gated communities research conference...
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Gated Communities Research Conference 2013
Introduction
The University of Brighton is a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on five campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. We can trace our origins back to the mid-19th century in Brighton and the mid-20th century in Eastbourne. The last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) found more Brighton academics working at international standards of excellence that any other post-1992 university. All these are factors which contribute to our reputation as a leading post-1992 university in the United Kingdom. The School of Environment and Technology, home of the Brighton Planning School, is a research active school. In RAE2008, 43% of the research submitted by the School was rated as internationally significant and 90% at 2* or above. Research at the School of Environment and Technology includes brownfield site remediation, characterisation and management of major river systems, sustainable environmental treatment and re-use of marine sediments, and Water-related recreation. The University of Brighton Planning School delivers socially purposeful higher education that serves and strengthens society and underpins the economy, contributes critically to the public good, enriches those who participate, and equips our graduates to contribute effectively as citizens to the profession and to their communities, locally, nationally and internationally. We are fully accredited for town planning education by the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In addition to commendations for best practice within the University of Brighton, in February 2012, we made the final shortlist of the Excellence in Teaching and Learning category at the RTPI Planning Awards. We are also a research active School. Our current projects include the INTERREG IVA 2 Seas 21st Century Parks, the INTERREG IVA 2 Seas GIFS (Geography of Inshore Fishing and Sustainability)(€4.6m), the project LIVING TOMORROW with the Brighton School of Architecture funded under the EU-program CULTURE (2007-2013), in addition to the INTERREG IVC SolidarCity, looking at the role and involvement of local & regional authorities and civic society in employment generation opportunities. We welcome you to Brighton and to the University and wish you a very enjoyable and productive conference. Dr. Samer Bagaeen On behalf of the Conference Organising Committee
Gated Communities Research Conference
26-28 June 2013
University of Brighton
Moulsecoomb Campus
Huxley Building (Lecture Theatre HU LT & Rooms HU400/401, 406, 407)
Programme, Day 1: 26 June 2013
13:00
Registration Desk Opens Huxley Building Reception (lunch, tea/coffee served)
15:00-17:00
Opening, Welcome and Keynote (Huxley Lecture Theatre) 15:00 Welcome from the organisers, Dr. Samer Bagaeen 15:10 Welcome to the University of Brighton, tbc 15:15 Keynote Address: Professor Saskia Sassen 16:00 Discussion & Audience Q & A
19:00 for 19:30
Conference Dinner
The Hove Club, 28 Fourth Avenue, Hove, BN3 2PJ www.thehoveclub.com
After dinner Keynote:
Tbc
Programme, Day 2: 27 June 2013
8:30 Coffee & Tea served (HU407)
9:00-10:30
Track Sessions
HU400/401 A16, Samer Bagaeen, The production of urban inequality: Urban gating, soft boundaries and networks of influence and affluence A01, Gulcin Pulat Gokmen, Ataol Ozlemnur, Ozsoy, Ahsen, Boundaries and Changing Urban Life in Istanbul A02, P. Stuart Robinson, Contemporary Urban Geopolitics: The Case of ‘Occupy London’
HU406 A12, Nicole Johnston, Transitioning residential multi-owned developments: conflicts of Interest arising A14, Veeramon Suwannasang, Quality of life & City resilience: The effects of physical boundary of gated communities on sense of community and fear of crime in the United Kingdom A08, Therese Kenna, Denis Linehan, Will Brady, Jonathan Hall and Matthew Williams, Gating the city: the extinguishment of public rights of way in urban Ireland
10:30-11:00 Break and Networking, Coffee & Tea served (HU407)
11:00-12:30
Track Sessions
HU400/401 A03, Federica Duca, A comparative approach to the study of gated settlements: digging inside the social and political systems of a golf estate and an open suburb in Johannesburg A04, Darren Nel and Karina Landman, A gated community is a tree; a city is not A06, Manfred Spocter, Planning and environmental agents in the non-metropolitan gated development chain in the Western Cape, South Africa
