Robertson
recognized that homogenizing and universalizing forces of globalization do not obliterate
the heterogeneity and particularity of local forces as much as their interaction creates
varying degrees of hybrid culture.’ People perform their collective identity by making use
of the materials of this hybrid. Their practices and symbols might not be identical to those
of their culture of origin, but they are no less meaningful as a result.
In this essay, we argue that sociological analysis of visual data is necessary to
understand how urban vernacular neighborhoods are changing as a result of globalization.
Visual data reveals the constructed and dynamic nature of social meanings and the ways
in which urban space is both the context of and product of ethnic and class
transformations. We will briefly document some of these transformations with
photographs of ethnic vernacular neighborhoods in Antwerp, Berlin, Brooklyn, Cape
Town, Darmstadt, Gothenburg, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Manchester, New Britain, New
York, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, and St. Petersburg. These urban spaces are filled with
signs of collective identity and, often, inter-group competition. In the physical
environment, architectural details, commercial signs, graffiti, among other things, signify
the flows of people and culture. So too do social practices, such as commercial
transactions, socializing, and commuting, in the public spaces of vernacular ethnic
neighborhoods. Our analysis, based on the images shown here and hundreds of others,
reveals what glocalization looks like and demonstrates the connection between social
space and collective identity.
Spatial Semiotics
Simmel (1908/1924) established the central role of the visible in theorizing about
the complex and constantly changing metropolis. He noted the extent to which modern
cities made social differences part of the visual landscape, the way that cities looked.
Urban dwellers, he argued, changed the ways that they related to the built environment
and to each other as a result. Combining Simmel and other seminal urban theorists, such
as Lefebvre (1991), Lofland (1985, 2003), and Jackson (1984), Krase and colleagues
(Krase, 2002, 2003; Krase and Hum, 2007; Krase and Shortell, 2008; Shortell and Krase,
2009) have demonstrated that ordinary people change the meaning of spaces and places
by changing their appearance, through their activities and by their presence.
Harvey (1989, 2006) argued that the powerful reproduce and enhance their power
by controlling public space. Through appropriation and domination, the powerful
differentiate public space. The lives of ordinary urban dwellers take place in this context.
Though disadvantaged in their struggles with the powerful, ordinary urban dwellers are
not powerless. They contest and sometimes subvert domination by using public space for
their own ends, sometimes through collective action and sometimes by ‘unofficially’
being in the space.
There is a simple formula for the process by which agency transforms
representation into practice in vernacular landscapes: ethnic groups simply going about
their daily business present themselves to the observer. The observer then re-presents
their performances in descriptions that in turn become representations – in some cases,
stereotypes, and in others, commodified icons of ‘otherness.’ Beauregard and Haila
(2000) note that despite the increased spatial complexity of late 20th century urbanism, a
distinctly ‘postmodern’ city has not displaced the modern one and is just as ‘legible’ as
its precursor. Lofland (1985) might add that cities have always been changing in response
to the entrance of ‘strangers.’ The difference today is primarily that urban change follows
a different logic of location.
Fritzsche (1996), Lynch (1960), and King (1996) speak of cities as ‘text’ to be
read and, we argue here, ordinary streetscapes are important yet often ignored parts of
that text. Zukin (1996:44) adds that ‘Visual artifacts of material culture and political
economy thus reinforce – or comment on – social structure. By making social rules
“legible” they represent the city.’
Vernacular landscapes are the interpretive context of the signs of collective
identity of interest in the present research. Signs have meanings that relate to the patterns
and places of urban life. These give sensibility to the ‘visual impressions’ that Simmel
(1908/1924) so thoughtfully observed. The vernacular landscape is both the built and
social environments, what Gottdiener (1994) called ‘settlement space.’ Lived experience
in urban communities, as well as media sources about urban culture, is used to make
sense of the signs of collective identity.
The semiotic medium for collective identity is multi-modal, including both
language and visual signs. There are codes for appearance, for example, and nominal
codes. There are visual codes that relate colors to identity and codes for alphabets as
physical signs of geography. Distinctive cultural practices are also a code; perhaps the
most common of these relate to food and dress.
