Greater Asian urban enclaves expanding and concentrating in Australian cities

As Asian communities grow in our urban areas, what are the implications for race relations?

By Awais Piracha

The 2021 Australian census reveals that just over half of Australians have a parent born overseas and a little less than one third are themselves born overseas. [1] The census also indicates that the largest increase in people with countries of birth other than Australia, was India. More than two hundred thousand people born in India were added to the Australian population in the last census period. [2]

I have studied the geographical concentration of the Asian communities in Australia (Sydney in particular) for many years. I use Asian as a broad term that is inclusive of the East, South and West Asians. These three communities are commonly referred to as Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern - a gross generalisation but helpful in understanding the ethno-spatial dynamics of modern Australian cities, Sydney in particular.

In the following, through my analysis from the past censuses, I demonstrate that the urban concentrations of these three communities have been intensifying. Ethnicities-related data from the latest census indicates that the process might have accelerated. I wonder what the implications for race relations in Australian cities are of that?

In a 2012 paper with my colleague Tingting Cui, we found that migrants’ choice of location for living can be guided by segregation or congregation. [3] Segregation can be caused by discrimination or unaffordability, whereas congregations can be due to the desire to live closer to people of similar ethnic background, availability of ethnic amenities and or perceived desirability of an area.

Our 2012 work led to us identifying ethnic concentrations in Sydney using the Centrographic method. [4] In addition to the relative level of concentration, the method identifies the relative geographic location of the concentration. We used country of birth data (as a proxy for ethnicity) at suburban level from the 2006 census. In Sydney, we identified three distinct ethnic geographic regions for people from East, South and West Asia.

While detailed census data from 2021 is not yet available, data from past censuses clearly demonstrate the existence of those regions as well as how they have grown larger and become more intensely concentrated over time.

I have extended our 2012 work by comparing it for the three Asian populations with the 2016 census data. The 2021 data at such finer level has not been released yet. [5] However, the 2016 census clearly indicates the concentration of the population born in Asia has been intensifying.

The following two maps indicate the South Asian population in Greater Sydney. Figure 1 clearly indicates that the South Asian (Indian) concentration in the northwest of Greater Sydney persisted over the 2006 and 2016 period. If anything, it had shifted slightly further northwest over the ten year period - in line with an intense outward urban development in the Northwest urban growth area. [6] The interesting point is that while the size of the ellipse over the ten year period had remained the same, the total South Asian population (in Greater Sydney) represented by the ellipse had grown from about 100K in 2006 to about 250K in 2016. [7] This means the South Asian population concentration has significantly increased in the Northwest. The 2021 census initial release indicates that ethnic population has further grown very significantly. Their concentration would have increased too.

Figure 1. Centrographic map of South Asian population in Greater Sydney in 2006 and 2016. The darker line is 2016 centrographic ellipse and the darker dot is the 2016 mean centre.

The other interesting point to note is that the Northwest of Sydney is a relatively expensive part of the Metro. This indicates that the South Asian concentration in the northwest is a case of congregation, as opposed to segregation. This congregation seems to be due to a complex mix of reasons including perceived high status of the area, desire for living in the brand-new large houses, following other community members who have moved there as well as good educational facilities and amenities. Figure 2 below is a heat map of the South Asian Population in Greater Sydney (2016 census). It confirms the concentration pattern described above.

Figure 2. South Asian population heat map using 2016 census data

I have carried out similar analyses for the Northeast Asian and the Middle Eastern populations. The two demonstrate similar concentration phenomena but at different locations. Northeast Asian concentration is situated in the centre of Greater Sydney whereas the Middle Eastern centre is located in the Southwest. Despite fast growth in their respective populations from 2006 to 2016, their ellipse size remained the same. That indicates a growing concentration.

The overall analysis presented in this writing raises the question about racial harmony and the future of race relations in Australian cities. The situation that has been described above does not seem to have caused any race problems yet. Still, is it desirable for Australians of various ethnic backgrounds to live in increasingly geographically concentrated patterns?

I must point out that the most desirable and most expensive parts of Greater Sydney i.e., North and East are high white concentration areas. In these areas, local communities pose highly organised resistance to any additional housing development. As a result, the vast majority of new housing development takes place in the central, north-western and south-western parts of the metro – precisely the areas where we find Asian concentrations. [8] Perhaps the Asian ethnic concentrations are at least partially a result of white communities’ resistance to let more people come into the most affluent parts of the Metro.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/snapshot-australia/2021

[2] https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2021-census-nearly-half-australians-have-parent-born-overseas

[3] Cui T, Piracha A, 2012, Culture matters : an analysis of ethnic segregation and congregation in Sydney, Australia using Centrographic method, Proceedings of the Australia & New Zealand Association of Planning Schools Conference: La Trobe University, Bendigo, 21-23 September 2012

[4] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07493878.1990.10641813?journalCode=tgrs19

[5] https://www.abs.gov.au/census/2021-census-data-release-plans/2021-census-product-release-guide

[6] https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Plans-for-your-area/Priority-Growth-Areas-and-Precincts/North-West-Growth-Area

[7] Tablebuilder census 2006 and 2016

[8] Farid Uddin, K. A., Piracha, A., & Phibbs, P. (2022). A tale of two cities : contemporary urban planning policy and practice in Greater Sydney, NSW, Australia. Cities, 123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103583