HU406 A10, Hee-Seok Kim, Emergence of Club Economy in Private Neighbourhoods and Their Enclosure - Analysis of Private Neighbourhoods in a Seoul Suburb, South Korea A05, Martina Orsini, Privatization of public space and city form A15, Tingting Lu, Everyday life and community governance of master planned estates: the case study of Wenzhou, China
12:30-13:00 Lunch (HU407)
2.30-6.00pm
Excursion to London Walkabout in More London, the Paddington Basin and Broadgate (depart on the 13:34 from Brighton Station arriving at 14:30 into London Bridge)
Programme, Day 3: 28 June 2013
8:30 Coffee & Tea served (HU407)
9:00-11:00
Track Sessions
HU400/401
A13, Chris Guilding, Preparing strata & community title buildings for climate change A11, Guy Fayel, Gating in the Gated Community: Home Fortification Practices on Israeli Kibbutzim and Moshavim A17, Ignacio Acosta, Miss Chuquicamata, the slag: disputed mining settlement between foreign capital and national identity A07, Magda Metwally, Major Trends of the Gated Communities Development in Egypt: An Approach to urban sustainability
11:00-11:30 Break and Networking, Coffee & Tea served (HU407)
11:30-12:15
HU400/401
Closing Plenary (followed by lunch in HU406)
List of Papers
Gulcin Pulat Gokmen, Ataol Ozlemnur, Ozsoy, Ahsen; Istanbul Technical University, Boundaries and Changing Urban Life in Istanbul
A01
P. Stuart Robinson; University of Tromsø, Norway, Contemporary Urban Geopolitics: The Case of ‘Occupy London’
A02
Federica Duca; Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), University of Trento, A comparative approach to the study of gated settlements: digging inside the social and political systems of a golf estate and an open suburb in Johannesburg.
A03
Darren Nel and Karina Landman; University of Pretoria, South Africa, A gated community is a tree; a city is not
A04
Martina Orsini, Faculty of Architecture; Polytechnic of Milan, Privatization of public
space and city form
A05
Manfred Spocter; Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Planning and environmental agents in the non-metropolitan gated development chain in the Western Cape, South Africa
A06
Magda Metwally; Housing and Building National Research Centre, Egypt, Major Trends of the Gated Communities Development in Egypt: An Approach to urban sustainability
A07
Therese Kenna, Denis Linehan, Will Brady, Jonathan Hall and Matthew Williams; University College Cork, Gating the city: the extinguishment of public rights of way in urban Ireland
A08
Gillad Rosen, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Alan R. Walks, University of
Toronto, Trends and Driving Forces in Toronto’s Condominium Development
A09
Hee-Seok Kim; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, South Korea, Emergence of Club Economy in Private Neighbourhoods and Their Enclosure - Analysis of Private Neighbourhoods in a Seoul Suburb, South Korea
A10
Guy Fayel; University of Haifa, Gating in the Gated Community: Home Fortification Practices on Israeli Kibbutzim and Moshavim
A11
Nicole Johnston; Griffith University, Transitioning residential multi-owned developments: conflicts of Interest arising
A12
Chris Guilding; Griffith University, Preparing strata & community title buildings for climate change
A13
Veeramon Suwannasang; University College London, Quality of life & City resilience: The effects of physical boundary of gated communities on sense of community and fear of crime in the United Kingdom
A14
Tingting Lu; University College London, Everyday life and community governance of master planned estates: the case study of Wenzhou, China
A15
Samer Bagaeen; University of Brighton, The production of urban inequality: Urban gating, soft boundaries and networks of influence and affluence
A16
Ignacio Acosta; University of Brighton, Miss Chuquicamata, the slag: disputed mining settlement between foreign capital and national identity
A17
Author and Abstract Listing
A01
Gulcin Pulat Gokmen, Ataol Ozlemnur and Ahsen Ozsoy
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Istanbul Technical University
Boundaries and Changing Urban Life in Istanbul
Forming boundaries is a spatial function which has social conclusions. It begins with the
power of creating space and the need for shelter, and transforms with the effects of a social
phenomenon, attaining different dimensions. The concept of borders should be examined
on a broad spectrum from person to society and to the city as space, with its multiple actors
and a multi-dimensional structure.
