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In its modern form, a is a form of Residential Community sometimes characterised by a closed perimeter of walls and fences, but always containing controlled entrances for Pedestrian s, Bicycle s, and Automobile s. Gated communities usually consist of small residential streets and include various amenities. For smaller communities this may be only a park or other common area. For larger communities, it may be possible for residents to stay within the community for most day-to-day activities. Gated communities are a type of common interest Development , but are distinct from Intentional Communities .
Though they are called communities, there is no evidence to suggest that Social Capital is any higher within them than other forms of residential development. Given that they are spatially a type of Enclave , they are more likely to have negative contributions to the overall social capital of the broader Community "Low, S (2001) The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear, American Anthropologist, March, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 45-58 Posted online on December 10, 2004." http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/aa.2001.103.1.45
Some gated communities, usually called guard-gated communities, are staffed by private Security Guard s. These communities are often home to high-value properties. Some gated communities are set up as retirement villages. Some gated communities are secure enough to resemble Fortress es.
The amenities available depend on many factors including location, demographic composition, and community structure. If there are sub-associations that belong to master associations, the master association may provide many of the amenities. In general, the larger the association the more amenities that can be provided.
Amenities depend on the type of housing. For example, single-family-house communities may not have a common-area pool, since the individual owners may want their own pools; whereas a Condominium may offer a pool, since the individual units generally cannot have their own pools.
Typical amenities offered can include
In many parts of the world, buyers are expressing a preference for gated communities. While many see living in a gated community as offering increased security, they are not impenetrable. Walls are frequently low enough for someone to climb over them. Gates can be bypassed by tailgating cars and, for those willing, access through the sewer system. Pedestrians can usually enter by means of pedestrian gates, which are generally unlocked.
In Brazil, the most widespread form of gated community is called "condomínio fechado" (closed housing estate) and is the object of desire of the upper classes. Such a place is a small town with its own infrastructure (backup power supply, sanitation, and security guards). The purpose of such a community is to protect its residents from outside violence. The same philosophy is seen on closed buildings and most shopping centres (many of them can only be accessed from inside the parking lot or the garage).
In Argentina, they are called "barrios privados" (literal translation "private neighborhoods") or just "countries" and are often seen as a symbol of wealth. However, gated communities enjoy dubious social prestige (many members of the middle and middle upper class regard gated community dwellers as or snobshttp://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/12/18/sociedad/s-05301.htm). While most gated communities have only houses, some bigger ones, such as Nordelta http://www.nordelta.com/ingles/inicio.htm, have their own hospital, school, shopping mall, and more. In recent years, this influx of people going from the big cities to the gated communities has experienced a backlash in Argentina. Visiting Buenos Aires, the renewed geographer and urbanist Jordi Borja from Spain who teaches urban planning at the University of Barcelona criticized gated communities calling them http://weblogs.clarin.com/los-amores/archives/2007/05/borja-los-countries-niegan-la-ciudad-de-las-torres-no-estoy-a-favor-ni-en-contra.html
"the negation of cities". Architect and university professor Marcela Camblor, who heads the Urban Design Dept in Florida, USA [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/Archivo/nota.asp?nota_id=933519 told the La Nacion newspaper that "the gated communities experiment has failed", calling them "unsustainable from the economic, social, and now even energetic point of view". News magazine Veintitres published a story in its Jan 25, 2007 issue titled "the dream is over" which highlights examples of people who initially moved to high-class gated communities only to return recently to the city, citing the high cost of commuting, the false sense of security -there are robberies even inside the gated communities- and a sense of isolation and compatitiveness between neighbors lived inside those communities. Elsa Allievi, of the important O'Connor real state agency, is quoted saying "we have an increasing number of requests from people who wants to leave the countries".]
In post-apartheid South Africa gated communities have mushroomed in response to high levels of violent crime. South African gated communities are broadly classified as "security villages" (large-scale privately developed areas) or "enclosed neighbourhoods". Some of the newest neighborhoods being developed are almost entirely composed of security villages, with a few isolated malls and other essential services (such as hospitals). A common mode of development of the security villages involves staking out a large land claim, building a high wall surrounding the entire zone, then gradually adding roads and other infrastructure. In part, property developers have adopted this response to counter Squatting , which local residents fear due to associated crime, and which often results in a protracted eviction process. Crime syndicates have been known to acquire property in some of these security villages to be used as a base for their operations within them.
