Gated community

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Access to a gated community ( Boca Bayou condominiums in Boca Raton , Florida )

A gated community describes a closed residential complex with different types of access restrictions. The size of gated communities varies from individually guarded apartment blocks to large-scale settlements with over 100,000 inhabitants with their own infrastructure such as shopping facilities, community facilities, their own schools and hospitals and even their own office centers and workplaces. The number of closed residential areas has risen continuously since the 1970s, especially in the metropolitan areas of North and South America. This type of living has also existed in Asia and Europe since the beginning of the 21st century.

history

From the 19th century onwards, wealthy people withdrew to private residential complexes to protect themselves from the effects of industrialization . As early as 1857, one of the first gated communities, Llewellyn Park , was established in New Jersey . This consists of villas, an artificially created pond and has 13 hectares of land. The private estate with a monitored entrance gate is a model for the emergence of other private residential areas that were initially inhabited by wealthy citizens.

In Paris, too, privately developed, jointly managed and closed residential areas began to emerge from the mid-19th century. The "Villa Montmorency" is an outstanding example. Nevertheless, for a long time, gated communities have primarily remained an American phenomenon in the Sun Belt states such as Arizona , California or Florida as well as the metropolitan areas of New York City and Chicago . They often served as a second home and were mostly used by pensioners.

The real boom began around 1970, now gated communities were not only reserved for the privileged population, the poor citizens could also afford a life in private housing estates. This in turn led to the desire for even more exclusive offers within the gated communities, such as golf courses, among the upper class.

distribution

A survey in 2000 showed that there are now just over 20,000 gated communities for a total of more than nine million inhabitants in the USA . As a result, 3.2% of the total US population live in gated communities. There are also other residential complexes that are not protected by a gate, but have different security measures. It shows that over 20 million Americans live in settlements with special security measures.

Reasons for the spread

There are various reasons and motivations for people to live in gated communities. Living in gated communities also means withdrawing from the familiar urban environment, which is accompanied by changes in one's own way of life. These are the following common motifs:

  • fear of crime (protection by walls, security personnel, surveillance measures)
  • Demarcation needs, e.g. from other social classes
  • dissatisfaction with public services
  • the opportunity to help shape and participate in your own housing estate
  • Desire for rest, closeness to nature, privacy and social, cultural homogeneity (low-traffic planning of the streets)
  • the high status of residents of these neighborhoods in the rest of the city (high social capital )

Typologies

Due to the different degrees of their delimitation, the type of security measures used and their residents including their motives for moving in, different typologies of gated communities have emerged in the literature. These can be categorized in different ways.

According to security and demarcation

According to security and delimitation, gated communities are divided into three different categories:

Emerging private gated communities

Newly emerging private gated communities are mainly located in suburbs and are inhabited by members of the lower middle class and the upper class. They are characterized by the fact that their structure is strictly planned right from the start so that a uniform picture emerges. In newly planned gated communities, the residential area is demarcated by a wall or a fence. In larger units, residents can carry out numerous everyday activities; there are shops, kindergartens, etc. Ä. In smaller systems these possibilities are very limited; often there is only a small garden as the only community facility. Guarding is often carried out by private security services.

Subsequently closed neighborhoods

In contrast to newly emerging private gated communities, subsequently closed neighborhoods are not developed on the initiative of property developers, but already existing residential areas are subsequently fenced in at the request of the residents. These gated communities are often located in the middle of a city, which brings difficulties with it, as through streets, for example, can prevent a complete cordoning off.

Doorman or concierge building

In contrast to gated communities, doorman or concierge buildings are exclusively a building in which several tenants live. Only residents or guests who have previously been registered by the respective resident can enter this building. In some cases, there are also face and ID checks. Access monitoring can be implemented in different ways. The installation of cameras or the setting of so-called doormen or concierge as gatekeepers would be possible.

According to their residents and motives for moving in

Edward Blakely and Mary Snyder base their typologies of gated communities on the communities that exist in the USA and subdivide them into three ideal-typical categories, all of which are formed for different reasons and have different access conditions. However, it cannot be ruled out that in reality there may also be overlaps between the categories. As a condition of all gated communities, there must be (visible) isolation from non-members, an independent (supply) infrastructure and the existence of a community with certain rules.

The dementia village represents a special form, which is delimited from the outside in order to prevent the partially disoriented residents from leaving their residential area.

Lifestyle Communities (lifestyle communities)

In these communities, people come together according to their interests or their attitude towards life in order to live among like-minded people, separated from others, and to use leisure opportunities jointly and exclusively.

