Osiedla grodzone: świadomościowe aspekty podziałów społeczno-przestrzennych i więź sąsiedzka

Abstract

Gated communities seen from inside are described in the article. It focuses on the community that is created behind a fence. It describes examples of neighbours’ cooperation, neighbourhood ties, as well as their factors. The impact of fence on neighbourhood ties and engagement in the local community life are considered. The author tries to answer whether the occupants of gated communities are aware of the increasing socio-spatial segregation, why they chose living in those estates and whether they care about their community being homogenous in status and culture. In order to answer the above questions a content analysis of online discussion forums created by homeowners associations was conducted. It proved that the neighbourhood ties in gated communities were weak, likewise in other Polish estates. Residents used to greet one another by saying good morning. They also knew each other by sight. There were also observed the cases of neighbours’ cooperation in order to improve life quality in housing estates, especially at the beginning of condominiums existence. It seems that the gate is not the main factor responsible for the neighbourhood ties. The organisational form of condominiums plays more important role as it gives dwellers some impact on what is going on in the housing estate. On the analysed forums, the social control mechanisms could be noticed as well. Contrary to the popular opinions about anonymity in gated communities, the social control regulated a broad range of behaviours. It often regulated the level of dwellers’ personal culture. It can be interpreted as a care of the housing estate prestige. The choice of a gated community as the place of living constitutes in this context a strategy of marking own social status, which is particularly significant for Polish emerging middle class.