They are popular in southern China, namely the Pearl River Delta Region. These communities are often purchased by overseas Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, and nouveau-riche local Chinese.
In Saudi Arabia , gated communities have existed since the discovery of oil, mainly to accommodate Westerners and their families. After threat levels raised since late 1990s against Westerners in general and Americans in particular, gates have become armed, sometimes heavily, and all vehicles have been inspected. Marksmen and SANG armored vehicles appeared in certain times, markedly after Recent Terrorist Attacks in areas nearby, targeting Westerners.
Real estate developers build gated communities to appeal to buyers' desire for security and prestige.
Physical walls, in some cases fortified and surveiled, give the inhabitants a sense of security. Some sociologists have criticized the creation of these type of walls as ''fortressing'' and have compared them to historical Fortification s. Opponents of gated communities argue that physical segregation is not always necessary to create '' Defensible Space '', that is, to establish control over a particular space. They claim symbolic barriers can be sufficient.
Another criticism is that gated communities offer false security. Studies indicate that safety in gated communiteis is more illusion than reality. Crime statistics show that gated communities have no less crime than non-gated neighborhoods. Blakely, E.J., and M.G. Snyder. (1998). "Separate places: Crime and security in gated communities." In: M. Felson and R.B. Peiser (eds.), Reducing crime through real estate development and management, pp. 53-70. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute. In addition, bicycle and pedestrian Connectivity are often greatly impaired by gated communities.
Gated communities are often insular and homogeneous; that is, grouped along boundaries of Social Class , Race / Ethnicity , or Culture . The phenomena of " White Flight " has historically coincided with the establishment of gated communities.
- Lifestyle — country clubs, retirement developments.
- Prestige — gates for status appeal
- Security Zone Communities — gates for crime and traffic.
A limited number of gated communities have long been established for foreigners in various regions of the world:
- The worker compounds in the Middle East, built largely for the oil industry.
- The Closed Cities of Russia are also an example of purpose-designed gated communities.
There are many gated communities in Argentina , especially in Greater Buenos Aires , in the "partido" (county) of Pilar, 60 km N of Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Federal District), as well as in other suburban areas, such as Nordelta.
Even though Tortugas Country Club was the first gated community developed in Argentina - dating from the 1930s / 1940's -, most of them date form the 1990s, when liberal reforms were consolidated.
Since Buenos Aires has been traditionally regarded as a socially integrated city, gated communities have been the object of research by sociologists. Gated communities are regarded as a direct consequence of social polarization originated by liberal reforms. http://www.nuso.org/revista.php?n=207
Lately, gated communities have been loosing their appeal on security, due to well known murder cases and violent robberies: María Marta García Belsunce 's as well as Nora Dalmasso's murders took place in their homes, located in upscale gated communities of Pilar and Río Cuarto, respectively. As of January 2007, the media have reported that dwellers of gated communities have been targeted as victims of assaults, robberies or simple Vandalism .
Although gated communities have been relatively rare in Australia, since the 1980s a few have been built. The most well-known are those at Hope Island , in particular Sanctuary Cove , on the Gold Coast of Queensland . The success of Sanctuary Cove has led to other similar projects being built in the area. In Victoria, the first such development is Sanctuary Lakes , in the local government area of Wyndham , about 16km south west of Melbourne city. While these developments are suburban in form and easily identifiable, other less noticeable forms of the same kind of thing are the kind of residential high-rise towers constructed in the last 20 years that incorporate communal gyms, pools, meeting and dining facilities along with extremely high security systems and drive-in, drive-out secure garaging, meaning that residents are effectively insulated from public space in a similar manner to the suburban versions. Such buildings are not unique to Australia.
Brazil also has many gated communities, particularly in Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo . For example, one of São Paulo's suburbs, Tamboré , has at least 6 such compounds known as Tamboré 1, 2, 3, and so on. Each consists of generously spaced detached houses with very little to separate front gardens. Thus many of the city's suburbs resemble wealthy suburbs in North America, Europe and other wealthy countries.
Planning laws in some Canadian provinces ban locked gates on public roads as a public health issue (they deny emergency vehicles quick access). Nevertheless, many newer suburban sudivisions employ decorative gates to give the impression of exclusivity and seclusion.
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