There are three types of lifestyle communities:

  • Retirement communities are usually inhabited by middle and upper middle class people who have already reached retirement age, as a certain age in these communities is usually a prerequisite for moving in. In not a few cases, the houses are initially only used as second homes and only used in the winter months, when the temperatures are also pleasant there.
  • Golf and Leisure Communities bring people of the upper class together who want to live in an elitist circle separated from others. A common interest, for example in golf or tennis, also plays an important role in these communities and is underlined in many cases by membership in the various clubs.
  • Suburban New Town Communities are the most modern form of lifestyle communities. These are huge communities, often comprising several thousand residential units, which, however, were not intended as such from the start, but were only closed afterwards and can therefore include commercial areas in addition to residential areas. The mergers often result from dissatisfaction with the urban supply, such as B. the garbage collection, which is then regulated in the community by the members themselves and the area virtually becomes a completely autonomous suburban community. This type of community can often be found in the so-called sunbelt states of the USA, which stretch from California through the entire south to Florida .

Security Zone Communities

The motivation of people to join forces in these communities is mainly guided by fear of crime and the volume of traffic in their environment, which can sometimes be perceived as unbearable. The need for security predominates for the residents of these communities, as the primary motivation, and is reflected in the planning and implementation. Access to these communities is strictly regulated and made as good as impossible for non-members by surveillance and security devices (fences, security gates, motion detectors, etc.), as well as private security personnel.

Prestige communities

These communities form some of the fastest growing gated community types. Above all, the stability of the social and economic environment and the offer of luxury are important here. The demarcation from the outside world and the privatization of state services exist, but are in the background. There is the following distinction between types:

  • Rich-and-famous communities were the first such neighborhoods in the United States. They serve as a retreat for celebrities and the rich. You are protected by security systems and guards. They are often even hidden away in order to avoid the public's interest entirely.
  • Top Fifth Communities were designed for residents of less exclusive status. Nevertheless, they offer them prestige goods such as magnificent parks and even artificial beaches. Here too, access is severely restricted and is always guarded.
  • Executive communities are the middle class version of this type of community. They are equipped with far fewer resources, but still offer their residents the feeling of luxury and a prestigious status in society. Within the community, equality, order and security are perceived as symbols of stability. This type of community is becoming more common in the United States.

Structure, administration and organization

Many gated communities have a special type of management that is carried out by the Homeowners Associations. In addition to the land, they also own parts of the streets, sidewalks and, if necessary, gates. Their main goal is to maintain the value of their properties.

The CC & Rs (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions), which are part of the rental agreement and make numerous demands on the residents, serve this purpose. In addition to the design of the property, this includes z. B. Type of plants or height of the hedge, including the furnishings in the house itself. Among other things, attention should be paid to the color of the facade, what type of curtains hang in front of the windows and what furniture is visible from the outside. In the event of a violation of the CC & Rs, the renter will be warned. If he repeatedly fails to adhere to the guidelines, a lawsuit can follow.

In addition, the HOAs often offer joint services that are otherwise mostly provided by state or municipal bodies. You care e.g. For example, garbage collection, sewerage and road repair. The tenants are usually charged with the costs. The tenants can have a say in the decisions of the HOAs, but usually with a kind of census option : the number of votes is mainly based on the value of the property.

At the beginning of the 1960s there were around 500 HOAs, in 1970 there were 10,000, in 1980 55,000 and by 2000 their number was 205,000, of which more than half represented connected private residential complexes.

Heineken Park, Budapest, XI. Circle.

Examples

From the USA

Over 40% of the planned settlement complexes in the west, south and southeast of the USA are gated communities. According to Blakely & Snyder, six gated communities have already established themselves as fully independent communities, including Canyon Lake (city, California) with a population of 14,000. Schöps has proven for South Texas that the spread of gated communities can be increased by economic prosperity and population growth and that the settlement structure of entire metropolitan regions can be fundamentally changed within a very short time. With the increase in enclosed residential complexes, there are lasting negative effects on the social interaction potential of residents and residents and the associated massive social disintegration processes up to the complete exclusion of the open city from the living environment of the residents of the gated communities.

Brickell Key in Miami, only accessible via a bridge

Desert Mountain (USA)

An example of a gated community in the US is Desert Mountain Residential Park ( Scottsdale , Arizona ). This has 29 smaller villages and is spread over approximately 3,200 hectares. 800 hectares of which are in the Tonto National Forest . The entire system is monitored by radar and is therefore under constant control. This offers, among other things, five golf and 17 tennis courts, three clubhouses and other luxurious options that make the residential complex unique. A total of around 600 employees are employed there. The price of a residential complex varies between $ 1.25 and $ 8.7 million.

