Diana Mok

Research Projects

The spatiality and the economic cost of language identity (ongoing with Lin‑hin Li, University of Hong Kong)

In this project, we examine the role of language as a source of social identity and its spatial implications. We also describe how language acts as a source of social identity in motivating individuals to sort themselves by residential location. In the project, we further examine the extent to which economic factors such as housing values and institutional factors such as the provision of language schools reinforce social identity and influence residential location. We conduct two specific studies to illustrate the exposition: the first one uses Montreal as a case study, which examines the role of institutions in facilitating social identity based on language. A second study uses census data from Hong Kong, which focuses on the impact of education policy on the geographic distribution of social groups.

Homeownership in the transitional economy of China (ongoing with Si‑ming Li, Hong Kong Baptist University)

In the last decade, the housing market in China experienced rapid transformation particularly in the way housing services are distributed or allocated among households. From a command economy in which housing services were provided primarily by the work unit (danwei), the contemporary market has transformed into one that is based on market mechanisms. In this project, we examine what factors are in fact driving the tenure decision among households and assess the extent to which the lifecycle theory helps explain households’ tenure transition.

The spatiality of social networks (ongoing with Barry Wellman, University of Toronto)

Well before the coming of the Internet, strong ties with friends and relatives stretched well beyond the neighborhood: the traditional domain of community. Phones, cars and planes allowed people to have contact over substantial distances; however, the mere fact that ties stretched over long distances does not tell us the extent to which distance mattered for contact and support in pre-Internet days. Although scholars have mused about this question, they have not provided empirical evidence. The project assesses the extent to which support depends on geographic distance and examines what is the role of telecommunication in the geographic of social networks.

Economic uncertainty and immigrants’ coping strategies (ongoing)

Previous studies on immigrants' earnings often adopt an outsider perspective to assess immigrants' performance in the labour market, but seldom take the stance of immigrants to consider immigrants' choices and strategies; the goal of this paper is to examine the tradeoff between earnings and uncertainty among Canadian immigrants—the coping strategies of immigrants. The paper uses 20 cross-sectional microdata files of Canada, between 1974 and 1998, to create two “synthetic” cohorts of immigrants. The study compares and contrasts the coping strategies of these two cohorts of immigrants and draws policy implications.

Publications (past 7 years)

Refereed Journals

Mok, D., Wellman, B. and Carrasco, J.A. (forthcoming) 'Does Distance Still Matter in Connected Lives? A Pre- and Post-Internet Comparison' Urban Studies 47(13)

Mok, D., Wellman, B., and Carrasco, J.A. (forthcoming) 'Does distance matter in the age of the Internet' Urban Studies

Mok, D. 2009 'Cohort effects, incomes and homeownership status among four cohorts of Canadian immigrants' The Professional Geographer 61(4): 527–546

Mok, D., Wellman, B. and Basu, R. 2007 'Did distance matter: A pre-internet analysis' Social Networks 29(3), 430-462

Mok, D. 2007 'Do two-earner households base their residential location decisions on both incomes?' Urban Studies, 44(4): 723–750

Mok, D. 2005 'Do household members share their incomes in location decisions?' Professional Geographer (under revision)

Mok, D. 2005 'The wealth of cities: How risky is our suburbanized residential built environment?' Urban Geography (under review)

Mok, D. 2005 'Does bilingualism reduce income uncertainties?' Growth and Change (under review)

Mok, D. 2005 'Young households' life stage and housing decisions' Environment and Planning A 27: 2121-2146