While appearing only outside the city in ancient times, boundaries today have shifted to
deeper inside the city. Borders are now not only against threats from the outside but also
against those inside. The forming of borders stems from multiple socio-economic and
spatial factors.
Having control of communications, the boundaries generally become an urban reality
through that control. Since ancient times with their functions of defense, spatial definition,
the creation or obstruction of communications along with the protection of order,
boundaries have transformed urban space; therefore, public and private space.
The aim of the paper: while answering the reasons and functions of boundaries, to follow
the reflection of these boundaries on physical space. In other words, to get to the root of
this social reality which extends into space, and to research its extensions to space from an
architectural perspective.
In this paper, the spatial and social functions of boundaries, along with their concepts and
types and reflections on the cities, will be examined. Also, the factors that are involved in
the transformation of boundaries, which are reflections of the social phenomenon, will be
examined. This observation will be conducted on housing settlements.
The main reason why boundaries are analyzed through housing is that it is the most familiar
form of boundaries for architects. The observation will take place in Istinye, Istanbul, which
has experienced intense spatial transformation, giving proper spatial examples for boundary
examination. Boundaries are fed by socio-economic issues and appear in different forms
throughout the city. The district of Istinye, the location of the paper's field study, was
chosen because of its structure with multiple actors, including gated communities and
squatters, and different types, scales and functions of boundaries. At the chosen location,
boundary analysis will be conducted via map reading and photography so as to better
understand spatial configurations and social patterns.
A02
P. Stuart Robinson
University of Tromsø, Norway
Contemporary Urban Geopolitics: The Case of ‘Occupy London’
The Occupy movement is examined in relation to geographically broader and historically
deeper urban trends. The case is made for interpreting Occupy as an initiative building
upon and reacting to continuing (if not continuous) contention over the authoritative
construction and regulation of social space. This might usefully be conceived as reflecting
and engaging a deep-rooted historical struggle over the social construction and normative
architecture of putative public and private realms. The argument is made that careful
historical contextualisation of Occupy throws into clearer relief its more novel – if not
unique – attributes, that is, its expression of a kind of new urban geopolitics. This is argued
to represent a fundamental reconfiguration of the sovereign praxis and terms of political
association of the modern nation-state.
The paper is based on comparative research into the recent development of private
securitised residential developments in the UK, a variety of countercultural social
movements of the 1990s, and the recent Occupy London movement.
A03
Federica Duca
Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), University of Trento
A comparative approach to the study of gated settlements: digging inside the
social and political systems of a golf estate and an open suburb in
Johannesburg
Gating is a widespread practice in many countries. In South Africa it is highly multifaceted
and internally differentiated. Many citizens aspire to live in either townhouse complexes or
in luxury estates depending on the financial possibilities. One way to understand what
“difference” does it make to live in such spaces is to look at them in a comparative
way. What ought to be explored would then be the differences between an open suburb
and a structurally gated settlement (understood as suburb). These two different spaces
should not be seen as separate entities, rather it is quite important to read them in a
relational and interactive way and should be used to explore the social and the political
systems that put into place.
This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork, over a period of two years in two suburbs of
the city of Johannesburg (South Africa), namely a Golf Estate and an open suburb. The study
informs on the relevance of the comparative work in order to grapple the main features of
the gated settlements. The comparison shows that the Golf Estate is considered to be a
“new and neutral space” where a reshuffling of identities takes place. In order to be
informed on the specificity of the gated settlement the aspects that need to be explored in
order to understand the gated system are a)the notion of community; b)the role of
governing bodies and the relationship with the state; c)the relationship between the open
and the gated suburb and the mutual perception of residents.
