As cities around the globe continue to grow far beyond their city limits, heavily patrolled perimeter fencing and high walls are becoming a common feature of the urban and suburban landscape. Intended to provide a sense of serenity and security for high-income city dwellers, gated communities are sprouting like transgenic mushrooms, including in relatively low-crime regions of North America and Europe.
In the United States alone more than 11 million housing units – equating to roughly 10 percent of the country’s housing stock – are in gated communities, according to 2009 Census Bureau data. What’s more, it’s a trend that’s picking up pace, with gated communities accounting for more than half of all new housing developments.
As Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder noted in their landmark study Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States, the unprecedented growth in walled cities and gated communities belies the rise of a new fortress mentality in America:
Americans are electing to live behind walls with active security mechanisms to prevent intrusion into their private domains. Americans of all classes are forting up, attempting to secure the value of their houses, reduce or escape from the impact of crime, and find neighbors who share their sense of the good life. The new fortress developments are predominantly suburban, with a growing number of urban inner-city counterparts.
A similar trend is taking place across many European nations, in particular in France, the UK and Poland. In the UK more than 100,000 residents have abandoned the open city model of the 20th century to make new homes behind fences and walls on estates modeled on American ones. A perfect case in point is the outer-London St George’s Hill estate, which has been described as Britain’s answer to Beverly Hills. Houses on the complex, with its gravel drives, manicured lawns, private tennis club, gym, bars and restaurants, change hands for up to 13 million ($18 million) a piece.
This post was published at Wolf Street by Don Quijones ‘ September 7, 2014.
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