Gated communities have been associated with their negative impacts on communities as socially segregated areas form the surrounding urban context. The question that arises is: what is the balance point, if any, for gated communities to satisfy the social sustainability of both the communities within the gate and the community outside.
Introduction
- Overview
- Statement of the Problem
- Research Question
- Research Objectives
How can social sustainability and social capital benefits of gated communities, especially safety and security, be preserved while achieving connectivity with the surrounding urban contexts to be more socially sustainable communities. To assess metropolitan aspects related to social sustainability and social capital in gated communities.
Relevant Literature
Sustainability
Social Sustainability
This work also serves as a useful starting point for wider conversations about social sustainability that can take place outside the urban planning field. Moreover, according to Chiu (2003), social sustainability refers to maintaining and improving the well-being of current and future generations.
Socially Sustainable Community
To measure and evaluate social sustainability in neighbourhoods, several dimensions have been identified. Social sustainability is a way in which a society is shaped based on people's wants and needs (Woodcraft, Hackett, & Caistor-Arendar, 2011).
Social Capital
- Social Capital in Social Science
- Social Capital in Urban Design
In addition, social capital is a collective dimension of society beyond the individual. Therefore, (Nguyen, 2010) confirms that extension is an important factor in the decline of social capital.
Community
Gated Community
- Traditional Gated Communities’ Intimacy and Enclosure
- Types of Gated Communities Internationally
- Debates of Sociability of Gated Communities
According to research by Blakely and Snyder (1997), as cited by Geniş (2007), there are three main types of gated communities in the United States. This study focuses on the concept of gated communities in the UAE.
Gaps in the Literature
Context: UAE Gated Communities
Gated communities are one of the recognizable forms of housing developments in the Gulf region (Mahgoub & Khalfani, 2012). Construction of a fence within the boundaries of the voucher according to the dimensions shown in the floor plan, including all structural elements or the necessary protrusions for the construction of the fence and the correct construction methods. It is allowed to use a common fence or to raise the fences on the voucher border between two vouchers for the same owner or, if the parties agree, and without the implementation of installations in the rebound zone of the border between the vouchers.
The height of the railings shall not be less than ninety centimeters (0.90 meters) and not more than two meters (2.00 meters) from the ground level.
Methods
Research Design
Connections between important amenities and features should be highlighted through street layout, street trees and other signage. Furthermore, a case study is investigated using both methods to explore and answer the research questions and to achieve the set of objectives in this research. The actual fieldwork was mainly focused on the selected case, as it represented a unique type of quasi-closed gated community transformed to be totally closed.
The work involved the surroundings as it connected with the connectivity of the case and affected the transformation.
Case Study Method: MREIFA Compound, Bida Bin Ammar
Before the current change in 2021, the complex was the first of its kind without closed or partially closed gates, as walls were added to close off pedestrian access and restrict entry into the complex, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. The definition of a fence, according to DPM, that fence is a partition consisting of any material or group of approved materials which constitute the boundaries of a coupon or obscure it from view or divide it into sections or for any other permitted reason. A case study analysis was conducted to provide an in-depth analysis of this study.
The case study method, as defined by Yin (1981), is an empirical investigation that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in its real-life context.
Data Collection
- Sample Selection
- Qualitative Approach
- Quantitative Approach
- Pilot Study
In order to ensure the participant's consent to be part of the study and to explain the confidentiality of their information, the consent form explained everything at the beginning of the questionnaire. In this study, quantitative content analysis was conducted using Space Syntax DepthmapX software to assess and evaluate the associated social capital measures of the study area. The aim of the pilot study was to examine the research questions and to ensure its applicability and appropriateness to the case, and to test the chosen methodology by testing data collection tools, field conditions and expected time required.
Also, the researcher had to translate the questions, thus creating an Arabic version of the questionnaire.
Data Analysis
Safety
- Ownership
- Natural Surveillance
- Access and Footpaths
One side are the windows of the communal villas (a) and the other side are mixed commercial and residential buildings (b). A3, as shown in Figure 10 (a) and (b), this side is overlooked by the villas from one side (a), it is a residential area containing private villas and several villa entrances from the side and from the other side is the exit gate of the community side ( b). B1, as shown in Figure 12 (a) and (b), is overlooked by villa entrances and apartment windows from side (b).
