Gated communities: perspectives on privatized spaces: review essay

Abstract

Private Cities: Global and Local Perspectives (2006) and Gated Communities (2006) continue a trend in urban studies that focus on recent manifestations of these developments in a variety of global locales. As the editors of Private Cities note, ‘there is hardly another form of urban development that has received so much public attention since the late 1990s as privately organized and secured housing developments’ (Glasze et al., 2006: 1). The two volumes are a fantastic resource for researchers interested in these contemporary topics and they provide robust survey material for courses focusing on this type of housing. They also evidence a number of trends that typify this area of scholarship, both positive and negative. The two books share many of the same authors, and many of the chapters are products of a series of conferences on private residence and gated communities first convened in Hamburg in 1999 and of meetings held since then in Mainz, Glasgow, Johannesburg and, most recently, in Santiago. Questions that researchers have posed explore the rationale of individuals who decide to live in these environments, the historical precedents of privatization, the structural conditions that enable the construction of gated communities and the socio-economic consequences of these privatized residential spaces. Whether private neighborhoods are good or bad is left to the speculation of both the authors and the readership.