published
as:
Glasze, Georg and Günter Meyer (2000): Workshop Gated Communities -
Global Expansion of a New Kind of Settlement. In: DAVO-Nachrichten N°
11: 17-20.
Chair: Georg Glasze, Günter Meyer (Mainz)n
Georg Glasze: Introduction
Klaus Frantz (Innsbruck): Gated communities in US-American cities
In the past fifteen years the construction of gated communities has become a mass trend in US-American urban development. It is estimated that there are more than eight million people in the US living in gated communities today. In all the metropolitan areas of the Sunbelt states, and to a lesser degree also in the rest of the country, they have not only changed the American urban landscape but the suburban society and its lifestyle as well. In the USA these communities are settlements which are mostly privately built and maintained. The residents cut themselves off from the outside world using a number of defensive measures such as guarded or remote-controlled gates, walls or fences. These measures of fear are often supplemented by a privately-organized neighborhood watch or professional security personnel. Gated communities are one element in US-American cities that reflect the progressive trend towards privatization of urban services, and an increasing polarization, fragmentation and diminished solidarity within urban society.
Jan Wehrheim (Bremen): Segregation as separation—gated communities as a new part of the "Quartered City"?
Gated communities with their exploding extension and varying forms have a growing impact on structure and inhabitants of US-American cities. This changes the assumptions of research on segregation. The face of cities and the function of different quarters change with the building of walls and the privatization of streets. Gated communities fix segregation. Safety is becoming a major criteria for the choice of residence. Hence the spatial configuration of Peter Marcuse´s concept of the "Quartered City" also changes. This supports the claim that certain types of gated communities might supersede single "cities" of the "Quartered City". Additionally, cities become more and more fragmented but simultaneously manifest themselves in a new duality of "safe" and "dangerous" spaces or in Marcuse´s terminology in "exclusionary enclaves" and "ghettos of the excluded".
Ivan J. Townshend (Lethbridge): The commodification of age segregated communities in the third age: an exploration into community structures and their contribution to well-being.
Laslett’s Theory of the Third Age posits that demographic forces, which have led to new forms of organization of the life course, together with social, economic, and cultural change, have paved the way for elders in western societies to engage in unprecedented opportunities relating to the pursuit of well-being. This paper focuses on one of the spatial or geographical manifestations of the emergence of the Third Age, namely the growth of age segregated (often walled) retirement villages within cities, in which a number of key features of "community" are commodified by developers and often enforced through restrictive covenants. An attempt is made to identify the multivariate "structures" or "elements" of community within these and other areas, and to assess the degree to which "community", which is conceptualized and empirically verified as a set of social, behavioural, and attitudinal features, contributes toward individual psychological well-being and enhanced levels of self actualization. Results suggest that community (as a set of distinctive elements) contributes little to enhanced levels of well-being in the age-exclusive (walled) communities, although the findings also point to significant differences in the types of community structures which are important in this type of community.
Guy Thuillier (Rimont): Buenos Aires: Gated communities in the Greater Buenos Aires: the new suburban utopia ?
In the suburbs of the Greater Buenos Aires, a conurbation of 11 million inhabitants, gated communities are flourishing. If this form of settlement is known in Argentine since the 1930s, when the first country clubs welcomed the rich and famous on week-ends, they multiplied in the 1970s, a period of social violence and unstability. Nevertheless, the real boom started in the mid 1990s, when gated communities became a large-scale form of permanent housing, accessible to the middle-class. Today more than 300 of those closed neighborhoods host an estimated fast growing 20 000 residents. In the areas where they tend to concentrate, by snowball effect, they contribute to reshape the suburban landscape, adding their walls and fences to a patchwork of slums, low-income self-constructed neighborhoods, class-segregated malls and supermarkets, reserve or agricultural land. Finally, this new form of urban fabric challenges the traditional sense of urbanity of the Buenos Aires inner city, based on open and shared public spaces.
