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Gated communities in Ankara: are they a tool of social segregation?

Leyla Alkan-Gökler (Department of City and Regional Planning, Gazi Universitesi, Ankara, Turkey)

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis

ISSN: 1753-8270

Article publication date: 18 October 2017

Issue publication date: 20 November 2017

386

Abstract

Purpose

Gated communities, surrounded by walls or fences, have emerged as a new trend in almost all cities in Turkey, and are homogenous in terms of the socioeconomic status of their occupants. Within these communities, several facilities and services are provided that are available only to the residents, with restrictions on access from the outside, and this has led to criticisms of social segregation. This study aims to analyze the impact of these communities on social segregation in Ankara, through two different surveys aimed at investigating the attitudes of the residents of local neighborhoods and gated communities toward each other.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyzes how the process of gating has affected social segregation in Ankara through two separate surveys: with the residents of gated communities and with the residents of local neighborhoods around these gated communities.

Findings

The study revealed that the residents of gated communities tended to have a positive view of the residents of local neighborhoods. In contrast, the responses of the local residents show evidence of feelings of social segregation, based on the presence of the high walls, fences and guards that are in place to keep them out of the community.

Originality/value

This study shows that, although segregation from the rest of the society is not the main reason for gating, the emergence of gated communities in Ankara leads inevitably to a socially and economically segregated city in which local residents feel excluded from these gated areas.

Keywords

Citation

Alkan-Gökler, L. (2019), "Gated communities in Ankara: are they a tool of social segregation?", International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 687-702. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHMA-03-2017-0032

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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