It will be argued that, through the direct action of a governing body (HOA) there is a
formalization and institutionalization of a culture of disengagement and that what can be
seen is a different scale of governance: on the one side an individual private (in the open
suburb where there is no structured collective organization) and, on the other side the
collective private (through the action of the HOA and other private agencies). Yet both rely
on the system of wall (be it individual or collective) for the purpose of the wellbeing of the
neighbourhood.
A04
Darren Nel and Karina Landman
University of Pretoria, South Africa
A gated community is a tree; a city is not
This paper builds on the seminal work of Christopher Alexander, “A city is not a tree” and
more recent work by the French architect/economist Serge Salat on urban morphology and
urban resilience. The paper will explore the urban form and structure of a number of gated
communities in the eastern part of Pretoria and northern parts of Johannesburg in order to
determine their impact on sustainable urbanism and in particular urban resilience. The aim
is to identify whether gated communities typically resemble a tree-like structure (lattice) or
leaf-like structure (semi-lattice), with the latter being more resilient over time according to
recent studies. However, there may be additional factors influencing the transformation of
urban form and structure over time and its impact on urban resilience. These include the
nature of urban gating, the types of transitional spaces inside and outside these
developments and the activities that take place within and in the surrounding areas. Given
this, the gated neighbourhoods will be analysed according to a number of indicators for
resilience, including connectivity, complexity, diversity, intensity and proximity. In
conclusion the paper will then consider the relationship between gated communities and
urban resilience in South Africa and reconsider the statement that a gated community is a
tree while a city is not.
A05
Martina Orsini
Faculty of Architecture, Polytechnic of Milan, Milan (Italy)
Privatization of public space and city form
The conflict between objectives and goals at the origin of many contemporary political and
economic policies of renewal and evolution of settlements lead to a progressive erosion of
the values inherent the public space. Researches and debates define a strong awareness
and critical distance about these dynamics but with surprisingly little impact over the design
activity.
Objectives
Within the conflicting and unstable relationship between public and private that has
characterized the contemporary city during its definition, design found on several occasions
ideas and references from which to experience new compositions and relations between its
constituent materials, shaping the changes of the society and its repositioning, the new and
possible welfare.
In recent decades, much of the design shows an insufficient critical distance from the
increasingly pervasive dynamics of privatization of the public space able to deform, or even
remove - at all scales - the indisputable structuring values it contains.
A waiver that materializes in the immediacy of typical unstructured global spaces of which
we experience daily in our contemporary cities and territories. When this involves a public
space, it reveals not only the generalized inability to express and represent the complexity
and the variability of the contemporary society it addresses but, more critically, contributes
to the dissolution of the form of the city.
In addition, the reversal of the private sphere in the context of the public - and its opposite -
as the dominant behaviour of contemporary society increases a loss of meaning in which a
certain market of collective spaces triggers deep and mutual impoverishments. In gated
communities, more than in any other form of settlement, the effects of this assumes
proportions whose consequences extend far beyond the individual urban fact. At the
physical, social and political autism of the contemporary public space overlaps a
homogeneous, repetitive and strongly defensive lifestyle able to freeze the city and the
territory into a huge lifeless collage.
Implications
It is proposed a reflection about some of the potentialities of contemporary public space in
terms of innovative coagulation and structuring powers as to be opposed the privatization
dynamics that, more than being linked to economic interests, now appear to have become
mostly cultural.
