The emergence of ethnic entrepreneurs in Seoul, South Korea: globalisation from below

Abstract

In a globalising era, there have been many attempts to explain the processes of globalisation in urban studies. Beyond a global/world city hypothesis which mainly deals with macro‐actors and top‐down processes, this paper explores a grounded globalisation with the emergence of ethnic entrepreneurs who are rarely considered in global city research. We analyse business activities of Nigerian and Pakistani entrepreneurs within the district of Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea by examining two specific points: first, the division of ethnic entrepreneurs into two types: export‐oriented and import‐oriented, and second, the local‐based transnational connections between home and host countries. We argue that the spontaneous transnational connections by ethnic entrepreneurs are an example of globalisation ‘from below’. In contrast to the homogenising Asian global cities, globalisation from below is crucial to understand the various forms of Asian global cities.

Entrepreneurship and geography—some thoughts about a complex relationship

“…In addition, in times of globalisation and increasing streams of migrants into all regions, countries, and continents, migrant entrepreneurship will become a more relevant aspect of regional entrepreneurship than it has been in the past. Largely under-researched topics like transnational diaspora entrepreneurship stress the important bridging/broker function of entrepreneurship (Elo et al 2018) and open up many opportunities for topics and researchers outside Anglo-America and Europe (Drori et al 2009;Kloosterman 2010;Koh and Malecki 2016;Muñoz-Castro et al 2019). Also, we should not overlook the many opportunities derived from the strongly increased attention government and policy-makers are paying to entrepreneurial activities.…”

Degentrification? Different Aspects of Gentrification before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…As a "disgraceful" place within national territory, cultural regeneration models of beautification of sites with an emphasis on historical legitimacy and nationalistic sentiment cannot be applied to Itaewon [12,14]. It was once designated as a cultural district to boost international tourism during the 1980s and 1990s, as Korea hosted international events such as the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup [14,17]. However, the effects on urban regeneration were limited due to the lack of supporting programs.…”