The markers of collective identity are in a constant state of tension among
alternative interpretations of self and other. Jakobson (1960, 1972) identified three
functions of signs that can help us interpret the visual representations of identity in urban
neighborhoods: the expressive, the conative, and the phatic. Jakobson was thinking of the
structure of language in his work, but the functionality he describes may be applied to
visual markers also. In doing so, we are extending Jakobson’s semiotics in a manner that
may be useful for urban sociologists.
Expressive signs give the subject a voice; they are an important component of
social agency. According to Jakobson, these signs are oriented toward the addresser; they
reveal his or her emotive state. In the context of urban neighborhoods, people create
expressive signs in the course of their everyday practices when they enact rituals of
identity. Among the most visible of these practices is the use of flags, national colors, or
place names to proclaim origins.
In Jakobson’s view, conative signs attempt to influence others’ behavior. In
language, the use of vocative case or imperative mood signals the conative function.
Conative signs highlight the relationship between the addresser and addressee, and place
an obligation on the latter. Markers of exclusion are one important type of conative sign
in the urban vernacular landscape. Graffiti can be said, in some instances, to be of this
type. So too can the uses of native alphabets. To the extent that social space is contested,
conative signs are common; they call attention to group boundaries, marking the space
between the in-group and out-groups.
Jakobson describes phatic signs as those that are oriented toward contact
(Hawkes, 2003). In language, this includes, among other things, phrases which facilitate
continued communication rather than are strictly denotative. For example, ‘How are
you?’ is often used not as an inquiry into the health of the other as much as an invitation
to have a conversation. Other examples include questions like ‘You know what I mean?’
which function as tests of the connection between addresser and addressee. Applied to
visual codes, phatic signs are those that serve as an inducement to social interaction. They
work not through denotation primarily, but by confirming the connection between
individuals, and between people and places.
In the end, visual signs that facilitate social relations, like these linguistic
customs, might be the most common signifier of the urban vernacular. Phatic signs are
artifacts of ordinary social interaction. They are the indicators that we are at home in our
neighborhood. Phatic signs express that this social space belongs to us, that our cultural
practices are acceptable here. Through phatic signs, cultural strangers can assert their
agency in the social spaces of the host country.
Method and Data
Visual sociologists generally use one or more of three different kinds of images in
research. Some researchers have research subjects produce images. Other researchers use
found or pre-existing images as data. In the present research, we employ the third kind,
researcher-produced images (Warren and Karner, 2005; Pauwels, 2008). We use a visual
method called the photographic survey (Krase and Shortell, 2007, 2008, 2009; Shortell
and Krase, 2009) to collect data. The photographic survey is a technique for taking
images of urban neighborhoods in order to record visual information at a particular place
and time. Photographs are taken as the researcher travels through a neighborhood
systematically photographing public spaces, without regard to particular content or
aesthetics.
The photographic survey records both the physical and social streetscapes. It is
important for data collection not to be determined by the researcher’s attention – that is,
the researcher must not photograph only that which seems, at that moment, to be of
interest. The photographic survey is designed to collect images in which the social
content might not be immediately noticed. This overcomes the most important
shortcoming of most studies using researcher-produced data: sampling bias. Like the
ethnographer collecting observational data, this method produces a lot of visual
information in the field, the significance of which may be known only later, upon
reflection.
Photographs taken in this manner emphasize more distant content rather than
foreground; this is because the inhabitants of neighborhood spaces may regard being
photographed as invasive (Prosser and Schwartz, 1998) and also because the recognition
of the act of data recording can change the nature of human behavior.
Multiple trips are required to adequately cover a particular neighborhood.
Because social life in urban neighborhoods is dynamic, varying by time of day, day of
week, and week of year, as well as year to year, more trips to photograph a neighborhood
results in data with greater validity. It becomes possible to see patterns when the
collection of images extends beyond the boundaries of particular urban cycles. The end
result of data collection using the photographic survey is hundreds of photographs.
Following Harper (1988), we adhere to a visual method in which the photographs
are data, records of the structuring of social life, not ornaments to illustrate sociological
concepts. To study spatial semiotics of urban vernacular landscapes, researchers must use
visual data of the built and social spaces of urban neighborhoods. Just as with non-visual
sociologists, researchers have to be attentive to the ways in which data collection shapes
the possibilities of analysis.