A06
Manfred Spocter
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University
Planning and environmental agents in the non-metropolitan gated
development chain in the Western Cape, South Africa
Gated developments have become a feature of urban living throughout the world and have
been the subject of intensive research. Gated developments are a ubiquitous feature of the
post-apartheid urban landscape with many new developments in the form of secure estates
or fortified townhouse complexes. Gated developments are not only present in
metropolitan locales, but have been increasing its presence in non-metropolitan locales – in
small towns and rural areas. The spread of non-metropolitan gated developments in the
Western Cape province have been facilitated by various agents in the gating process. Agents
include developers, local authorities, provincial authorities, civil society, and environmental
assessment practitioners. These agents operate on various spatial scales whilst directing the
gating process from various locales. This paper investigates the roles of agents and their
impacts on broader planning processes within the non-metropolitan sphere. In the absence
of an effective regulatory environment, the potential exists for small towns and rural areas
to become new spaces of post-apartheid fortification.
A07
Magda Metwally
Housing and Building National Research Centre, Egypt
Major Trends of the Gated Communities Development in Egypt: An Approach
to urban sustainability
The phenomenon of GCs as urban residential developments is spreading all over the world.
This old/ new pattern of development was a response to the fear of crime in urban areas in
many countries ,but in Egypt the moves to GCs was mainly for enjoying a better quality of
life and not for safety concern. The first instances of exclusive communities in Egypt
appeared in the late 1970s as holidays villages for elite classes along the Mediterranean and
Red Sea Coasts.
GCs in the contemporary form emerged in Egypt since the mid-1990s in the new cities and
satellites around the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) .They started to attract the rich and upper
classes to live into luxurious lifestyle communities with leisure activities and amenities, and
surrounded by gates and high walls.
New cities surrounding Cairo emerged as a perfect location for luxury communities, situated
at a special and social distance to the city .First luxurious GCs were restricted to villas
providing "new standard of residential living". Later comparatively modest communities
offered just greener, healthier and less dense environment.
A study conducted in HBRC documented the real situation of the GCs in new cities focusing
on the urban, economic and social issues. The objectives are to monitor and evaluate the
local and international experience, aiming to identify the growing trends and transformation
scenarios of GCs in Egypt. The main goal is to clarify the future vision for decision makers in
order to achieve sustainable urban policies and development for GCs. The paper will present
some results of the study with special reference to Elsheikh Zayed new city which was
planned to accommodate the low and low-middle classes. Today GCs for upper classes are
spreading very fast all over the city, and dramatically affected the urban as well as the socio-
economic development.
A08
Therese Kenna
University College Cork, Ireland
Therese Kenna*, Denis Linehan*, Will Brady**, Jonathan Hall** and Matthew Williams*
* Department of Geography, University College Cork
** Programme in Planning and Sustainable Development, University College Cork
Gating the city: the extinguishment of public rights of way in urban Ireland
The enclosure and privatization of urban space has been a growing phenomenon
internationally. In many instances, this has involved sensational and overt means of
privatisation such as the development of large-scale gated communities, or the installation
of CCTV cameras for example. Some of the less obvious gating of urban space can go
unnoticed and unchecked. The progressive gating of laneways in Irish cities over a ten year
period is the subject of this paper. In this paper we detail the extinguishment of public rights
of way in urban centres, which in the majority of instances, has involved the closure and
often gating of laneways throughout the city. No national record exists of the
extinguishment of rights of way in urban Ireland, in spite of the very significant
consequences this phenomena has had on the social sustainability of neighbourhoods and
the implications it may have in reducing the mobility of people in local communities. This
paper is based on collection and analysis of almost 600 closures across urban Ireland in the
last decade, seventy per cent of which were extinguished for reasons of ‘anti-social
behaviour’. This unjust process denies people the right to use urban laneways and thus we
argue that there is a need for planning and policy attention towards this trend.
A09
Gillad Rosen
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Alan R. Walks
University of Toronto
Trends and Driving Forces in Toronto’s Condominium Development
The massive building efforts in Toronto Canada’s largest housing market provide an
opportunity to examine the spatial dynamics of condominium tenure and construction over
the last 40 years. This paper probes the most influential policies that fostered and regulated
condominium growth in Toronto, and explores the implications for the continued
restructuring of the city. In the context of Federal and Provincial government withdrawal
from the rental housing field and extensive funding cuts to reduce public spending, it might
seem that planning policies would have limited influence in a context of deepening neo-
liberalism. However, these seemingly weakened governments have had a decisive role in
fostering condo-development, redirecting growth to the urban core, channelling capital
investments and promoting gentrification.
