Non-metropolitan gated developments in the Western Cape : patterns, processes and purpose

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Gated developments, also known as gated communities, have become a feature of urban livingthroughout the world and have been the subject of intensive research. Gated developments in SouthAfrican cities are a ubiquitous feature of the post-apartheid urban landscape with many new housingdevelopments in the form of secure estates or fortified townhouse complexes. Almost all theinternational literature on gated developments has focused on them as a metropolitan phenomenon.Very few international studies have investigated gated developments in non-metropolitan locales andthis topic is unexplored in the South African context. This dissertation addresses this research gap.The study area is the entire non-metropolitan area of the Western Cape province. The politicoadministrativeconcept of non-metropolitan is used rather than the descriptor rural because the latterimplies an area of primary production with no diversification of productive activities. The study areaexcludes the metropolitan area of Cape Town but includes the rest of the province within which thereare settlements of varying sizes having a diverse range of economic activities. It is in these places thatgated developments were investigated to cover and discover particular aspects of the hithertounexplored non-metropolitan gated developments of South Africa.The specific objectives were to place the research in the theoretical and conceptual debates of gateddevelopments; map the occurrence of the phenomenon; and spatially analyse the location and securityaspects of the developments at a macro scale. Two towns, Swellendam and Ceres, were selected as casestudies as their gated developments present a host of significant features warranting further micro-scaleanalysis. The spatial and locational analyses yielded other researchable themes specific to certain typesof developments, namely retirement gated developments in Oudtshoorn and Swellendam and gateddevelopments outside the urban edge. A comprehensive spatially-linked database of gateddevelopments in the study area was compiled from numerous sources, culminating in a process ofgroundtruthing that resulted in the collection of data on the physical features of each development.Qualitative data was collected from respondents through interviews, electronic communications and aquestionnaire survey. Distribution patterns of gated developments were determined from spatial dataand data on physical features was used to calculate security level index values for the gateddevelopments. These data sets enabled spatial and typological comparisons to be made. Qualitative data added a 'voice' to the quantitative data and provided insights into social, economic and planningaspects of gated developments.The location of gated developments in the province is largely determined by proximity to metropolitanCape Town and areas with high occurrences of amenities. The spatio-temporal patterns and typologicaldistinctions of gated developments are influenced by location-specific factors. In some towns the gateddevelopments typify a living space and in others a living and lifestyle space. The security features ofgated developments also vary typologically and spatially. Crime data was used to show that thedistribution of non-metropolitan gated developments is not necessarily associated with towns with highlevels of criminal activity. Security in these developments is not a response to rampant crime, rather astrategy brought into play in case something happens – preparedness in the unlikely event of a breachof security. The gated developments in the two case-study towns are strongly influenced by locationspecificneeds, the purposes of residents and the processes of municipalities. Niche market gateddevelopments, as represented in the thematic case studies of retirement gated developments and gateddevelopments outside the urban edge are promoted by pull factors within towns and by the allure of anexclusive rural residential lifestyle of living in areas with high amenity offerings. The latter is linked tothe transformation of agricultural land into gated developments, which signals a shift to postproductivistchange in the study area.The results of this seminal investigation into non-metropolitan gated developments suggest avenues forfurther research endeavour. These include the need for greater understanding of the changing nature ofsocial relations between gated and the non-gated inhabitants of non-metropolitan locales; investigationof the potential for increased topophobia within towns; and examinations of the functions of the variousstakeholders and role players in establishing non-metropolitan gated developments.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University