All image data for this project are available at www.BrooklynSoc.org; the photo
archive contains more than 7,000 images from more than 30 global cities. Images for the
present analysis include neighborhoods in Antwerp, Berlin, Brooklyn, Cape Town,
Darmstadt, Gothenburg, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Manchester, New Britain, New York,
Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, and St. Petersburg.
Scenes from Urban Vernacular Spaces in Global Cities
Figure 1 shows two views of streetscapes along Coney Island Avenue in
Brooklyn. Image (a) shows parents and children near a public school. The style of dress –
in particular, the head scarves – signal identity information about the people using this
public space. In image (b), we see the same kind of phatic sign, though in this case the
identity of the people in the image is different. In the first photograph, the people in the
foreground are Muslim; in the second image, the crowd on the corner is Orthodox Jewish.
Observers of the neighborhoods along Coney Island Avenue, whether they themselves
are Muslim, Jewish, or something else, would be able to recognize the semiotic function
of the style of dress (without being aware of it as a semiotic function), and in a sense,
know to whom the neighborhood ‘belongs.’
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Phatic signs of collective identity in Brooklyn. (a) Muslim parents and children
near a public school. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2003. (b) Orthodox Jewish women on
a commercial street. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
The built environment also contains phatic signs of identity. In Figure 2, the
presence of certain kinds of businesses marks the territory as an ‘immigrant
neighborhood.’ In image (a), money transfer and telecommunications services are to be
found on a commercial street in Belleville, Paris. This part of the neighborhood is panAsian,
and the services reflect this. The CD and DVD store, at the far left of the
photograph, sells entertainment and other specialty items from East Asia. In image (b),
money transfer and travel services are offered. These businesses in the Pakistani
neighborhood along Coney Island Avenue, in Brooklyn, also use alphabets on signage as
an indicator of who lives here.
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Phatic signs of identity in the built environment. (a) Common immigrant
services in Belleville. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2007. (b) Common immigrant
services in Brooklyn. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
Immigrant services, such as shops selling phone cards for cheap calls to particular
areas, are reliable markers of glocalization. In Figure 3, additional examples of this kind
of phatic sign are shown. In image (a), a shop window in Chinatown, Philadelphia,
advertises calling cards with an emphasis on East Asia. Not only the language of the
signage, but also the particular array of cards and rates signals the potential customers of
this business. We can read who the local market is by observing such emphasis. In a
similar fashion, we can observe the local market in the advertising of entertainment.
Image (b) shows a message board in a public plaza in Angered Centrum, an ethnic suburb
of Gothenburg, on which a variety of announcements have been placed. Unlike
advertisements in other media, which might reflect the homogenizing effects of
globalization, message boards like this don’t have much reach; they are for local
consumption only.
(a) (b)
Figure 3. More phatic signs in the urban vernacular landscape. (a) Window advertising
telecommunications services in Chinatown, Philadelphia. Photograph by Jerome Krase,
2003. (b) Message board in a public plaza in Angered Centrum, an ethnic suburb of
Gothenburg. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
Cultural products like food and clothing also mark urban neighborhoods as
belonging to certain groups. Figure 4 shows two examples of store windows that are
visually very similar. In image (a), the window of the ‘Asian Cloth House’ in Olso
advertises particular fashions. In image (b), the same can be seen in a window of a shop
on Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. The style of dress
reflects a distinct cultural marker; although anyone is free to shop in these places, the
presence of the window displays – as well as people wearing these fashions on the street
– marks the territory as a ‘South Asian neighborhood.’
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Clothing as a phatic signs of ethnic identity. (a) ‘Asian Cloth House’ on
Tøyengata in Oslo. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2010. (b) South Asian fashions for sale
on Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis in Paris. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
Figure 5 shows how food operates as a similar phatic sign. Food choices reflect
cultural norms. The logic of commerce results in food shops stocking and advertising
products that are in demand by the local community. Image (a) shows a Chinese market
in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The large Chinese community in the neighborhood shops in
places like this. Others tend to see the display of these foods as evidence that Sunset Park
is a Chinese neighborhood. In image (b), an Indian and Pakistani grocery functions in the
same way. This shop, and the neighboring bakery, and others on the block, effectively
designate this part of Coney Island Avenue as ‘Little Pakistan’ in Brooklyn.
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Food is a common phatic sign of ethnic identity. (a) Market in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn, also known as Brooklyn’s Chinatown. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2003. (b)
Indian and Pakistani Groceries in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Photograph by Jerome
Krase, 2000.