Ulrich Jürgens, Martin Gnad (Kiel): Gated communities in the Johannesburg area—experiences from South Africa
In the course of a broad liberalization and globalization of the South African society, the transformation of the apartheid-city to the post-apartheid-city has contributed to an increase in crime or just to a feeling of insecurity among the people. Urban blight has changed a lot of the inner cities into "no-go-areas" for blacks and whites. For protecting oneself against the environment, living areas have been created in the suburbs since the end of the 80s (the phase of the abolition of apartheid laws) whose uniqueness and exclusiveness are defined by the amount of safety measures. They are called walled communities or security villages, and their population structure represents a combination of social and racial segregation elements. Statistical basis are our own empirical investigations which have been carried out as a complete survey in two housing areas in northern Johannesburg in 1999. South African families' traditional wish for big estates and a home of their own is replaced by wishing to live in townhouses, cluster housing and sectional title flats with a shared use of swimming pools or tennis courts.
Harald Leisch (Bonn): Gated communities in Indonesia.
The development of gated communities in Indonesia started in the mid-1980s, but so far, no research has been conducted about this settlement type there. Especially people of the middle class (mainly ethnic Chinese) choose to live in a gated community because of security reasons. Since young couples are the main buyers of houses in such areas, the mean age of the population is comparatively young, with often only two generations living in a house. Some real estates provide all necessary facilities (schools, shopping center, health care, etc.), but not inside the gated area, because they should be open to the public. The social life of the residents is not concentrated within the boundaries of their living area; they know their neighbours neither better nor less than residents in open communities. In fact, it is wrong to talk about gated communities.
Rainer Wehrhahn (Bremen): Gated communities in Spain
The creation of gated communities in Spain is connected with the sub-urbanization of the upper class since the 1960s. Up till now, the amount of gated communities is still very low in comparison with North and Latin American cities, although its number has been growing remarkably since about 20 years. The reasons for this increase are mainly based on a rising request for security; up till now, prestige, status and lifestyle only play a minor role. There are different types of gated communities. These can be differentiated according to their main function, their leisure and commercial equipment, the social status of the inhabitants, the degree of efficiency of safety measures and the degree of separation. Gated communities for the middle class can be regarded as a new development, as well as those for more or less affluent retirees in coastal and mountainous areas in Spain.
Rita Raposo (Lisbon): Gated communities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area
Gated communities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) are analyzed in the wider context of economic, social and spatial change occurring in the area. It also generally occurs in Portugal, which is a semi-peripheral country. In the LMA gated communities made its appearance in the 1990s and two main criteria influence its location: accessibility to central places and proximity to "natural places". In the LMA several developments can be found within the urban perimeters of Lisbon and other cities (mainly in the north bank) but also in more peripheral locations (usually large scale developments). Gated developments in the LMA show very different types (raising a problem of definition) with quite different areas; several levels of access control and perimeter impermeability; variable extent of private collective services, equipment and amenities; etc. In this presentation, the author points to a set of possible motives for the demand of this kind of residential development, and also to more general factors of explanation for the phenomenon.
Ala Al-Hamarneh (Mainz): From government Datcha settlements of the spparatchiks to the gated communities of the new russians—the Development of gated communities in Russia and the Ukraine
The tradition of gated spaces in the CIS has its roots in the 1950s. Mainly for safety reasons three models of gated communities were applied by the authorities:
1. Whole cities were declared as "closed" by the central government. These are important military centers (Vladivostock, Sevastopol).
2. New satellite cities were built in order to fulfill a specifically secret function (Arzamas 16, Murmansk 99).
3. Datcha settlements were organized and built by the central and local administrations, the Party, the army, professional unions for their high functionaries (apparatchiks).
Three groups of settlements could be distinguished:
a) Seasonal settlements in the areas of summer and winter resorts.
b) Weekend settlements within a radius of 100 km around major cities.
c) Permanent housing settlements within the city border.
The situation has changed fundamentally since 1990. New realities were created through the democratization and the glasnost policy, through the massive impoverishment and the disintegration of the "system of privilege", furthermore, through privatization and the market oriented policy. The "closed" cities received new status and became "open". The owners moved to live permanently in the datcha settlements. New gated communitieswere established. The changes are described by the example of two new gated communities (Pankovo near Moscow and Golden Gates near Kiev) and two old gated communities (Domodedovo Military Datcha Settlement and the Ukrainian Writers’ Datcha Settlement).
