4 ms·
Great point. The whole notion of the "gated community" is patently offensive and only possible by virtue of the automobile. Walk through an old city. Even in t
by Duff 14y ago
Great point. The whole notion of the "gated community" is patently offensive and only possible by virtue of the automobile.
Walk through an old city. Even in the victorian era, where families were packed in single rooms with no running water, they were just a 5-10 minute walk from stately townhouses of the well-to-do.
Now, we feel the need to separate ourselves with berms and fences.
- hammock 14y agoThe upper classes separating themselves from everyone else isn't a modern invention...what do you think castles are?
- aqme28 14y agoThis is more the middle classes separating themselves from a perceived (yet not necessarily existent) other.
- gamble 14y agoEver been inside an actual castle? The lord's family was lucky if they had one or two private rooms. Most castles are tiny compared to their presentation in the media. Aside from things like 18th-century manor houses - a tiny proportion of any country's population, and absolutely stuffed with working-class servants - the lack of motorized transit meant that upper-class neighbourhoods were usually right in the centre of the city, within walking distance of the poorer areas. You really just have to look at NYC or London to see that. 19th century mansions are not that far from the historically poor areas. And even those people who did own manor houses usually had a townhouse. It wasn't until trains, subways, and automobiles arrived in the mid-20th century that commuting between the business centre and exclusive suburbs became possible.
- daniel_solano 14y agoWell, the ‘gated community’ as such may exist by virtue of the automobile, but the overall concept is much older and can apply even in high-density urban environments. What about a luxury apartment building that hires a doorman? It is the same thing in spirit as the gated community.
- excuse-me 14y agoThe concept of the gated community in a city is much older in Europe, and as in modern America, it also contained a section of society that ordinary people despised and didn't want to mix with. After one country took this attitude to unfortunate extremes a couple of generations ago - we have tried to all get along a bit better.