¹CSIR Built Environment, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

Correspondence: Karina Landman, Tel: +27 12 841 2084; Fax: +27 12 841 3400; E-mail: klandman@csir.co.za

Abstract

The urban design of gated neighbourhoods in South Africa is influenced by a number of ideas that are based on specific international urban design concepts, combined with local variations. An analysis of these developments and manifestations of the particular ideas in practice reveal their impact and implications, raising many questions around the appropriateness of international urban design approaches in post-apartheid South Africa. The different types of gated neighbourhoods contribute to spatial patterns reflective of micro- and anti-urbanism, contributing to a segregated approach to urban design through a focus on the privatisation of urban space through fortified boundaries and physical borders.