From Germany

Arcadia

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The best known example in Germany of a gated community is the Arcadia residential complex. It is located on the banks of the Havel in the UNESCO-protected park landscape of Potsdam and offers space for eight villas and 43 apartments on an area of ​​approx. 30,000 m². The residential complex offers a view of the Babelsberg and Glienicke castles and has its own green area, is fenced and monitored with cameras. Then there are the "doormen" who monitor the system. Additional services are also offered in the residential complex, such as B. collection, delivery or repair services. However, the expected success of the Arcadia residential complex as a gated community failed to materialize. One of the reasons for this is seen in the location on the bank. This is publicly accessible and therefore does not guarantee any exclusivity for the residents.

Barbarossapark

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In 2005, the Delius Group built a closed residential complex of 29 luxury condominiums called “Barbarossapark” in the center of Aachen, around 200 m as the crow flies from the market square, on a fallow area of ​​3,500 m² in the triangle Pontstraße , Neupforte, Hirschgraben. A piece of the historic city wall integrated into the complex, supplemented by a 2.50 m high wire fence overgrown with ivy, shields the residents, who are predominantly part of the educated middle class and whose average age is over 50, from the surrounding residential areas. Access is through a gate with video surveillance in the Barbarossa Wall .

Residential complex at the Olympiapark

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In 2000, ten five-storey houses with a 22,000 m² garden landscape were built by Bayerische Hausbau on the site of a former dairy in Munich on Olympiaberg . In the car-free courtyard in the middle of the facility there is a four-meter-wide and 70-meter-long water basin surrounded by trees and five children's playgrounds. A two and a half meter high wall and an iron gate with video surveillance protect the residents from unwanted visitors.

Spain: La Finca near Madrid

Numerous Real Madrid soccer stars live in an isolated residential complex in almost identical houses by the same architect, Joaquin Torres.

France

Examples in France are the Domaine Le Grand Duc in Mandelieu (near Cannes) and Les Hauts de Vaugrenier and Domaine du Loup in Villeneuve-Loubet (near Nice).

Central and Eastern Europe

Closed guarded residential complexes arose in all of Eastern Europe after 1990, but above all after 2000, for example in Saint Petersburg , Warsaw and Sofia , which mostly serve young, affluent groups of people and internationally active actors. Public institutions are no longer trusted to protect these dwellings. Poland has a particularly large number of such settlements.

South Africa

Since the 1990s, many members of the upper and middle classes have withdrawn into fenced, extremely secure so-called compounds (German: fenced area, enclosure). These include individual houses or entire residential complexes. During the electricity supply crisis in the 2007/2008 boom, electricity was switched off by the hour in individual residential areas. Break-ins increased in residential complexes secured by electric fences. After the onset of the financial crisis, the demand for electricity fell and the energy supply was secured again.

China

In China, almost all newly built residential areas are created as gated communities. They are always fenced in, but the access controls vary in strength. Chinese residential areas have their origins in the village structures of ancient China on the one hand, and in the Danweis residential complexes (company apartments) on the other , conceived as a unit of living and working. In order to underline the more collectivist origin of this form of living, the term "Enclosed Neighborhoods" is sometimes used.

Since the vast majority of the urban population lives in gated communities, these are socially accepted; Openly accessible residential complexes and detached houses are uncommon in China. When planning gated communities, the authorities ensure that a certain social mix is ​​guaranteed. Conflicts can arise where within a gated community the residents of cheaper apartments and those of higher quality apartments do not have equal access to the services offered by the gated community (e.g. parking spaces or green spaces). It is currently being discussed to open larger roads running through gated communities to general traffic in order to relieve the main public roads; these proposals sparked controversial discussions.

criticism

Critics complain that gated communities are not freely accessible to the general public , that is, that public space is being lost. Even if the idea of ​​the “European city” as an open, democratic, socially integrated community in the sense of a normative ideal was never fully fulfilled, the planning should be measured against it.

In addition, it is criticized that the state administration - depending on the type of gated community - surrenders part of its planning and administrative sovereignty to the owners of the residential complexes. Conversely, the proliferation of gated communities is an indicator of weak regulation of urban development (e.g. in Istanbul). Studies from England and France show that, under pressure from real estate providers, public administrations refrain from objecting to undesirable properties of gated communities. Especially when - as in France - providers manage to label their services as "innovative" - ​​e.g. B. with regard to the public security debate - to sell, the administration relinquishes part of its planning function. Conversely, from time to time it is possible to open traditional closed residential complexes under pressure from local residents.

