Customer Reviews

Behind the Gates: Life, Security, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a person who was an anthopolgy major and graduate stuent who is now an urban planner, this book seemed like it was a perfect fit for my interests. Unfortunately, the author squanders what was a sure-thing opportunity to create a fascinating book by spending far too much time personalizing a few of her interviewees rather than really providing a strong critical overview of the subject of gated communities and their social and design implaications.

Behind the Gates gets off to a strong start when the author first provides an overview of her topic and introduces her study participants. However, the chance for this book to have a major impact is lost when she endlessly recounts her interactions with her subjects (including relatives she is visiting who "happen" to live in a gated community) while not spending enough time building an adequare theoretical framework. Using this approach slows the book down to a near-standstill and deprives the reader of the greater overview of the book's topic that its title promises. Due to approach used, Behing the Gates is unlikely to make a significant impact in either urban planning or anthropology--a belief that is corroborated by the fact that I am only the third person to review it.

Expertly researched and informatively written by Setha Low (Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York), Behind The Gates: Life, Security, And The Pursuit Of Happiness In Fortress America is an impressive and scholarly study of the gated communities phenomena. The gated commu-nity is the fastest-growing form of housing in the United States. Individual chapters address the origin of the gated community; its emphases on safety and fear of crime; as well as a means of enhancing property values, and promoting insularity -- yet the ironic results are that gated communities are statistically no safer than the suburbs in general. A fascinating social study, and very highly recommended reading for anyone seriously concerned about the trend toward gated communities or seriously considering moving to one, Behind The Gates is a welcome and original contribution to American Urban Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

The findings of Behind the Gates provide opportunities for improvement in policy and design implications. It is likely that the trends and culture of society outweigh the conclusions drawn by this book. People will continue to demand gated communities, and developers will continue to build them, which is disappointing to say the least.

I only found the one review to be of help, mostly because the other two already had their own conclusions, and one of them seems like it was written by the author, or her mother. Get real folks!