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Gated communities: social sustainability in

contemporary and historical gated developments
a
Caryl J. Bosman
a
Urban Research Program , Griffith University
Published online: 03 Mar 2011.

To cite this article: Caryl J. Bosman (2011) Gated communities: social sustainability in contemporary and historical gated
developments, Australian Planner, 48:1, 58-59, DOI: 10.1080/07293682.2010.504613

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 Australian Planner
Vol. 48, No. 1, March 2011, 58
69
BOOK REVIEWS
Gated communities: social sustainability in contempor-
ary and historical gated developments, edited by Samer
Bagaeen and Ola Uduku, Earthscan, www.earthscan.
co.uk, 2010, xiiv140 pp., $92.34, ISBN 978-1-
84407-519-5
An outpouring of literature on privatisation of public
and residential realms has been a hallmark of the last
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two decades and, in particular, in relation to dis-
courses of globalisation, neoliberalisation and com-
mercialisation. Most of this literature focuses on
assumed and actual impacts of privitism on social
sustainability with most authors having a strong bias
for the negative aspects thereof. In this context
Bagaeen and Udukus book is a welcome, optimistic
and positive contribution to the growing body of
knowledge around gated residential developments.
The book covers a series of gated community case
studies from around the world: China, The Middle
East, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Argentina,
Nigeria and South Africa. The stated aim of these
case studies is to open up the question of gated
communities through conceptualising and historicis-
ing urban gating. To this end the tenor of the case
studies is positive and constructive rather than
lamenting the often cited negative aspects of gated,
frequently privatised, residential developments: social
polarisation, resource inequity and the negation of
social responsibility and citizenship to name but a
few. All the case studies are historically grounded to
emphasise the cultural and social embeddedness of
urban gating. In this respect, the book clearly locates
urban gating in an historical context rather than
presenting it as a late 20th early 21st century
phenomenon.
The structure of the book is clear and logical and
the chapter titles are unambiguous and relevant to the
text that follows. The writing style is mostly engaging
and easy to read and the book is well illustrated with
images of urban gating. The first chapter establishes
the historical framework that each of the subsequent
case studies follows. There are no surprises here,
Ebenezer Howard is mentioned as the Father of
privatopias and the ancient walled city is portrayed as
a founding concept of gated communities. Given this
significant basis the authors state (p. 6) that if every
ISSN 0729-3682 print/ISSN 2150-6841 online
DOI: 10.1080/07293682.2010.504613
http://www.informaworld.com
mans [sic] home is his castle, gated communities
simply respond to this innate need. The following
chapter has been included as a polemic to this
argument. Again the substance is not new, it is well
written and a welcome, if somewhat familiar, argu-
ment against the contemporary gated community
phenomenon. Sardar (p. 10) eloquently writes that
gated communities are plutocratic ghettoes of super-
ior entitlement garnered from the inequalities of the
economic system. By this account gated communities
are toxic symbols of neoliberalism/capitalism and
globalisation. Sardar then presents us with a way
forward, the author argues for a process of trans
modernity to identify a way of life that is everything
that the gated community apparently is not: inclusive,
open, plural, diverse and equitable.
The following eight chapters comprise the case
studies. Each case study follows a similar structure: a
brief theoretical note, a historical account of urban
gating as it relates to the specific city, town or
country, an overview of specific gated communities
and a conclusion. A theme of social sustainability is
present throughout the case studies; however, I found
it to be marginal and weak. What is interesting is the
range of case studies included and the divergent
reasons given for urban gating. Chapter Three
focuses on the Middle East and argues that the
critical issue lies in micro governance rather than in
gated and walled residential developments that have a
strong historical precedence. The author, Bagaeen,
does suggest however that in the Middle East there
are an increasing number of gated communities being
marketed as global western commodities for the rich
rather than as cultural and historical phenomena.
Chapter Four takes us to China where the story of
urban gating is similarly founded to that depicted in
the previous chapter. China also has a historical
precedence of urban gating and, similar to the Middle
East, recent developments of this kind respond to and
reproduce global, western ideology. Chapters Five
and Six relate a different story to date. Both case
studies are in the troubled countries of Nigeria
and South Africa where the impetus for gating is
founded on risks relating to crime and personal
safety. In Lagos in particular, urban gating is
presented as a positive land-use pattern because it

