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Australian Planner
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Gated communities: social sustainability in contemporary and historical gated developments

Caryl J. Bosman
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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 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07293682.2010.504613

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Australian Planner Vol. 48, No. 1, March 2011, 5869

BOOK REVIEWS

Gated communities: social sustainability in contemporary and historical gated developments, edited by Samer Bagaeen and Ola Uduku, Earthscan, www.earthscan. co.uk, 2010, xiiv140 pp., $92.34, ISBN 978-184407-519-5 An outpouring of literature on privatisation of public and residential realms has been a hallmark of the last two decades and, in particular, in relation to discourses of globalisation, neoliberalisation and commercialisation. 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 historicising 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, argument against the contemporary gated community phenomenon. Sardar (p. 10) eloquently writes that gated communities are plutocratic ghettoes of superior 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

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Book Reviews 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 development because of the gates, but rather because of the location and built form. For most residents 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 development and governance. All the authors embed their case studies in a historical context, some more convincingly than others, and in doing so demonstrate a divergent, contextual and complex lineage of urban gating as a phenomenon. The editors commitment 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 Copenhagen) to propose unambiguous multi-lateral global

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specific and binding commitments to dealing with climate change, this 2010 book published by Earthscan serves as a timely reminder to the world of the ominous and seemingly inevitable threat that anthropogenic 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 comprehensive textbook packed with pertinent lucid discussion, 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 preventing 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 probable, 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 complement 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

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