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Gated Communities in Santiago: Wall or Frontier?

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  • Rodrigo Salcedo
  • Alvaro Torres

Abstract

It is a widely held notion, disseminated in particular by the LA school of urban studies, that gated communities are enclaves, which not only maintain segregation but also help increase it. In Chile a more benevolent interpretation has arisen. Sabatini, C´ceres and Cerda argue that gated communities help out the poor communities that surround them. If the spatial scale of segregation is reduced — from city to local or neighborhood level — social disintegration should slow, according to their analysis. This article seeks to empirically complement and expand on Sabatini, Caceres and Cerda's position, which seems to be a better interpretation of Chilean reality than the grim picture presented by the LA school. The article is an ethnographic work based on in‐depth interviews in gated communities and a surrounding shantytown in the Huechuraba district, a lower socio‐economic class area in north‐west Santiago. The research concludes that, despite the existence of a wall that promotes community integration among so‐called equals, in conditions of spatial proximity sociability between inside and outside groups is not diminished. Thus, in Huechuraba there is no impenetrable wall separating poor and rich; equally, the walls do not seem to promote community integration within. Spatial proximity has encouraged relations mainly in the realm of functional exchange, making the creation of gated communities in poor neighborhoods a socially desirable experience, at least in the case of Santiago. En études urbaines, l'idée que les communautés privées sécurisées, gated communities, soient des enclaves qui entretiennent, et accentuent, la ségrégation est courante, notamment pour l'école de Los Angeles. Le Chili suscite une interprétation plus humaine. Selon Sabatini, Cáceres et Cerda, les communautés privées sécurisées sont un soutien pour les communautés pauvres avoisinantes. Si l'échelle spatiale de la ségrégation est réduite — de la ville au niveau local ou de quartier — la désintégration sociale devrait, d'après eux, ralentir. L'article vise à compléter et développer de façon empirique leur théorie, celle‐ci semblant traduire la réalité chilienne plus fidèlement que le sombre tableau de l'école de Los Angeles. Il s'agit ici d'un travail ethnographique qui s'appuie sur des entretiens poussés dans des communautés privées sécurisées et un bidonville du secteur de Huechuraba, zone socio‐économiquement pauvre du nord‐est de Santiago. Les recherches concluent que, malgré l'existence d'un mur qui favorise l'intégration communautaire entre soi‐disant égaux, la sociabilité entre les groupes intérieur et extérieur ne diminue pas en cas de proximité spatiale. Ainsi, à Huechuraba, il n'existe aucun mur impénétrable entre riches et pauvres; de même, les murs ne créent pas, semble‐t‐il, d'intégration communautaire dans leur enceinte. La proximité spatiale a encouragé les relations surtout dans le domaine des échanges fonctionnels, faisant de la création de communautés privées sécurisées dans les quartiers pauvres une expérience souhaitable au plan social, du moins dans le cas de Santiago.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigo Salcedo & Alvaro Torres, 2004. "Gated Communities in Santiago: Wall or Frontier?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 27-44, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:28:y:2004:i:1:p:27-44
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00501.x
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    1. Fred E. Foldvary, 1994. "Public Goods And Private Communities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 167.
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisca B. Márquez & Francisca P. Pérez, 2008. "Spatial Frontiers and Neo-communitarian Identities in the City: The Case of Santiago de Chile," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(7), pages 1461-1483, June.
    2. Yoonseuk Woo & Chris Webster, 2014. "Co-evolution of gated communities and local public goods," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(12), pages 2539-2554, September.
    3. Veronica Crossa, 2009. "Resisting the Entrepreneurial City: Street Vendors' Struggle in Mexico City's Historic Center," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 43-63, March.
    4. Manuel Tironi, 2009. "The Lost Community? Public Housing and Social Capital in Santiago de Chile, 1985–2001," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 974-997, December.
    5. Chris Webster & Renaud Le Goix, 2005. "Planning By Commonhold," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 19-23, December.
    6. Dennis Rodgers, 2011. "Separate but Equal Democratization? Participation, Politics, and Urban Segregation in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series 016, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Chaitawat Boonjubun, 2019. "Also the Urban Poor Live in Gated Communities: A Bangkok Case Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Rodrigo Mora & Pablo Moran, 2020. "Public Bike Sharing Programs Under the Prism of Urban Planning Officials: The Case of Santiago de Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-20, July.
    9. Ballard, Richard & Jones, Gareth A. & Ngwenya, Makale, 2021. "Trickle-out urbanism: are Johannesburg’s gated estates good for their poor neighbours?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110855, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Adrienne La Grange, 2014. "Hong Kong's Gating Machine," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 251-269, March.
    11. Charlotte Lemanski & Sophie Oldfield, 2009. "The Parallel Claims of Gated Communities and Land Invasions in a Southern City: Polarised State Responses," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(3), pages 634-648, March.
    12. Fernando Calderón-Figueroa, 2024. "Residential Micro-Segregation and Social Capital in Lima, Peru," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Gavin Shatkin, 2008. "The City and the Bottom Line: Urban Megaprojects and the Privatization of Planning in Southeast Asia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(2), pages 383-401, February.
    14. Charlotte Lemanski, 2006. "Spaces of Exclusivity or Connection? Linkages between a Gated Community and its Poorer Neighbour in a Cape Town Master Plan Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(2), pages 397-420, February.
    15. Dennis Rodgers, 2011. "Separate but Equal Democratization?: Participation, Politics, and Urban Segregation in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-016, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Michael Janoschka & Jorge Sequera & Luis Salinas, 2014. "Gentrification in Spain and Latin America — a Critical Dialogue," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1234-1265, July.
    17. Gabriel Fauveaud, 2016. "Residential Enclosure, Power and Relationality: Rethinking Sociopolitical Relations in Southeast Asian Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 849-865, July.

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