allows opportunities for local residents to establish
sustainable practices, such as local food production
and local water and energy provision; supplementing
services that the government does or does not
provide. In this case, as in the case of South Africa,
urban gating facilitates social cohesion and sense of
identity among residents within the gates.
Chapters Seven and Eight look at Argentina and
Mexico respectively and Chapter Nine focuses on
France. The penultimate chapter, Chapter Ten, is
perhaps the closest to home, the authors, Dupis and
Dixon look at urban gating in New Zealand. The case
study illustrated suggests that most residents of gated
communities did not move into the develop-
ment because of the gates, but rather because of
the location and built form. For most residents
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the existence of gates was something that was only
appreciated post-occupancy. Interestingly, Dupis and
Dixon note that New Zealand gated community
developers base their model of development on
Gold Coast gated communities in Australia.
The final chapter reiterates the findings of each
case study and re-acknowledges the aim of the book
(p. 132) to give alternative readings in order to
enable us to use a different range of lenses to
appreciate this [urban gating] global phenomenon
. . . . In summary, this book is a welcome addition to
the body of knowledge around gated communities
and contemporary patterns of residential develop-
ment and governance. All the authors embed their
case studies in a historical context, some more
convincingly than others, and in doing so demon-
strate a divergent, contextual and complex lineage of
urban gating as a phenomenon. The editors commit-
ment and passion for this topic is clearly evident in
the introduction and conclusion of the book, and in
their selection of chapter contributors. I recommend
this book to anyone interested in residential planning
and the quest for social well-being, sustainability and
justice.
Caryl J. Bosman
Urban Research Program
Griffith University
Email: c.bosman@griffith.edu.au
# 2011, Caryl J. Bosman
Building for a changing climate: the challenge for
construction, planning and energy, by Peter F. Smith,
London, UK, Earthscan Books, 2009, 200pp.,
$128.00, ISBN 9781844077359 (hardback)
In the wake of the failure of the United Nations
Climate Change Conference 2009, (COP15 Copen-
hagen) to propose unambiguous multi-lateral global
Book Reviews 59
specific and binding commitments to dealing with
climate change, this 2010 book published by Earth-
scan serves as a timely reminder to the world of the
ominous and seemingly inevitable threat that anthro-
pogenic induced climate change poses to the built
environment, particularly within the UK context.
The author, Peter Smith, speaks with considerable
authority as Special Professor in Sustainable Energy
at the University of Nottingham and a former vice
President of the RIBA for Sustainable Development.
The book is structured in the form of a compre-
hensive textbook packed with pertinent lucid discus-
sion, excellent diagrams and illustrations within
well-organised topic headings that allow the reader
to quickly extract relevant information. Despite the
apparently encyclopaedic style of presentation, there
is a thread of an argument running through the
discussion, and because the book is authored by a
sole author who maintains a consistent writing and
presentation style throughout, the book is easier than
most compilations to read in its entirety, unlike many
academic anthologies that suffer from far too many
authors with differing writing styles ultimately pre-
venting a coherent unified work on a topic. The book
would serve as a useful university textbook, although
its UK focus would hinder its application in
other markets.
The book starts out with the premise that climate
change with at least 48C of global temperature
increase by the end of the 21st century is prob-
able, and then sets out how we should respond
(for example with carbon trading) and adapting
human settlements to a changing world (through
climate proofing human settlements and developing a
new energy production paradigm). Peter Smith has
an impressive mastery of understanding both the
contemporary and proposed technologies needed
to adapt human settlements and infrastructure to
climate change. Technological solutions are explained
in plain English that a lay person can grasp without
a specialised background. Illustrations (including
charts and diagrams) are used judiciously to comple-
ment the discussion throughout the book. I did pick
up on one apparent typo in which the Copenhagen
Conference of climate scientists (on p. 166) was noted
as occurring in March 2009 (it was actually in
December 2009).
If there are criticisms that can be directed at this
book it is that it starts out as being alarmist in the
first two chapters in terms of potentially overstating
the expected impacts of climate change (at least
within the nominated timeframe of the coming
century) and that the book has a distinct UK
bias to its research focus and analysis. However,
Australian readers will find this book useful in terms