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This paper aims to study neighbourhood attachment and satisfaction in a middle-class, high-density and semi-gated neighbourhood in Hong Kong.

Drawing on the findings of survey on 356 households, a principal component analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to assess how attachment and satisfaction were manifested and whether they were manifested as separate phenomena.

Attachment and satisfaction in neighbourhoods were manifested as separate phenomena. It was further found that residents were broadly attached to and satisfied with their neighbourhood. Of the neighbourhood characteristics identified as influencing satisfaction in previous research, the support was found only for the physical environment and safety but concluded that satisfaction was also influenced by status, neighbourhood youths’ ambition and schools. Contrary to the expectation, the authors did not find support for deeper social bonds as an element of satisfaction. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that satisfaction may lead to increased attachment.

This study offers policymakers and housing managers’ valuable insights into the management of increasingly large and complex residential neighbourhoods. It helps us understand which initiatives are likely to lead to greater attachment.

Previous studies have focused on neighbourhood attachment and satisfaction in typical low/medium-density settings. This study extends previous efforts to a high-density housing estate of Hong Kong.

This paper aims to classify major elements in a typology of gated communities and develop a framework that can be used to promote international comparison of this built form.

The paper draws on a survey of 77 gated housing estates in Hong Kong and interviews with major stakeholders to develop and order a classification of elements of a typology of gated communities. Principle component analysis and regression analysis are used in conjunction with insights from 20 in-depth and about 70 open-ended face-to-face interviews.

This paper explores Hong Kong’s gated communities to evaluate the relationships between the four main elements of a typology of gated communities: supply, demand, features of gated estates and characteristics of built form. It is suggested that there is a hierarchical relationship between the elements, i.e. supply and demand are higher-order elements and features of gated housing and characteristics of the housing stock are lower-order elements. The paper additionally highlights the impact of definitional and conceptual drift in key concepts, such as security, privacy, prestige and lifestyle, on developing robust typologies.

The paper reviews the many and varied typologies of gated communities in the international literature, classifies the elements into four main groups and posits a hierarchical relationship between these elements. This paper proposes a robust methodology for further comparative research into gated communities.