Sonia Roitman

Who Segregates Whom? The Analysis of a Gated Community in Mendoza, Argentina

Gated communities represent an urban phenomenon that is spreading all over the world. This paper presents evidence of what the literature says about the link between gated communities and urban social segregation, showing that the development of gated communities contributes to segregationist tendencies in the city. It suggests the use of structuration theory as a theoretical framework to study the link between gated communities and segregation. A case study from an intermediate city in Argentina is presented. The paper provides the perceptions and opinions of the residents of the gated community as well as the outside community and shows that this segregationist process has two sides and that both groups of people feel segregated and discriminated against. Therefore, urban social segregation is addressed in relation to gated communities, considering the opinions and perceptions of the people living there as well as in the surrounding community, to answer the main question of the paper: who segregates whom?

Do Gates Negate the City? Gated Communities’ Contribution to the Urbanisation of Suburbia in Pilar, Argentina

Pilar is a city located in the third ring of the Buenos Aires metropolitan region (Argentina). Over the past 30 years, the widespread development of gated residential communities has seemingly gone hand-in-hand with an urbanisation of this outer suburb signalled by the arrival of new populations, enterprise, retail and other services. The growth of the ‘private city’ of these gated communities therefore has important implications for the ‘public city’ of the wider suburban municipality. Drawing upon original research based on the opinions of key informants, this paper considers how the growth of the ‘private city’ has contributed to the economy of, processes of community-building and social cohesion in Pilar. In conclusion, it is suggested that gated residential communities have been a major factor in the emergence of the dual suburb that is Pilar today.

Methodological frameworks and interdisciplinary research on gated communities

The paper examines gated communities as an object of study that has received intense scholarly attention from diverse disciplines over the last 10 years. The many conference presentations and published papers on the subject have not, however, always contributed to a cohesive body of knowledge. We suggest in this paper that clearer frameworks for empirical investigations are needed; not only for specific disciplines, but also for providing an interdisciplinary perspective. The paper focuses on methodology: first highlighting three different approaches to the analysis of urban fragmentation (social, spatial and institutional); and second, outlining a framework for interdisciplinary analysis. In the latter part, we illustrate the connections that may be made between the analyses of the social, spatial and institutional fragmentation effects and causes of gated communities and suggest ways of handling phenomenological as well as linguistic complexity in this multi-disciplinary area of urban scholarship.

Close but Divided: How Walls, Fences and Barriers Exacerbate Social Differences and Foster Urban Social Group Segregation

Abstract With their walls, fences and barriers, gated communities, which have proliferated over the last three decades, are now a familiar element of the urban landscape worldwide. It can be argued, however, that certain negative social consequences have attended their expansion, in particular “social segregation” between gated communities and non-gated neighbouring communities. To what extent do gated communities exacerbate social differences by inhibiting social interactions between their residents and the population living in surrounding areas? This paper analyses the social practices and viewpoints of residents of a gated community located in Mendoza (Argentina). It examines how these residents interact with members of the non-gated communities that surround them. It uses a qualitative research methodology with a case study strategy in order to analyse the social practices and viewpoints of the residents of the gated community, the social practices and viewpoints of members of the surrounding communities and the contribution (or otherwise) of these social practices to segregation. The analysis of a selected group of “neighbourhood social practices” undertaken by gated community residents shows that most such practices contribute to segregation – which can therefore largely be considered as an intended consequence of the viewpoints held by social actors but also on occasion as an unintended consequence.

THE CHANGING IMAGE OF SUBURBAN AREAS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The image of Latin American suburbs has changed in the last two decades as they have become more heterogeneous with the development of gated communities that coexist with poor-household settlements. Developers, local government staff and gated community residents are the main actors involved in the process of urban development of the periphery.

