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The image of Latin American suburbs has changed in the last two decades as they have become more heterogeneous with the development of gated communities that coexist with poor-household settlements. Developers, local government staff and gated community residents are the main actors involved in the process of urban development of the periphery.

Gated communities continue to spread in popularity across cities around the world. Ghana has seen considerable growth in the development of gated communities over the last few years. This phenomenon manifests in the majority new residential developments and most forms of residential property advertisement in the capital city. The purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers of gated community developments in Ghana from the perspective of gated community developers.

This paper used a qualitative research approach. Through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, data was collected from purposively selected key stakeholders in the gated community development market, including developers, managers and consultants.

The drivers identified from the developers' perspective were the demand for gated community properties, the control over and ease of management of assets and interests, the high development/production cost of real estate and speculative development of gated community properties.

This paper is an initial study that explores the drivers of gated community developments in Ghana from the perspective of gated community developers. This paper extends the literature on gated communities beyond the residents perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the emergence of “gated communities” in Ghana. It explores gated communities as a nexus of social and spatial relations within the context of urban inequality. It is concerned with the phenomenon in which the rich now live in isolation behind barbed wires and gates, fearing for their lives and properties.

The paper adopts a sociological approach to the study. It does so initially by focusing on the social constitution of a gated community. The gate becomes a focal point of the analysis because by its function, it separates the residents from others. This spatial construction of gated communities does not only preserve the social stratification of class and demographic groups, it institutionalises this already extant stratification. The paper, therefore, uses social inequality and the status attainment theory as the basis of its work. Status processes play a part in the development of powerful inequalities, which shape the structure of groups and societies as well as, directly and indirectly, the opportunities of individuals (Berger et al., 1980).

The paper finds that although people feel safer behind gates, at the same time the fear of the outside world increases for them. Their desire to find a small area in which they feel secure, meanwhile, only expands the vast areas in which they feel insecure. It notes that security can be achieved only and much better, if the causes of insecurity, namely poverty and exclusion, are addressed.

The paper wades into the gated communities’ phenomenon. It contributes to the discussion in which social difference and inequality have become more marked features of urban society. Its relevance lies in the fact that it analyses this issue through a sociological perspective.

The contribution of neighbourhood structure to residents’ perceptions towards built environment is becoming recognised. Although considerable theoretical evidence exists to support the idea that natural surveillance is related to perceptions of safety, the empirical literature on examining the effect of neighbourhood structure and residents’ attitude towards their neighbourhood on perceptions of safety is limited, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationships between natural surveillance, perceived disorder, social cohesion and perception of safety in a gated community.

A total of 250 households from Babolsar, Iran, participated in this study. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to examine the research model.

The results indicate that natural surveillance is negatively related to disorder and is positively related to social cohesion and perception of safety. The model also shows no significant relationship between social cohesion and perception of safety in the study area. Residents perceived relatively high levels of social cohesion, but their perceptions of safety were moderate.

Findings emphasise the importance of neighbourhood structure and active roles of local communities in enhancing neighbourly relations and perceptions of safety.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of gated communities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) focusing on the experiences of residents from different gated communities in the Dammam Metropolitan Area (DMA). It seeks to assess the socio-economic background of such communities and find out why people choose to live in gated communities and their perceptions of such housing patterns.

The questionnaire survey technique was used in this study to achieve the main purpose. The study used the triangulation method, which includes both qualitative and quantitative techniques as the most appropriate approach to be adopted. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis, while statistical analysis was performed to analyze quantitative data.

The findings of the study highlight that although gated communities are physically closed by walls and gates, it is distinguished by good social relations not only among their residents but even with the external surroundings, which makes these communities more attractive. Of course, this contrasts to some extent with the prevailing thinking that such communities live in a state of social isolation.

The ideas of people who live outside gated communities are very important, however, it was not explored in this study due to time limitations. So, future research could focus on citizens’ perceptions of this type of urban settlement.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study assessing the nature of gated communities in KSA by focusing on the experiences of residents of different gated communities in DMA. Only a few studies have been done in this regard, so this research paper was conducted to bridge this research gap and build upon the literature.

Within a gated community, management of common property presents great challenges. Therefore, the diagnostic social ecological system (SES) framework proposed by Elinor Ostrom providing a holistic understanding of complex collective action problems in terms of management of commons is used to investigate key institutional-social-ecological factors influencing collective action in the context of gated communities.

