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Theoretical debate on gated communities: genesis, controversies, and the way forward

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Abstract

As a global phenomenon, the gated community has become a heated topic of research around which there are multidisciplinary studies and debates. However, voices from the field of urban design have been heard comparatively less frequently though the well-being of public spaces in the face of spatial privatisation has been one of the major concerns of urban design research. This paper therefore intends to present a theoretical discussion of previous researches of the gated community from the urban design perspective. It starts from a broad review of the political–economic and social impetus behind the sense of fear as the salient motive for gated communities. The analysis reveals that the market demand for gated communities will continue and even become stronger as long as the political–economical transformation steered by neoliberalism is sustained. Therefore, this paper argues that a response to the demand for considering the well-being of public space is a pressing issue for all practitioners involved in city planning including urban designers. It then analyses three key elements at the design and policy level to soften the negative impact of gated communities through physical manipulation, and concludes by appealing for empirical studies in different contexts of development to explore the applicability of the proposed approach to urban design.

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Notes

  1. The term ‘gated residential development’ is actually more accurate than ‘gated community’ as ‘it does not carry the same weight of sociological baggage’ (Manzi and Bowers, 2006) and is more relevant to the territorial enclosure, which distinguishes it from other private housing developments.

  2. ‘We call urban design the symbolic attempt to express an accepted urban meaning in certain urban forms’ (Castells, 1983, p. 304).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor John Punter for the great inspiration and valuable advice.

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  1. School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3WA, Cardiff, UK

    Miao Xu & Zhen Yang

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  1. Miao Xu
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  2. Zhen Yang
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Correspondence to Miao Xu.

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Xu, M., Yang, Z. Theoretical debate on gated communities: genesis, controversies, and the way forward. Urban Des Int 13, 213–226 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2008.29

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