Ernst Struck (Würzburg): Gated communities in Turkey
There are gated communities for all income groups in Istanbul and at the south coast. With a higher social position of the inhabitants we find a much higher technical or constructional isolation and segregation. Type 1: Ordinarily small settlements, with very exclusive villas but without shopping or service facilities. They are walled and have protected gates. It is an extremely private and hidden housing area. Type 2: Larger residential areas, with luxury blocks of flats, partly mixed with villas, for the upper middle-class. They have infrastructure with supermarkets, schools etc., but are less "gated". Most of them are situated on private but for everyone open ground—this area and the facilities are under security control, the entry to each block is protected by strong security systems. Although without outside delimitation they are isolated or segregated by their physiognomy. This is a special type of gated communities without visible "fortifications". Type 3: Gated communities on a low income level of their owners in the booming suburbs and former gecekondus, the in-migration areas of the rural population. Solely blocks of flats of simple standards, without community facilities but walled or fenced.
Ellen Mutschmann (Berlin): Gated communities in Istanbul
The global and national liberalization of the economy has caused major changes in politics, economy and society in Turkey. This has also affected the urban development of the metropolitan areas resulting in the construction of gated communities since the early 1990s. The paper analyzes the expansion of this new type of settlement in the outskirts of Istanbul. Based on an extensive survey by the author, the study focuses on the architecture, infrastructure and socio-economic situation of the gated communities. Furthermore, the resulting consequences for the social segregation of the urban society in Turkey are discussed.
Georg Glasze (Mainz): Gated settlements in Lebanon
In Lebanon one can differentiate three types of gated residential projects: Firstly, the gated beach and mountain resorts offer small apartments, as well as a lot of natural (beach, view) and artificial (pool, tennis court) amenities. Secondly, compounds offer big apartments, intended to be used as permanent residences. Thirdly, gated villa districts and gated model towns are constituted by independent villas. These projects hold private rules concerning zoning and architectural design. The self-sufficiency of the gated model towns will include schools and medical institutions. As there is hardly any special community within these projects, the author proposes "gated settlements" as a more neutral term.
Those people, who established themselves during the wartime (1980s) in the resorts and compounds, looked for islands of well-being and protection, where the secure supply with water and electricity was guaranteed. In the nineties, the search for an environment to realize a "modern" (often imported) lifestyle became the main motivation.
Anton Escher (Mainz): Gated Communitiesin Syria
Indeed, nowadays there are no gated communities in the strictly definition of the term. We have to recognize, that until now Syria is all over a "totally protected area". But nevertheless there are a lot of housing impacts we can consider the first steps to gated communities. In the distance of about ten kilometres north-east to the capital Damascus there was a European designed housing project called Dummar-Project. Because the new dwellers in this location are full of fear, it was planned to implement a network of security service around and between the settlement. But when the new houses get used, social control was enough. In this times there are a lot of summer house communities in the Qu’alamun hills and in the Ghouta area around Damascus. Similar settlements you can find around Aleppo. Until now these settlements are gated with fences and walls and protected on a very low level by keepers. In reflecting the development of the Syrian society and global processing, we can aspect in future that this settlements will be the gated communities in the strictly meaning of the sense.
Günter Meyer (Mainz): Gated communities in Egypt
The expansion of gated communities in Egypt began in the early 1980s when the government started to sell land for the construction of villages along the beaches of the Northwest coast. Since then, more than 200 gated communities—each with up to 2000 villas, chalets and apartments—have been established or are under construction in this area. Their perimeters are defined by high walls. They have controlled access through massive gates, where uniformed guards stop all people seeking entrance. This kind of gated communities has recently also started to spread along the coast of the Red Sea and along the beaches of Sinai. In addition, since the mid-1990s a similar development has been observed around Cairo, where luxurious settlements surrounded by high walls are under construction or already inhabited by the elites. Dreamland, Utopia, Garden City and Beverly Hills are some of the major 15 projects with up to 3000 villas in each settlement and a planned investment of 3.5 billion US$. It has become obvious that the number of luxurious dwellings in these gated communities is exceeding the actual demand by far which has recently resulted in stagnating and even declining prices.