Security guards also make their rounds in the community using bicycles, as shown in Figure 17.
Connectivity
- Movement Structure
- Land Use Diversity
In addition, the number of cul-de-sacs in the block is more than double the number of intersections, as shown in Figure 23. In addition, the green areas in the center of the community help serve the entire community, as shown in Figure 23. 30. In addition, the community club is located in the center of the community within walking distance of up to 300 meters as shown in Figure 31.
As shown in the choice map in Figure 41, these services are not located on high choice value routes.
Results and Discussion
Safety
- Ownership
- Natural Surveillance
- Access and Footpaths
As seen in the observation, pedestrian routes are mostly well viewed through house windows or balconies or passing cars and ensured by the questionnaire as 85% of the subjects overlooked the streets as well. As such, streets are not designed to serve all road users, especially disabled individuals, children and older people, as seen in the observation. Also in the questionnaire, 41.71% of the results disagreed that the street can serve all road users.
In addition, community street design increases the number of intersections that support this indicator.
Connectivity
- Movement Structure
- Land Use Diversity
- Local Facilities
According to the map analysis, the community is covered by a catchment distance of 200 to 300 meter radius, as also shown using spatial analysis, which implies that most services are centrally located and easy to reach. However, 85.7% of people living in the community expressed that it is easy to reach the services offered by walking. The land use map, connectivity map, and community choice map show various facilities in the community that can be connected and placed on highly connected roads.
Open spaces for the community are located in the center of the community, as this location is supported by the selection map in Figure 39, which shows that the open spaces located by the author along the route had high selection values.
Conclusions
Summary of Findings
As such, there is no ownership within the community, but the options offered allow families to stay for long periods of time and move freely within the gated community. The variety of land use within the gated community supports connectivity as it supports social capital in the area. In addition, local amenities help support connectivity in the community as location and connection between amenities help create more connected and used routes.
This is because of the services located at the fence edge of the gated community, serving people in the community as well as outside.
Research Generalization and Reliability
The connectivity of the city block was analyzed using the same indicators that measured community connectivity: movement structure, mixed use and local amenities. Moreover, the interconnection of the services between inside and outside the gated community helps to maintain the elements of security for those inside it, while creating a social connection with the outside. As the case study shows, although it was open to outside pedestrians, it was transformed into a closed community in a relatively short time.
Moreover, it helps the reliability of the study, as several measuring indicators are used to examine each sub-principle related to the main principle.
Research Limitations
Contributions and Future Research
Therefore, future research could include and evaluate more elements related to socially sustainable communities, namely density, choice, mobility, mixed use, social mix or social capital, adaptability or resilience, local autonomy, environmental quality, safety and community safety, privacy, and imaginability or sense of place or identity. More indicators can be examined in each sub-principle of social capital to explore further possibilities. Also, the social science aspect of studying social capital can be studied and linked to urban design drivers to implement and link more interrelated factors.
Recommendations
Starting with the supremacy of such decisions, the government or policy makers must act as a higher authority to overlook these communities and set guidelines that could support connectivity among these communities and act as a higher authority over all community developers. Urban planners should integrate several solutions to limit the urban fragmentation caused by this type of design in the city by arranging these buildings or connecting them. For developers, the collaboration of the surrounding urban areas with the communities can have great benefits and even make the facilities in the communities more vibrant and active by attracting more people and using them.
Concluding Remarks
Towards social capital indicators for regional development issues: the case of French rural areas. Paper presented at the annual meeting of Gated Communities: Building social divides or safer communities. Measuring social capital: towards a theoretically informed measurement framework for researching social capital in community life.
Differential effects of ethnic diversity on social capital: Density of foundations and leisure associations in Amsterdam neighborhoods.
Living Period in the Community
Surveillance of Pedestrian Routes
Street Usage Time
Streets Accommodation: Different Transport Types
Street Design for All Road Users
Traffic-Calming Tools
Reaching Services in the Community
Reaching Services in the Block
Services in the Community
Services in the Block
