Construction of Fear in Gated Communities Governance Space and Everyday Life
... 1), referring to the deterioration of both the environment and the sense of trust, solidarity and nationhood among each other, we see a phenomenon arise more clearly than ever before, namely the gated community. Over eight million Americans have sought refuge from crime and other problems of urbanization by installing gates and fences to limit access to their communities – and their numbers are growing. ... New towns are routinely built with gated villages, and some entire incorporated cities feature guarded entrances. ... Blakely and Snyder (in Ellin, 1997) argues in Divided We Fall: Gated and Walled Communities in the United States that the call for for gates and walls is formed and encouraged by alterations in the social and physical structure of the suburbs, stemming from high levels of foreign immigration, an increasing underclass, and a restricted economy. This in turn, they claim, is leading to increasing social class segregation, less tolerance and understanding, and in turn fear of ‘the un-known’. Blakely and Snyder, (1997) also reveals through their study in Places to Hide that even though fear of crime and outsiders is the primary incentive for such defensive fortifications, statistics reveals that the long-term crime rate is at best only slightly altered in these gated communities, thus the fear that one experience, is a perceived one, not backed up by actual facts. In The edge and the center: Gated communities and the discourse of urban fear, Low, (2002) explores how class based exclusion and segregation is justified and rationalized by inhabitants of gated communities in search for a safe community due to fears of violence and crime. ... In Global security: Beyond gated communities and bunker vision, Gould, R. ... (2002) discusses how this ‘fear of the other’, focusing especially on the Bush administrations tactics to prevent further attacks America in the wake of September 11, has caused Americans to fortify a whole nation against the outside world. ... Burke (2001) looks at how gated communities is depicted in popular culture, as this is becoming an ever-increasing phenomenon obviously raising some serious social issues in “Fortress dystopia: Representations of gated communities in contemporary fiction”. According to Blakely and Snyder (in Ellin, 1997), the gated communities can be classified into three major categories. The Lifestyle communities, which include retirement communities and golf and country club development, offer security and separation for the leisure activities within the parameter of the gates. The Prestige or Elite communities includes the upper class and executive home developments for the middle class.