Suburban Nation - Andres Duany [23]
There has been much discussion recently about gated communities, for they are on their way to becoming the standard American form of settlement. In Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States, Edward Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder placed the number of gated communities at approximately 20,000, holding more than 3 million housing units. They report that “a leading national real estate developer estimates that eight out of every ten new urban projects are gated.” This phenomenon is spreading all over the country, but it remains strongest in Southern California, where “a 1990 survey of Southern California home shoppers found that 54 percent wanted a home in a gated, walled development.”3 The repulsion that many citizens feel toward such communities may be justified, but it is important to remember that the problem with gated communities is not the gate itself but what the gate encloses. Nobody objects to the walled towns of Europe and Asia, because they were home to a full cross section of society rather than only a privileged elite. The unity of society is threatened not by the use of gates but by the uniformity and exclusivity of the people behind them.
Unfortunately, the segregationist pattern is self-perpetuating. A child growing up in such a homogeneous environment is less likely to develop a sense of empathy for people from other walks of life and is ill prepared to live in a diverse society. The other becomes alien to the child’s experience, witnessed only through the sensationalizing eye of the television. The more homogeneous and “safe” the environment, the less understanding there is of all that is different, and the less concern for the world beyond the subdivision walls. It works both ways: the poor also have little understanding of the middle class, whom they consider to be in no way like themselves, and universally insensitive to their hardships. v
How did Americans live before the balkanization created by sprawl? Pictured here is a section of Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. For over a century, these blocks have housed people of widely divergent incomes. There are rental apartment buildings that house schoolteachers, clerks, and recent college graduates. There are town homes that house professionals, young families, and retirees, some of whom may rent out basement apartments to secretaries, day care workers, and students. There are also a number of mansions that are home to some of the great fortunes of the Mid-Atlantic. These have carriage houses and garage apartments on their property that may house artists, architects, and other members of the intentionally poor. In this small part of Georgetown, a large part of American society is represented.
The traditional neighborhood as social condenser: a single block in Georgetown provides housing for a wide range of incomes
The astute observer will notice that there is a certain form of segregation here: apartments face apartments, town houses face town houses, and mansions face mansions. Housing types are segregated street by street, with the transition always occurring at mid-block, where backyards meet. Like the suburban system, this technique preserves property values and ensures a consistent streetscape. Unlike the suburban system, it does not isolate people from one another. The same sidewalks, the same parks, and the same corner store serve everyone from the C.E.O. to the local librarian. Sharing the same public realm, these people have the opportunity to interact, and thus come to realize that they have little reason to fear each other.
Not only is a society healthier when its diverse members are in daily contact with one another, it is also more convenient. Imagine living just around the corner from your doctor, your child’s schoolteacher, and your baby-sitting aunt. Imagine being able to grow old in a neighborhood that can accommodate