A10
Hee-Seok Kim
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, South Korea
Emergence of Club Economy in Private Neighbourhoods and Their Enclosure -
Analysis of Private Neighbourhoods in a Seoul Suburb, South Korea
Gated communities are understood in economic sense as private neighbourhoods whose
residents produce and manage local public goods by themselves. Local public goods in
Korean apartment complexes such as parking and open space have been privately owned
and produced by their residents since the arrival of apartment complexes to the country in
the mid twentieth century. The nature of apartment complex as a private neighbourhood
running its own club economy has since been reinforced amid aggravating scarcity of local
public goods in cities and increasing gap of their qualities between different
neighbourhoods. Through an analysis of the most publicized case of gating in South Korea,
the study attempts to understand the recent gating of apartment complexes against
pedestrian access, a long held taboo, in the working of club economy to maximise benefits
for members by implementing exclusion mechanisms against non-members. The result of
the analysis shows two colliding interests: the desire of the public to preserve the integrity
of urban space by maintaining public rights over the open space of apartment complexes
versus the private interests to optimise the utility of the same space for their own benefits.
Facing the dilemma, planners and policymakers need to develop ways to integrate privately
held common space into larger urban space while recognising the private interests through
financial and planning measures.
A11
Guy Fayel
University of Haifa
Gating in the Gated Community: Home Fortification Practices on
Israeli Kibbutzim and Moshavim
The last few years have witnessed a rise in private home fortification practices in moshav
and kibbutz settlements in Israel. These often include enclosing the house with tall walls and
fences, installing intercom and alarm systems and CCTV cameras, as well as posting
threatening warning signs. Exclusion practices and strategies, which constitute the most
prominent characteristic of the gated community and serve to separate members of the
community from those deemed as 'the other', are manifested not only at the level of the
neighbourhood or community but at the level of the private home. Based on ethnographic
research carried out in moshav and kibbutz settlements in Israel, I will argue that these
practices reproduce the cosmological order of the (gated) community at home and serve to
transform each house into a form of an autonomous gated community of its own.
By examining home fortification processes as an expression of on-going negotiations of the
boundaries of public and private space in the community, I will attempt to discuss the
agency of the built environment and the symbolic struggle and negotiations for its character
and image as a major factor influencing spatial distribution practices and use of space, as
well as cultural conceptions regarding topics such as privacy and security. Lastly, I will argue
that these processes lead to the formation of a unique, local version of the gated
community – of gating within the gated community.
A12
Nicole Johnston
Griffith University
Transitioning residential multi-owned developments: conflicts of Interest
arising
This paper aims to identify conflicts of interest arising from decisions made by developers in
the transition phase of residential multi-owned developments (RMODs) and the
consequences these conflicts have on lot owners post transition. Although there has been
research on the psychology of conflicts of interest, there has been a paucity of research
focusing on conflicts of interest in property stakeholder relationships or on issues arising in
the transition phase of RMODs. Blandy et al (2006) explored power imbalances which exist
between key stakeholders including developers within RMODs and found that the power
exercised by developers in overseeing governance can have long-term negative impacts on
lot owners. Utilising a governance responsibilities framework, this paper identifies, within
the Australian context, developer led situations in which conflicts of interest arise and the
consequences that flow from those situations.
Thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with key industry stakeholders
including developers, managers, lawyers and lot owners. A review of court and tribunal
decisions was also undertaken in order to identify the types of conflict of interest situations
that arise in legal disputes. The study has found that a number of conflicts of interest
situations arise within the RMOD context which negatively impact upon the viability and
functionality of RMODs post transition. A common practice signifying a conflict of interest
situation arises with the engagement of an association manager by the developer pre-
scheme registration. Although legal duties are owed by the association manager to the
association, the contractual relationship caused to be entered into by the developer is
compromised when the manager is seeking future work from the developer. Negative
consequences are experienced by the association post registration as a result of the
manager’s dual relationships.
There appears to be no scholarly research which identifies the range of conflict of interest
scenarios arising in the RMOD context and the consequences that result. This study can alert
policy-makers of the consequences that can manifest when the law is deficient with respect
to preventing conflicts of interest situations arising.
A13
Chris Guilding
Griffith University
Preparing strata & community title buildings for climate change
The findings of a 2012 Australian study that sought to inform policy making concerned with
preparing strata titled communities to deal with challenges that are expected to result from
climate change are reported. The study developed 24 recommendations designed to
advance the capacity of strata titled communities to cope with climate change.
The study’s first empirical phase involved a meeting with an eleven person industry
reference group. This group met on two subsequent occasions and represented a valuable
sounding board that informed the study’s evolution. Next, eighteen interviews were
conducted with individuals representing a range of strata title stakeholder groups. The
study’s final empirical phase involved the conduct of an on-line questionnaire survey. This
survey was designed to investigate the current climate change preparedness of strata title
communities and also to gauge the relative merit of sixteen recommendations developed
during the interview phase. The survey was also used as an opportunity to generate further
recommendations. Following an analysis and distillation of feedback provided by 450
questionnaire respondents, eight further recommendations were developed.
The 24 recommendations advanced in the report cover a wide range of facets relating to
strata title building, living and management. The range of issues addressed in the
recommendations include factors relating to building construction and resilience rating,
improved climate change education of strata title stakeholders, insurance, emergency
management, building decision making issues, and bank lending. The breadth of the
recommendations is also evident from the fact that they are directed to a broad range of
strata title stakeholders that include unit owners, strata managers, resident managers, state
and federal governments, insurance companies, sinking fund forecasters and banks.
A14
Veeramon Suwannasang
University College London
Quality of life & City resilience: The effects of physical boundary of gated
communities on sense of community and fear of crime in the United Kingdom
Quality of life is the concept that has gained a wide range of interests in recent decades.
Within this concept, sense of community (SoC hereafter) and fear of crime (FOC hereafter)
are two of the issues that highly associated with quality of life in cities, especially in terms of
their consequences and impacts. Accordingly, it is not surprising that SoC and FOC have now
captured social scientists’ attentions in many disciplines, ranging from built environment,
criminology, to psychology. Much research has endeavoured to discover what the
relationship of SoC, FOC, and built environment are; why different types of built
environment present different levels of FOC and SoC; how built environment can help
reducing FOC and increasing SoC, so that quality of life in cities be able to achieve and cities
themselves have resilience for social illness which commonly found in big economic-driven
cities.
Although much research is available on social aspect of different type of built environment,
very little information is available on the effects of physical boundary of gated communities
(hereafter GCs) and non-gated communities on SoC and FOC in the United Kingdom. While
GCs has become more obvious in British land since the last decade of the 20th century, it
has not received much attention in the United Kingdom to the point that there is a lack of
research in the effects of GCs on crime rates and GC residents. This current research,
therefore, aims to filling the void by examining the differing effects of physical boundary on
SoC and FOC between gated and non-gated communities. In addition, the research also aims
to discover the differences of SoC and FOC in different socio-economic status (SES
hereafter) communities whether SES play a part in differing level of SoC and FOC, and in
what direction.
This research adopts a group comparison, cross sectional study comparing four community
categories (high SES GCs, low SES GCs, high SES non-GCs, low SES non-GCs) under difference
socio-economic status (SES) in the South East of the United Kingdom where a large majority
of gated communities are located. Questionnaires will be sent out to a group of random
sample of each community’s participants through mail. A brief sense of community (BSCS),
actual crime rate, and perceived safety and fear of crime are the three measures which will
employ for this research.
