sustainable city / gated communities 2

private communities as a pro-sustainability tool in managing urban growth :
-micro-scale governance based on superior information and leads to a closer fit between the demand for and supply of local public goods and services.
-territorial enclosure is a mechanism for preventing over-consumption and premature degradation of urban public goods. The alternative are regulation, taxation, and investment, all of which incur costs and have side effects. Controlling access (not necessarily restricting access, which is different) may be a less costly and more effective mechanism for preserving residential quality of life.
-a public city into a city of "clubs" may increase funds for collective goods. when property rights over collective goods are clearly defined by law, there is a stronger incentive to reinvest. Given the growth to private communities, it is clear that many citizens are willing to be "double taxed" to acquire better environmental conditions and services.

Debates about gated communities are more about local territorial governance than about gate. Researchers see private communities as more politically and financially sustainable institution. Not only do owners have an incentive to invest in their local environments (trash collection, street sweeping, security, ...) but also they can recover investment costs from rents. Residential clubs contribute to the financial sustainability of urban governance, and
also they provide a way of preserving, protecting and enhancing the urban commons.

When a high-income gated community was built next to a poor squatter community on the
outskirts of Santiago, Chile a few years ago, lower-income residents welcomed their new
neighbors as sources of employment. The new development also brought trunk water, sewerage
and other utilities to the location, services that the squatters had lobbying for unsuccessfully for
years.It is also possible that gating, by creating a closer proximity of income groups increases trades.

Private urban governance has the potential to stabilize the financing of urban growth, redevelop aging neighborhood, maintain social diversity, localize decision making, protect non-renewable urban resources, raise city maintenance revenues, and foster cross-income trade and integration. But private urban governance has to be dependent on public subsidy and national laws, to be coordinate with public in the provision of higher level civic goods and services.

GATED COMMUNITIES AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY by Karina Landman
Recognising that urban sustainability is one of the goals for urban planning and management, all urban development must be considered in relation to the dimensions of urban sustainability. Within this framework, the appropriateness of gated communities as a type of development for the urban future needs to be carefully considered.

6 key words for gated communities
A sense of community + Safety and security + Social exclusion + Urban fragmentation and separation + Urban planning and management + Financial implications