Bagaeen, Samer, and Ola Uduku (editors). Gated Communities: Social Sustainability in Contemporary and Historical Gated Developments.
Grant, Jill L.
Bagaeen, Samer, and Ola Uduku (editors).
Gated Communities: Social Sustainability in Contemporary and
Historical Gated Developments.
London and Washington: Earthscan, 2010.
140 pp.
ISBN 978-1-84407-519-5.
Over the last few decades researchers have shown keen interest in
gated and private communities. This book seeks to evaluate gated
communities in new ways: through both a historical and a sustainability
lens. While it provides interesting examples of the trajectories of
gating in a wide range of geographies, it only partly achieves its aim
to contribute to the debate about sustainability.
A foreword by Saskia Sassen notes that gated communities "take
on specific meanings across rime and space" (p. xi); the case
studies presented through the book clearly confirm this variability. The
editors, Samer Bagaeen and Ola Uduku, have assembled papers by respected
authors from several continents. Case studies describe gating in the
Middle East, China, Africa, Latin America, France, the United States,
and New Zealand.
Each paper seeks to understand contemporary gating patterns in
historic context. I found Diana Sheinbaum's paper most effective in
achieving this aim. Sheinbaum considers the ways in which enclosure
reinforced ethnic segregation in Mexico City from its redevelopment in
1521 under Hernan Cortes to present day suburban enclaves. Like many of
the chapters, Sheinbaum's discussion is well-illustrated with
historic images; it has the additional advantage of being especially
focussed, well-organized, and well-referenced.
The meaning of sustainability sometimes gets lost in the
discussions through the book. While the word appears with considerable
frequency, its meaning and implications rarely get tied down. The
editors indicate that they understand sustainability in the context of
"how viable are gated communities in the current socio-economic
environment" (p. 2). Rather than clarifying the implications of the
"social sustainability" in the book's title, they focus
on physical and economic questions. Other authors in the collection
throw the word sustainability around often without trying to define it,
in what occasionally seems a jaundiced effort to demonstrate relevance.
A more explicit framework for tackling the question of social
sustainability would have enhanced the contribution.
In their afterword, Uduku and Bagaeen draw conclusions from the
case studies. They point to variations the papers illustrate in the
spread of gating, the form it takes, and the meaning local people give
it. Their comments occasionally prove too general to advance the
discussion. For instance, they write, "the chapters have shown that
gated communities are not necessarily a new form of housing but a
product of time, institutional prowess, and sometimes change"
(p.132): on the one hand, this statement is true of all new
developments; on the other hand, it adds little substance. If anything,
I would argue, the papers demonstrate that contemporary gated
communities differ from historic forms in varying ways in different
regions of the world. While the papers show some forms of convergence in
gating in modern cities, the cases also offer insight into the nature of
divergence by virtue of historic circumstances. The editors could have
made more of this potential.
As I read the book I despaired that the publisher appears to have
dispensed with the services of a copy editor. Many errors and occasional
rambling passages survived the proofing process. As a reader, when I
become conscious that some of the text required rewriting for clarity,
wordiness, and syntax, I struggle to focus on the content.
Those investigating gated communities and interested in comparative
urban form will find this book insightful. While it may not achieve its
bolder ambitions to advance the discussion of sustainability and urban
form through history, as a collection of case studies of gating from
around the world the book contributes to our understanding of gating as
a socio-spatial phenomenon.
Jill L. Grant
Professor, School of Planning
Dalhousie University
Research Associate, Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre
