Background
Gated communities in Bogotá house 2.7 million people, or almost 40% of all households. Today, all socioeconomic groups in Bogotá find a home behind gates and walls, and 20% of the urban poor live in gated communities. With the rise of the gated community in Latin America and worldwide, a new type of public space has been emerging in recent decades: streets bordered by walls, fences, and the occasional gate, formed when two gated communities face each other.
It is an urgent matter for urban studies and urban planning to understand how these streets, formed when two gated communities meet, can still fulfil the functions of a locus of democracy. With this research, I aim to provide a better understanding of the implications of gated communities for non-exclusionary access and security for all users in the streets outside the gates and thereby on the very democratic character of public space.
Research questions
My research is driven by the interest in the implications of gated communities for public space and urban life. Gated communities have become the standard cell of urban growth in Bogotá and other cities in Latin America and other contexts (i.e. China). New large scale urban development in major and middle-sized cities in Colombia is today mostly happening through gated communities. The street bordered by fences and walls has become a common sight. I consider it important to understand the dynamics of these public spaces outside the gates because streets and public spaces are, in general, the stage for urban life and democracy. I focus on two qualities of public space, non-exclusionary access and security. These qualities play a crucial role in the democratic character of public space and our city in general. My guiding research question of this research, therefore, is:
How do gated communities in Bogotá shape non-exclusionary access and security in the public spaces outside the gates?
Non-exclusionary access refers to non-discriminatory access to public space for everyone and at all times. However, as public spaces only theoretically can be fully accessible for all at all times, possible restrictions regarding its use should stem out of a democratic, participatory and transparent decision-making process and should be applied to all users
I focus on security in the context of violence and crime (though not exclusively). I consider security a concept that cannot be objectified. Security is a constructed term and can incorporate many aspects, such as perceived security or actual crime risk. In this sense, this research includes different aspects of security, operationalises them in various ways in the different articles and aims to be transparent with the approaches to the security concept used.
Non-exclusionary access and security in public space are two concepts that interact in various ways. Security can be understood as a political negotiation of in- and exclusion. Hence, security and non-exclusionary access are strongly intertwined. Security measures in public space always restrict access for some users or uses. At the same time, insecurity in public space can diminish access for all, as people do not feel comfortable using these spaces.
Policy relevance
With this research, I show that Gated communities are by design and definition exclusive spaces. They feature exclusive internal spaces and physically manifest this exclusive character towards the outside with walls and fences. However, these clear-cut borders do not contain this exclusion inside the gates, as it expands to the public spaces outside the gates. The streets surrounding exclusive gated communities are, as shown by my research, also exclusive. In fact, gated communities are threatening the democratic character of public space.
Gated communities are a spatial reaction to insecurity and can arguably be seen as an extreme form of mainstream environmental criminology approaches. Yet, my research shows that they shape insecure public spaces outside the gates.
As Bogotá and other Latin American cities are already and will be in the future strongly shaped by gated communities, it is relevant for urban policy makers to understand what impact they will have on the urban fabric. Currently, Bogotá has one of the few governments in Latin America that address the rise of gated communities in their policy agenda and are currently working on policy formulation in order to deal with this phenomenon. This research aims to support this process by providing empirical data, sharpening the discourse, helping raise awareness on this issue, bringing other stakeholders on board and developing concrete policy options.