All three (security, privacy, and community) are given as reasons for the increase in gated communities in San Antonio and across most of the nation. Although there are doubters on all three criteria as to how well the gated system works, neighborhood developers are paying little heed to their concerns.
Gone are the days when the gated community concept was geared toward the wealthy. From baby boomers, who are now at a point in their lives where they cherish the idea of a secure community, to single moms, who find comfort in being able to come home at night, passcard in hand to enter their enclave of privacy and security, the growth of gated living, according to the Census Bureau's 2001 American housing Survey, reports that more than 4 million households are in controlled access communities, requiring entry codes, key cards or permission of a security guard to enter the community.
Many of the more exclusive gated communities have strict enforcement of at least the security and privacy issues. Gate guards, parking on the street restrictions, and an active enforcement crew ensure homeowners that their chosen lifestyle will be preserved. Whether the gated communities provide a sense of community is not as clear. Sociologists point out that the mind set of gated community homeowners, many of whose main concern is privacy, do not meld easily into the perceived idea that being in a walled-in setting provides for social closeness.
Anthropologist Setha Low sees the gated phenomena as a "search for niceness." Her book, "Behind the Gates: Security and the New American Dream" disects the gated lifestyle through interviews over an eight year period, which covered a wide-range of gated residents, from the working class to the very affluent.
In the final analysis, the gated community concept will always have its critics, and it will also have its supporters. One thing for certain is that the concept will continue to grow.
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