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Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States
By Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 209 pages, $24.95.
Well-grounded in the social science literature on community, Fortress America is a frightening book, a mustread for all those interested in our nation's cities, suburbs, neighborhoods and communities. Blakely and Snyder take the reader on a well-crafted and lively tour of gated communities in the United States, even-handedly allowing their residents to speak for themselves, yet mincing no words in interpreting and assessing the implications of what the residents say. Even among the many for whom the amenities, and not the gates, were of primary concern, answers to the question, Why live here? revolve around the fear of, crime, others who are different from oneself, losing control of one's surroundings, declining property values, and many other aspects of the modern world. This fear is coupled with a strong belief in individual causes for and solutions to social problems.
At their essence, gated communities differ from areas subject to exclusive zoning laws because they privatize public as well as individual space; they erect physical barriers and often privatize police, street maintenance, recreation and entertainment services. By substituting private control for public organization and the joint responsibility of democratic citizenship, these communities allow some citizens to secede from the public contract.
Gated communities come in three forms: lifestyle communities (retirement communities, golf and leisure communities, and suburban new towns); prestige communities (communities of the rich and famous, the topfifth executive communities for the very affluent, and executive home developments for the upper middle class); and security...