Non-metropolitan residential gated developments in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

Gated developments are a global phenomenon that has become an ubiquitous feature of the post-apartheid South African urban landscape. Gated developments and the privatisation of urban public space in South Africa has been the subject of academic scrutiny since the turn of the century. However, the vast majority of academic research the world over has tended to focus on gated developments as an urban phenomenon. There are very few international studies that investigate gated developments in the non-metropolitan locale and the topic is also unexplored in the South African context. This research attempts to address this research gap by investigating the locations of gated developments in non-metropolitan towns of varying sizes in the Western Cape and the conditions that favour its proliferation in towns. Security is a synonymous, central theme of gated developments. Thus, the security features in non-metropolitan gated developments are analysed – some non-metropolitan gated developments do not have gates! In addition, study also focuses on the security level index in each town and investigates the locational aspects of differing levels of security in various towns.