Gated Communities

Solar Drive, deep in the Hollywood Hills, is a ritzy block of expensive homes. But over the past year, an empty mansion was overrun by squatters and partiers. Permission for the gate is temporary, but hikers are upset by blocked routes.

Inside this gated community in the L.A. suburb of Hemet, the recession is taking a tough toll and making life difficult for the families that had moved there for quiet calm.

Peer Smets (VU University Amsterdam) investigates the socio-cultural impacts of specific patterns of urban segregation (gated communities) on local urban politics and urban governance.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief stated in a public meeting that their evidence shows that the gated communities in the area are not statistically any freer of crime than non-gated ones.

Posh gated communities are juxtaposed with shanty towns in South Africa, where a constitutional housing guarantee is seen by many as a far-off dream.