The structure of paper will begin with Introduction, following by Literature Review,
Mythology, Case Studies, Discussions, and Conclusions. The justifications of this current
research are hoped to broaden the understanding of the effects of physical boundary of
gated and non-gated communities (in difference SES) on SoC and FOC in the British context,
and are hoped to help assisting the planning solutions for communities in fostering SoC and
reducing FOC in a national context in order to increase quality of life of people and
resilience of cities. The result of this research can also be used as a comparative study with
other countries with the hope that it can enlighten knowledge within this field.
A15
Tingting Lu
University College London
Everyday life and community governance of master planned estates: the case
study of Wenzhou, China
Chinese suburban residential enclaves have been seen taking the form of master planned
estates, most of which are exclusively gated. From the practice of gated communities in the
Western context, the disclosure of fear, the privatization of community, and the aesthetical
consumption, constitutes the driving forces for the development of gated communities.
However, little has been known about the development and governance of gated
communities in post-reform China. Under the processes of suburbanization, private
governance has been wildly employed in master planned estates to maintain the inclusive
social order. Based on a large-scale questionnaire survey in Wenzhou, China, this article
seeks to find the relationship between community spatial factors, residential preferences,
and attitudes toward privatization of community governance. This article tries to argue
residents with different socio-economic status do not have same attitudes towards the
privatization of community governance. The spatial factors and the social services provided
in master planned estates significantly impact residents’ everyday life.
A16
Samer Bagaeen
University of Brighton
The production of urban inequality: Urban gating, soft boundaries and
networks of influence and affluence
Unlike political science and sociology, what the field of planning research still lacks is a regular body
of literature which place power relations at its core in spite of the clear links between planning and
power. According to Hayward and Swanstrom, (2011), injustice is only one manifestation of power
dynamics in our cities.
A parallel dynamic is outlined by Sassen in the Fourth Edition of Cities in a world economy
(2012). This involves “new forms of inequality constituted into new social forms” and links
with ideas of social justice and public interest, public concerns and the dominance of private
interests.
This paper sets out a road map to reconceptualise our understanding of these new forms and what
has come to be known in the academic literature as ‘gated communities’. I lay out a template
designed to explore the notion of the gated community as an identifiable transnational connector
space in the same way the Ritz Hotel is a sign of privilege for global travellers.
A17
Ignacio Acosta
University of Brighton
Miss Chuquicamata, the slag: disputed mining settlement between foreign
capital and national identity.
Miss Chuquicamata is part of a larger investigation into the material legacy of the Chilean
copper mining industry and its historical relationship with Britain. I use photography to
document both architectural configurations and altered landscapes that are the result of the
production, trade and transport of copper, mapping their circuits of exchange and post-
imperial networks. I investigate the commodity as material and immaterial form, exploring
the geographies of copper as scenarios for mining activity.
Mining is a core activity of civilization. Local economies rely upon metal production. Chile –
an extensive and narrow land emerging on the fringes of Latin America– has been the
leading producer of copper since the mid nineteenth century and currently accounts for
over a third of the world’s production.
The paper discusses the repercussions of multinational corporations on Chilean urban
design, as well as their impact in shaping the modern world economy.
Chuquicamata in northern Chile was once the world’s largest known deposit of copper. The
mining settlement was planned in the New York offices of the Guggenheim brothers in 1912
following patterns of other corporate towns in the U.S. Chuquicamata was the centre of a
dispute over the extent of foreign ownership and capitalist control, which concluded with
the nationalisation of the ‘Gran Mineria’ by Salvador Allende in 1973. High Levels of
pollution forced an end to the settlement in 2007. Today, the gated town is abandoned and
disappearing under the residues of the expanding mine. The architecture can be seen as
enduring legacy of past colonial interventions. Through photography, I interpret the design
typologies of an imported architecture as reflection of a troubled historical past. These
designs carried ideas of modernisation and progress; the ruins stand as symbol for their
disintegration.