Often the gated communities are accused by their critics of segregation and social demarcation from their surroundings. There is a risk of (self) isolation and fixation of the residents on their community, which endangers the cohesion of society as a whole. The criticism on this point is similar to that of so-called parallel societies .

In contrast, analyzes of gated communities in Eastern Europe come to the conclusion that most residents do not even know each other, so that they are also not interested in social cohesion and networking. It is a residential preference of high-income sections of the population that is due to the local housing market situation with its lack of clean and safe residential areas, but above all to the supply strategies of international real estate operators that promise cleanliness and safety.

From the point of view of critics, some gated communities are characterized by strict regulation. There are regulations for the maintenance of houses and the care of gardens (minimum budgets for planting, breeding regulations for birds, weed removal), visiting and sub-letting restrictions ("rental restrictions"), rules that intervene in personal life planning and other social and visual regulations to special nature conservation or disaster control plans only for the residential complex. I.a. In various gated communities in the USA, plot owners are required to take out expensive insurance so that their houses do not stand empty after Hurricanes . In Florida , the homeowner is only responsible for the electricity costs and is almost transformed into a tenant; all other services are paid for via a community fee . In many cases, the founder of a gated community also decides on membership and exclusion and is the last resort in all disputes. In gated communities, however, these rules are agreed by private contract and not set by state regulations.

Synonyms

  • Condomínios fechados and Condomínios exclusivos in Portugal and Brazil
  • Barrios cerrados , Barrios privados and Urbanizaciones cerradas in Venezuela , Argentina and Ecuador
  • Condominios verticales , secured high- rise apartment buildings that are primarily being built for the upper and middle classes. A special form is the so-called Torre jardin , also a high-rise apartment building, which, however, is set back from the street front and has a private green area that is only accessible to residents.
  • Ensembles résidentiels clos in France , such as Villa Montmorency in the 16th arrondissement of Paris
  • Osiedla strzeżone , Osiedla (o) grodzone , Osiedla zamknięte in Poland

literature

Gated Communities in Fiction

Specialist literature

  • Georg Glasze: Closed residential complexes (gated communities): “Enclaves of well-being” in the economically liberal city . In: Heike Reggenthin (Ed.): City - the living space of the future? Current spatial processes in the Earth's agglomeration. Mainz contact studies geography . tape 7 . Mainz 2001, p. 39–55 ( uni-mainz.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ]).
  • Georg Glasze: Some reflections on the economic and political organization of private neighborhoods . In: Housing Studies (20) 2: 221–233, 2005, doi: 10.1080 / 026730303042000331745 ( online ; PDF; 1.1 MB)
  • Georg Glasze: Gated Community. In: Marquart, N. and V. Schreiber (eds.): Ortregister: A glossary on spaces of the present. 2012, transcript. P. 126–132 ( online ; PDF; 335 kB)
  • SM Low: Behind the Gates: Life, Security and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America , 2003 New York / London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-94438-4 .
  • Stefan Preis: The filmic representation of gated communities using the example of “The Stepford Wives” and “The Village” .
  • Andreas Schöps islands of equality and happiness? The structural, institutional and social integration of the gated communities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas (USA) into their surroundings - a socio-geographical contribution. Passau. 2011. ISBN 978-3-9811623-6-3

Web links

Commons : Gated communities  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