Ethnic cuisine is, of course, global and is not necessarily a reliable indicator of a
neighborhood’s population. The ‘authenticity’ of such cuisine is often a marketing tactic,
not a historical argument. Nonetheless, some ethnic restaurants are manifestations of
glocalization. Figure 6 displays two scenes which might be interpreted in this way. Image
(a) shows the ‘Little Aladdin’ restaurant on High Street in Manchester, in the Northern
Quarter. The neighborhood is known as the ‘hipster’ neighborhood, which might suggest
that it offers Indian food for non-Indians. But Manchester has a sizable South Asian
population nearby, and the window promises ‘it’s just like home cooking’ – a message
seemingly oriented toward those for whom Indian dishes would be their home cuisine.
Image (b) shows the façade of ‘Istanbul Grill’ on Potsdamer straße at Bulöwstraße in
Berlin. The façade advertises döner, the rotary grilling style of Turkish cuisine. Germany
hosts a significant Turkish population, making these restaurants more common in
contemporary German cities. Although döner is becoming a popular ‘street food’ in
global cities with Muslim populations, such restaurants still signify immigrant spaces.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Restaurants also represent a phatic sign of ethnic identity. (a) “Little Aladdin’
on High Street in Manchester. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009. (b) ‘Istanbul Grill’
on Potsdamer straße in Berlin. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2008.
Other features of public space can function as phatic signs, as shown in Figure 7.
In image (a), a banner advertises the Manchester Art Gallery by showing a young Muslim
woman looking at art. By targeting untypical English patrons, the banner normalizes the
connection between the social space of Manchester and Muslim immigrants. In image
(b), a salon on Boulevard Magenta in Paris is painted with a holiday theme. The black
African woman wearing the Santa hat is a subtle sign that the neighborhood is
multiracial. In fact, many of the shops on this stretch of the boulevard are patronized by
Paris’ large black population.
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Phatic signs of multiculturalism typical of immigrant neighborhoods in global
cities. (a) The Manchester Art Gallery banner showing a young Muslim women viewing
their collection. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009. (b) Shop window of a salon on
Boulevard de Magenta in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Photograph by Timothy
Shortell, 2010.
Figures 1 to 7 show the ways that urban dwellers change the meaning of social
spaces by using and occupying them. The phatic signs displayed give evidence of an
important form of social agency. Immigrants (and migrants) may lack political power, or
economic or social capital, but they have the power to make their social spaces reflect
their identity. They ways in which they do this are many; some are easily recognizable
cultural practices such as clothing and food. Others are the result of ordinary commerce
associated with population mobility. This is what glocalization looks like.
Phatic signs also signify social class identity. In Figure 8, two images mark the
contrast between high and low status in urban environments. Image (a) shows an informal
flower market in St. Petersburg. The vendors of the flowers are identified as belonging to
the bottom of the class hierarchy by the fact that they do this kind of labor, as well as
their appearance. Many shoppers on the street tend to ignore these workers because of the
stigma associated with their lack of status. In contrast, image (b) shows a block of
brownstones in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The neighborhood is a hot zone of
gentrification, and the social space of blocks like this are assigned to the upper middle
class.
(a) (b)
Figure 8. (a) St. Petersburg informal flower market. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2008.
(b) Block of brownstones in Prospect Heights, a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn
neighborhood. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009.
Urban vernacular landscapes are filled with expressive as well as phatic signs of
collective identity. Expressive signs are just as effective in marking urban social space as
belonging to particular social groups. Figure 9 demonstrates how houses of worship
function as expressive signs; these mosques signify not only the faith community, but
also immigrant status. Image (a) shows the minaret of a mosque in Cape Town. The
architecture is distinctive. In image (b), a storefront mosque uses the traditional colors of
Islam, green and white, as well as the Arabic alphabet to announce itself. Both the
signage and the function of the building are expressive signs. There are often worshippers
outside, further marking the territory as home to the North African Muslims who live in
the surrounding blocks.