Mohamed Abdel-Kader (Oakland): Architecture of the new community. Economic liberalization and the corresponding physical features
Egypt's transition to capitalism, by the late 1980s, has led to the emergence of 'new' urban forms such as that of 'gated communities' proliferating around Cairo. This paper addresses the significance of the urban and architectural features of gated communitiesin Egypt through the analysis of two projects. These represent different scale, ownership and development patterns. Jürgen Habermas's definition of the trends characterizing the contemporary architectural production (neo-historicism, postmodernism and alternative architecture) is governing the analysis. Besides, a historical reference takes place, focusing on what is 'Mediterranean' (as it is used in the Egyptian discourse to describe the style of the majority of these projects). In an attempt to contextualize the architecture and urban form of the new communities, they are looked at through a number of theoretical frameworks such as tradition, resistance and identity. The author's main argument is that the adopted 'Mediterranean' style is a response to new qualitative, functional and economic imperatives in the society.
Konrad Schliephake (Würzburg): Foreigners in a "Closed Society" - Gated communities in Saudi Arabia
Theses
1. Separation in Arab towns
Although privacy in living quarters is a part of Arab and Islamic tradition, the different communitiesand quarters of the modern Arabian town were not physically separated or secluded.
2. Foreigners and Muslims
The Holy Quran warns Muslims against becoming friends with non-believers but again, no concept of separation of groups has filtered into modern town planning (which was, incidentally, nearly exclusively done by western, non-Arab architects until now).
3. The appearance of gated communitiesor compounds
Gated communities, generally called "compounds" in Saudi Arabia, appear as a common feature with the massive influx of foreign manpower in the 1970s. Today, it forms together with their families approx. one third of the country's more than 20 million inhabitants. Upon demand from the companies Saudi land-owners constructed and rented out housing areas with villas and/or multi-story buildings, including all amenities. The clientele was foreign, mostly employed by the same company or public institution.
4. Types of compounds
From AL SOLIMAN (1989) and our own findings we can distinguish the following types:
5. Current state of research
No detailed empirical findings have been published up to now concerning the number, the structure and the socio-economic life of Saudi compounds. From a list given by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry we can calculate that approx. 1% of Jeddah's total population of 2 million people (one half foreigners) live in up-market compounds. These cater for high-income expatriates from European, North American and Northern Arab countries.
6. Ephemeral or continuous phenomenon
A phenomenon which originally was thought to be ephemeral has become a part of Saudi everyday life. The former links between the compound communitiesand specific companies have been loosened. Land owners now see compounds as an important segment in the market of landed property where they get higher rents than with other types of housing.
7. Saudi and expatriate families
Whereas Saudi families migrate to individual walled villas outside the city centres (the latter are left to the tertiary sector and foreigners of lower income) expatriates with their families - non-Muslims and Muslims alike - prefer gated communitieswhich offer all amenities for the group as well as a positive social life.
8. The future of foreigners
Saudi planners officially see the influx of foreigners as a time-limited phenomenon linked to a certain phase of the development process. However, up till now, the number of foreigners continues to increase and this means that the demand for compounds will exist well into the future.
9. The future of compounds
It remains to be seen whether the innovation of compounds will disappear with the replacement of foreigners who were at the origin of this special type of housing. It might alternatively become part of the housing tradition of Saudi Arabia. There, already several groups (for instance members of the upper class) live in their palaces which are nothing else than gated communities.
References
AL SOLIMAN, T.M. (1989): The characteristics of planned communitiesand their impact on the development and residents' perceptions. In: K.M. Al Ankary & E.S. El Bushra: Urban growth and urbanisation in Saudi Arabia (Urbanisation of the Earth/Urbanisierung der Erde 8): pp 45-76. Berlin.
BARTH, K.H. & K. SCHLIEPHAKE (1998): Saudi-Arabien (Perthes Länderprofile). Gotha, Stuttgart.
DAGHISTANI, A.M.J. (1985): Ar-Riyadh. Urban development and planning. Riyadh (Min. of Information).- Riyadh.
SCHLIEPHAKE, K. (1993): Saudi-Arabiens Hauptstadt Riyadh. In: Würzburger Geographische Arbeiten 87, pp. 531-547.