From Country Club to Edge City? Gated Residential Communities and the Transformation of Pilar, Argentina

At first glance the view from the Panamericana highway that goes to Pilar is much like that from any highway and could be taken as evidence of ‘edge city’ (Garreau, 1991) style development and indeed has, together with developments elsewhere in the municipality, been regarded in more general terms as the sort of fragmented urbanism said to characterize post-modern urbanization of the United States (US). However the story of Pilar and the process of suburbanization and any nascent post-suburbanization in Latin American cities is rather different from that occurring in the US. We concentrate on the role of one type of private sector actors and investors — gated communities — and their contribution to processes of post-suburbanization in Pilar — an outer suburb of Buenos Aires metropolitan area (Argentina).

Fragmentación (sub) urbana y diferencias sociales

This article analyses the geographical, economic and spatial transformations in suburbia as a consequence of the arrival of gated communities. The latter are fostering splintering (sub) urbanism, changes in land use and increasing spatial and social inequalities. The article provides evidence supporting this argument through the examination of the transformations occurring in Chacras de Coria, a suburb in the Metropolitan Area of Mendoza (MAM), Argentina. The analysis is based on primary and secondary data.

Urbanizaciones cerradas a escala planetaria

El presente articulo se basa en la presentacion realizada por la autora en la apertura del Seminario Internacional sobre Encerramiento Residencial, organizado por la Escuela de Trabajo Social y Desarrollo Humano de la Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia) los dias13 y 14 de octubre de 2015.

Top-down and bottom-up strategies for housing and poverty alleviation in Indonesia: the PNPM programme in Yogyakarta

Indonesia has a long history of policies and programmes for housing and neighbourhood improvement. In the last five decades several approaches to housing have been implemented to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable groups. Since 1999, with policy decentralisation, the government has made some institutional changes to promote more decentralised policy-making. The literature and empirical evidence seem to suggest that this decentralisation process has contributed to some changes in policy-making, shifting from a top-down approach in planning and housing policies to a bottom-up approach focused on community development. However, this chapter shows that this shift has partially taken place and there is a hybrid form of governance combining top-down with bottom-up strategies.

Constructing Mexico City. Colonial Conflicts over Culture, Space, and Authority

This is a very interesting book that shows solid empirical evidence (mainly from archival documents) and analysis. It focuses on local politics in the colonial city of Mexico through the examination of the urban reform that included paving and renovation of city streets, new potable water and drainage projects, and the rebuilding of urban structures like public plazas, canals, markets, and bathhouses. The analysis of this urban reform sheds light on the power relations and conflicts over power between the colonial elites (political, economic, and religious) and other groups of colonial urban society and shows how social inequalities materialized in the urban space. The author argues that the justifications for these projects can be found in two contexts. Firstly, urban renewal was considered as a means to ‘reeducate the masses on proper personal habits and appropriate use of public spaces’ (p. 2) based on what the elite society considered as proper. However, this process was highly contested by the population who viewed this as intrusion by the state. Secondly, urban planning in colonial Mexico City reflected the debate on modernity: for the elite, the city had to show the Bourbon Empire as dynamic and modern and the city was the realm to establish social control. Despite being the wealthiest and most important city in the Spanish empire, the city was a place of environmental problems and bad sanitation practices: flooding and poor-paved streets, dirty markets, lack of clean drinking water, dumped garbage and waste, abandoned buildings, blocked canals, inadequate sewage system and streets used as public toilets. Both rich and poor groups coexisted in the city. For rich residents, the city provided access to education and special training in particular professions. For poor residents, especially those coming from the countryside, the city provided job opportunities (usually as construction workers or domestic servants). Sharon Glasco poses the following questions in her book: How did the poor function in the spatial organization of the city? What was the relationship between poor and elites in negotiating this space? How were debates over urban sanitation and public services framed in broader clashes over culture and emerging concepts of modernity? She also asks questions around the process of urbanization, the human impact on the environment, the development of public health and disease, and relations between the state and society. The book considers urban planning and reform projects over the administration of Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco y Padilla, second Count Revillagigedo, viceroy from 1789 to 1794, because he devoted more time and resources to urban planning than any other official in the colonial period. But the changes he advocated were not necessarily welcome International Planning Studies Vol. 17, No. 4, 419–432, November 2012