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  1. ^ Edward J. Blakely, Mary Gail Snyder: Fortress America. Gated Communities in the United States , 2nd Edition, 1999, Washington: Brooking Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-9107-0 . P. 3 ff.
  2. ^ K. Frantz: Gated Communities in Metro Phoenix (Arizona). New trend in the US urban landscape . In: Geographische Rundschau 53, 2001: p. 12f.
  3. ↑ Georg Glasze: Guarded residential complexes and "the European city" , paper, geographer. Institute of the University of Mainz, no year, online: https://www.geogr-helv.net/58/286/2003/gh-58-286-2003.pdf
  4. ^ K. Frantz: Gated Communities in Metro Phoenix (Arizona). New trend in the US urban landscape . In: Geographische Rundschau 53, 2001: p. 13
  5. ↑ Jan Wehrheim: The monitored city - security, segregation and exclusion . 1st edition. Leske + Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3383-9 , p. 168 ff .
  6. ↑ Jan Wehrheim: The monitored city - security, segregation and exclusion . 1st edition. Leske + Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3383-9 , p. 170 f .
  7. ↑ Jan Wehrheim: The monitored city - security, segregation and exclusion . 1st edition. Leske + Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3383-9 , p. 173 f .
  8. ↑ Jan Wehrheim: The monitored city - security, segregation and exclusion . 1st edition. Leske + Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3383-9 , p. 175 ff .
  9. ^ Edward J. Blakely, Mary Gail Snyder: Fortress America. Gated Communities in the United States , 2nd Edition, 1999, Washington: Brooking Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-9107-0 . P. 39 ff.
  10. ^ Edward J. Blakely, Mary Gail Snyder: Fortress America. Gated Communities in the United States , 2nd Edition, 1999, Washington: Brooking Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-9107-0 . P. 180
  11. ^ Edward J. Blakely, Mary Gail Snyder: Fortress America. Gated Communities in the United States , 2nd Edition, 1999, Washington: Brooking Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-9107-0 . P. 26
  12. ↑ Andreas Schöps: Islands of equality and happiness? The structural, institutional and social integration of the gated communities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas (USA) into their surroundings. Passau. 2011. ISBN 978-3-9811623-6-3 )
  13. ^ K. Frantz: Gated Communities in Metro Phoenix (Arizona). New trend in the US urban landscape . In: Geographische Rundschau 53, 2001: p. 4
  14. ↑ Georg Glasze: Closed residential complexes (gated communities): "Enclaves of well-being" in the economically liberal city . In: City - the living space of the future? Current spatial processes in the Earth's agglomeration . tape 7 , 2001, p. 10 ( uni-mainz.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ]).
  15. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, "Life behind the fence", by Lena Schipper, Roland Lindner and Thomas Scheen , February 21, 2016
  16. ↑ Little joy in the Barbarossapark project in Aachener Nachrichten of February 8, 2005
  17. ↑ immured in luxury in Focus of May 17, 2011
  18. ↑ immured in luxury in Bild der Wissenschaft from July 19, 2011
  19. ↑ Foundation stone laid for residential complex on Olympiaberg in Munich
  20. ^ Reiche behind bars in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 22, 2011
  21. ↑ Bunker for the Galactic. Mirror 51/2012
  22. ^ Christian Smigiel, Socio-spatial change in urban regions of Eastern Europe. An inventory of the emergence of a new form of living: Closed and guarded residential complexes in the Bulgarian capital Sofia , in: Modernization in Eastern and Central Europe? Working papers of the Research Center for Eastern Europe at the University of Bremen, No. 98, Sept. 2008, pp. 83–86
  23. ↑ Deutsche Welle video (4.30 min) on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung website , accessed on April 14, 2016
  24. ↑ kapstadt-enthaben.de , accessed July 23, 2013
  25. ↑ Youqin Huang: Collectivism, Political Control and Neighborhood Enclosure in Urban China :. (PDF) State University of New York, accessed September 12, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Opening Gated Communities to public sparks online debate. In: China Daily. February 22, 2016, accessed September 12, 2018 .
  27. ↑ G. Glasze: Privatization of Public Spaces? Shopping centers, business improvement districts and closed residential complexes , in: Reports on German regional studies 75 (2–3): 160–177; see also Glasze, Gated Complex ... , o. J., o p.
  28. ↑ Glasze, Guarded Housing Complexes ... , undated , undated (based on a study by Jean-François Pérouse)
  29. ↑ Glasze: Guarded residential complexes ... , n.d., n.p.
  30. ^ PJ Atkins: How the West End was Won: the Struggle to Remove Street Barriers in Victorian London , in: Journal of Historical Geography, 19th vol. 1993 (No. 3), pp. 265-277
  31. ↑ Tilman Harlander : Concept of social mix - from 'recommended living in a mess' to 'gated communities' , in: Die alte Stadt 27, 2000, p. 97
  32. ↑ TPR Caldeira: Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation , in: Public Culture 8: 303–328.
  33. ↑ Christian Smigiel, 2008, p. 85
  34. ↑ See an example of some of these restrictions and commandments in the Common Code of Canyon Lake, archive link ( Memento from August 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed July 24, 2013
  35. ↑ http://floridakauf.com/florida/immobilienkauf.html Section 8, accessed July 24, 2013
  36. ↑ La Cité interdite ( Memento of May 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), lepoint.fr of July 10, 2008 (French), accessed on May 16, 2012
  37. ↑ Interfilm Academy Munich, The cinematic representation of gated communities , 2015