Who Drinks Bubble Tea? Coethnic Studentification in Toronto's Chinatown

• Published in: Housing policy debate Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 695 - 721
• Main Authors: Sotomayor, Luisa, Zheng, Corals
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02-09-2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adults; College students; Colleges & universities; Containment; Drinks; ethnic neighborhoods; Foreign students; Housing; Housing market; international students; Land use; Land use management; Land use planning; neighborhood politics; Neighborhoods; Residential density; Residential development; Student housing; studentification; Students; urban planning
• ISSN: 1051-1482; 2152-050X
• DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2023.2192190

This article examines studentification in Toronto's Chinatown, a centrally located neighborhood experiencing increases in student populations due to nearby university expansion. This expansion has been met with land-use planning policies of intensification and containment, and market-driven development propelling substantial density increases. We seek to answer, first, what types of development and residential trends result from rising student housing demand; second, how are commercial uses influenced by a growing student population of young, largely racialized adults and their lifestyle choices; and, third, what types of neighborhood tensions and micropolitics play out in this context. We show that the growing university intake of international students-particularly from China-living near Chinatown has created class-based and generational tensions in response to coethnic and market-driven neighborhood change. We highlight opportunities for multistakeholder collaborations to preserve Chinatown as an affordable intergenerational neighborhood where residents (old and new) find communities of arrival and belonging.