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Places of worship are expressive signs of religious identity. (a) Minaret of a
mosque in Cape Town. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2000. (b) Storefront mosque in La
Goutte d’Or, Paris. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
As with phatic signs, both the built environment and the social activity that takes
place within it have semiotic functions. Figure 10 shows two examples of collective
action serving as an expressive sign of collective identity. Image (a) shows a prodemocracy
protest in Piccadilly Gardens by Manchester’s local Iranian community. The
participants and the protest signs and flags they carried were clearly expressing a
connection to Iran, temporarily marking the park as their space. Image (b) shows a march
for the rights of ‘undocumented persons’ in Paris. The march appeared to be headed
toward Place de la République, a traditional space for populist collective action. The
photograph shows the march turning onto Boulevard de la Chapelle from La Goutte d’Or,
a neighborhood of North African and West African immigrants.
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Collective action can be an expressive sign of identity. (a) ‘Democracy in Iran’
protest in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009. (b)
‘Persones sans papiers’ march in Paris. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2010.
Explicit performances of culture also function as expressive signs. In Figure 11,
two examples of such performances, both the spectacular and the quotidian, are
displayed. Image (a) shows a scene from the annual Turkish Day parade in New York.
Image (b) shows a pair of Andean musicians performing for tips (and selling CDs) in
Stockholm. Buskers like this are common in global cities.
(a) (b)
Figure 11. More examples of collective action as an expressive sign. (a) Scene from the
Turkish Day parade in New York. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2003. (b) Andean
musicians in Stockholm. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2008.
One of the more ubiquitous signs of immigrant status and ethnic identity in global
neighborhoods is the national flag. Two examples are given in Figure 12. Image (a)
reveals a mural featuring the Puerto Rican flag on a residential street in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn. The gentrification of the neighborhood has put pressure on the Puerto Rican
working class neighborhood; the presence of Puerto Rican stores other local businesses
between Bedford Street and the waterfront, south of Grand Street, is diminishing. In
image (b) a variation on the flag theme is displayed. The fascia of the ‘Polish-American
Congress’ office in New Britain, Connecticut, uses the coat of arms and red and white of
the Polish flag, shaped like the state of Connecticut, to announce its ethnic identity.
(a) (b)
Figure 12. (a) Puerto Rican flag mural, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Photograph by Jerome
Krase, 2010. (b) ‘Polish-American Congress’ in New Britain, Connecticut. Photograph
by Jerome Krase, 2000.
The two images in Figure 13, from Los Angeles, illustrate how ‘ethnic theme
parks’ use commodified expressive signs. Krase (1997:105) explains the ethnic theme
park as a place where the experience of the ethnic ‘other’ is for sale, particularly to
tourists. Monuments to the group’s ethnic ‘heritage’ and ‘anthropological gardens’ where
visitors can see glimpses of the ‘good old days’ are common signifiers.
Image (a) shows a busy shopping plaza in Los Angeles, Olvera Street, where one
can buy mementos of Latino culture. The locals call it ‘La placita Olvera’ and there are
places to buy ‘authentic’ Mexican-American food as well as the usual tourist fare. Image
(b) is a scene from the iconic Chinatown in Los Angeles (not far from El Pueblo). The
‘traditional’ architecture of the ‘Hop Louie’ restaurant, and the dozens of similar
buildings, attracts thousands of tourists yearning for a glimpse of the ‘Chinese’ way of
life.
(a) (b)
Figure 13. ‘Ethnic theme parks’ are full of commodified expressive signs. (a) El Pueblo
de Los Angeles, a place for ethnic cuisine and shopping. Photograph by Jerome Krase,
2001. (b) Façade of the ‘Hop Louie’ restaurant in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.
Gentrification generates a plethora of expressive signs of class identity, as
gentrifiers mark the territory as having acquired new status. All things upscale are signs
of upper middle class status, including the ‘ironic’ use of working class features, such as
business names and façades. Figure 14 shows two examples of these expressive signs of
class. Image (a) shows a busy shopping block in the heart of Lisbon’s gentrified
downtown, Avenida da Liberdade. Here local Lisbon history, the site of the original
market near the port, mixes with globalized luxury brands. Image (b) shows the façade of
a upscale restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, which promises ‘fine Japanese
cuisine.’ Careful attention to the creation of upscale ambience is common sign of the
gentrified business. The contrast with working class Caribbean restaurants a couple
blocks away is striking.
(a)
Figure 14. Expressive signs of class identity. (a) Shopping on Avenida da Liberdade, one
of the most gentrified areas of Lisbon. Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009. (b)
Upscale dining in an ‘authentic’ Japanese restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009.