In this paper, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to systematically screen and review the relevant literature from 2000 to 2022, where 28 papers were selected for further analysis.

The study systematically identifies and categorises a series of variables related to self-organizing management in the gated community, and consequently a SES-based gated community management framework is developed. Based on the conceptual framework, the paper discusses logical interrelationships of institutional-social-ecological factors and their impacts on collective action performance of gated communities.

Apart from requiring empirical validation, the conceptual SES-based gated community management framework is certainly subject to continuous improvement in terms of refinement and addition of other potential determinants of gated community collective action.

Not only the review paper provides updates on the latest gated-community collective action research, it also contributes theoretically by conceptualizing the SES framework and its institutional–social–ecological design principles in gated community management. Studying these factors should also be of practical significance because the findings ultimately offer policy insights and management strategies that help policy-makers, property developers and local communities to govern such neighbourhood common resources efficiently and sustainably.

The purpose of this paper is to discover the operational character of gated communities in Malaysia.

This paper is based on a small case study conducted in Iskandar Malaysia, an economic development region located in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. In the case study, 12 housing developers were interviewed, involving 32 gated communities altogether. The investigation covered the identification of the governing document used in operating a gated community, the operational purposes and scopes, the arrangement for collection of maintenance fee, and the internal governance within the gated communities.

From the analysis, it was found that two types of gated communities exist in the case study areas, namely the strata gated community scheme, and the gated community scheme (GACOS). The operational mechanism for the former is through a set of rules enforced by the government. Meanwhile, the latter is based on the arrangement set up either by the developer, where legal agreement is applicable, or through the consensus among homeowners. However, despite these differences, both mechanisms share the same intention, that is to operate the gated community based on cooperative-collective sharing arrangement.

Despite the vulnerability of GACOS enclosure components, the case study revealed that the number of GACOS is still bigger than the strata gated community scheme. Since this perspective is lacking in this paper, it is suggested that more studies are conducted to explain the reasons behind the indicated phenomenon.

The most important contribution of the paper is to highlight the importance of gating experience that is heavily influenced by the local policy setting to determine the survival of a gated community; thus, demonstrating how different they are from each other.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how satisfied homeowners are with their gated residences.

This study starts out by examining the data collected through self-administered surveys to find out the satisfaction levels and motivations of homeowners toward their gated homes in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. This is then followed by regression analysis to examine the relationship between motivations of owing gated homes and residential satisfaction.

The benefits that motivate households to purchase gated landed homes are “Safety and Security,” “Financial Benefits” and “Social Status” and “Lifestyle Facilities.” It also appears that the satisfaction levels of homeowners are to a certain extent, influenced by the benefits of owning a gated home.

It seems that when home buyers purchase houses these days, a major consideration is placed on whether or not the development is a gated one.

The congruence and dissonance between residents and their housing situations are essential to prevent the decreasing quality of urban environment. Thus, this study can serve as a guide for urban planners and property developers in planning and designing of enclosed private residential developments. Furthermore, property developers can gain valuable insights on the gated home features that they should improve to meet each homebuyer’s needs.

Majority of the studies on residential satisfaction have been focussed on the evaluation of non-enclosure communities. There have only been a limited of studies examining the experience of residents in enclosed private residential environments in a developing country. Hence, this paper has contributed to the existing knowledge in the development of gated estates in a developing country.

This study aims to investigate the price effects, if any, of various types of residential developments' security mechanisms.

Previous literature suggests home buyers pay a premium for homes located within gated communities, but no prior study investigates the various levels of community security features often associated with gated communities. This study extends this literature by examining the presence of gates, guards and patrols (individually and in combination) within residential communities. The findings indicate that home prices are significantly higher in communities that have gates, guards, or guards and patrols. In the presence of guards and patrols, however, the premium associated with gates disappears. These results suggest that the previously identified premium for homes in gated communities may be more appropriately interpreted as a premium for enhanced security provided by guards and patrols within the communities.

Prices of homes in communities exhibit premiums for security gates, security guards and security patrols, but the premium associated with security gates is less impactful than security guards and security patrols.

Developers, home buyers, appraisers and other parties should carefully consider neighborhood security features when evaluating home prices in communities.

The presence of security guards and security patrols implies higher home prices in residential communities and are more impactful than security gates alone.

Prior research reports a price premium for homes in gated communities. This study contributes to that literature and finds that the premium associated with security guards and security patrols dominates the mere presence of security gates.