Housing Adaptations: A Study of Asian Indian Immigrant Homes in Toronto
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT/RESUME This paper investigates if and how immigrants modify their domestic space to suit their ethno-cultural needs. Findings are based on an empirical study of the exterior and interior of Asian-Indian immigrant homes in Toronto. The study determines that Asian-Indian homeowners do not aspire to more adaptations than their counterparts. The majority of respondents in the sample made structural changes; however, the changes were made predominately to their homes' interiors. Physical manifestations of Asian-Indian ethnic expressions on the outside of homes were minimal. Internal changes were made to accommodate large social and religious gatherings and, in some cases, to house extended family. Except for the need for a prayer room, additional storage space, and adequate ventilation in the kitchen, the changes appear typical of the changes mainstream Canadians would make. The study recommends flexible house design that would allow easier adaptations to daily domestic needs. Cet article cherche a savoir si les immigrants modifient leur espace domestique afin de combler leurs besoins ethnoculturels et comment ils le font. Les resultats se basent stir une etude empirique portant sur l'exterieur et l'interieur des domiciles d'immigrants provenant de l'Inde a Toronto. Selon l'etude, les proprietaires indiens ne veulent pas de s'adapter plus qu'un La majorite des repondants composant l'echantillon ont effectue des changements structurels. Toutefois, ils ont surtout ete executes a l'interieur. A l'exterieur, les marques physiques exprimant la culture indienne etaient minimes. Les changements interieurs ont ete effectues afin d'accommoder les grandes reunions sociales et religieuses et dans certains cas, dans le but d'heberger la famille etendue. Outre le besoin d'une salle de priere, d'espaces de rangement accru et d'une ventilation adequate dans la cuisine, lea renovations semblent etre pareilles a celles qu'executerait un Canadien typique. L'etude prone des modeles de maisons dont le concept serait plus flexible et faciliterait donc son adaptation aux besoins domestiques quotidiens. INTRODUCTION Immigrants of various ethnic backgrounds have transformed the Canadian urban landscape over the last several decades, expressing their identities, needs, and preferences in a growing number of business enclaves and religious and ethnic institutions. We are aware that ethnic business concentrations and religious institutional buildings in Canada contribute to the establishment of identifiable ethnic areas. However, we do not know whether the interiors and exteriors of residential buildings also gain a recognizable ethnic distinctiveness. If so, how do home dwellers modify their domestic space to suit their ethno-cultural needs? These are the questions this study explores. Answers will in turn help us create fairer housing policies and building standards for ethnically diverse societies. We can also learn lessons and perhaps find solutions to equally accommodate the housing design requirements of divergent groups. Canadian researchers are beginning to realize the importance of ethnic adaptations to the built environment. Some researchers have studied how immigrant groups changed external elements of existing buildings, mostly commercial. Buzzelli's (2001) study documents how Italian minorities in the Little Italy area of Toronto changed the original Georgian idiom of the streetscape by introducing Italian features to commercial buildings. Lai (1988, 1990) studied the transformation in the architecture of buildings in Chinatowns across North America. Still, little empirical evidence exists about the ways different ethnic groups organize, use, and adapt the interiors and exteriors of their homes. This empirical study explores how immigrant home dwellers shape and reshape domestic spaces-interior as well as exterior-to express their thoughts, concerns, and beliefs. …
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".