Alphabets on signage and the façades of buildings on commercial streets are
commonplace conative signs of identity. Figure 15 shows a couple of examples of this. In
image (a), the menus for two restaurants in Manchester’s Chinatown are displayed. The
restaurant on the left has a bilingual menu. But at the restaurant on the right, the menu is
in Chinese only (except for the name of the restaurant, in English). This would be an
invitation to Chinese speakers, but a significant disincentive for those lacking literacy in
the language. In image (b), the presence of Polish on the fascia and awning of a pharmacy
acts as an invitation to the longstanding Polish community in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The
pharmacy is a franchise in a popular chain, but this one is customized for the local
community.
(a) (b)
Figure 15. Conative signs of ethnic identity. (a) Chinese restaurant menus in Manchester.
Photograph by Timothy Shortell, 2009. (b) Polish on the awning and fascia of a Duane
Reade pharmacy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2010.
Aspects of the built environment can also function as a conative sign, as shown in
Figure 16. The iconic marker of urban poverty in the global south, the shantytown, is
usually interpreted to be a sign of danger to outsiders. In image (a), this township outside
of Cape Town could almost stand for urban poverty throughout the developing world. As
noted by Gehl (2010), South Africa has tried, with its ‘dignified places programme’ to
create quality urban space for the poor to counter this prevalent symbol. In image (b), the
effect is seen from the opposite end of the class hierarchy; this is a streetscape along
Vasagaten in Gothenburg. Though not quite as well known as its more gentrified, and
touristy, neighbor, the adjacent Haga neighborhood, this area is lined trendy restaurants
and shops, basking in the status of Göteborgs Universitet. This is not a place for the faint
of wallet.
(a)
Figure 16. (a) Township outside of Cape Town. Photograph by Jerome Krase, 2000. (b)
Discussion
These vernacular landscapes are everywhere and changing as a result of
globalization, urbanization, modernization, immigration, and other forces that in many
cases create layers, or palimpsests, of competing European, Asian, African, and Latin
American cultural artifacts. As people move from their home nation, they take signs of
their culture and implant these in their neighborhood in the host nation through their
social practices. This includes everything from physical changes in the built environment
to the their mere presence in the social spaces of the new neighborhood. Immigrants
generally lack the power to recreate the valued spaces of their home cultures, but their
day-to-day lives are full of expressive, conative, and phatic signs of their collective
identity. The urban cultural landscape has traces of the most diverse array of ethnic
influences anywhere in the world, as seen in the material and interactional forms
associated with their home culture – everything from architectural styles and folk art to
fashion and food preferences.
Glocalization is a hybrid, and substantially manifests itself in phatic signs in
vernacular neighborhoods. The goods and services desired by locals, in immigrant
neighborhoods, ascribe the place as ethnic, and often, working-class or poor, by virtue of
the concentration of physical markers of identity or the spatial distribution of people. It is
a tangible proof of the agency of non-elite urban dwellers that they can define the
meaning of their social spaces, to some extent, by their presence. Our photographic data
reveals, over and over again, evidence of this in vernacular neighborhoods in global
cities.
The social practices of urban dwellers also function as phatic signs, as many of
our images reveal. Through everyday behaviors, people perform their ethnic and class
identity for others – those who share social spaces with them, as residents or visitors.
Looking for work – and, indeed, working itself – commuting, socializing, shopping, and
even playing football are ways that urban dwellers communicate their identity by being in
social spaces in vernacular landscapes.
Expressive signs, particularly in contested spaces, are another important feature of
the vernacular landscape. Both as individual acts and as collective behavior, expressive
signs of identity are ubiquitous in urban communities. Whether or not these are the same
acts and behaviors that one would observe in the home countries does not matter in this
regard. They remain performances of collective identity in glocalized spaces of global
cities.
In global cities, as urban dwellers learn to live with ‘cultural strangers,’ they come
to acquire a visual literacy with regard to glocalization. In both the physical and social
environments, expressive and phatic signs of ethnic and class identity are commonplace
in vernacular neighborhoods. As globalization generates ever more population mobility,
urban dwellers may come to regard the look of glocal signs as normative. ‘Cultural
strangers’ may become not so strange after all.
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