In the middle of nowhere: Gated neighbourhoods in Vilnius region as a new lifestyle?

  • Dovile Krupickaite Vilnius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania
  • Gintare Pociūte Lithuanian Research Centre, Institute of Human Geography and Demography, Vilnius, Lithuania
  • Laura Peciukonyte Vilnius University, IIRPS, Vilnius, Lithuania
Keywords: gated communities, gated and guarded neighbourhoods, residential segregation, post-socialist cities, Vilnius, Lithuania

Abstract

This article provides an overview about the new tendencies on the Lithuanian housing market shedding light on the development of the gated and guarded neighbourhoods (GGNs). Field surveys and interviews with developers, residents as well as local planning authorities in Vilnius and its surroundings provide the basis of discussion about the "fencing phenomenon". Can this phenomenon be explained by such factors like socio-economic segregation in the city, extensive marketing or a specific niche on the market? The research results show that gated neighbourhoods are established not only because of the need to prevent residents from violence or to show their social status but also to protect their lives from the chaotic and socially unstable outside world where the gates have more symbolic meanings.

References

Bitusikova. A. and Luther, D. 2010. Sustainable diversity and public space in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia. Anthropological notebooks 16. (2): 5-18.

Blandy, S. 2006. Gated Communities in England: historical perspectives and current developments. GeoJournal 66. 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-006-9013-4

Blandy, S. and Parsons, D. 2003. Gated Communities in England: rules and rhetoric of urban planning. Geographica Helvetica 58, 314-324. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-58-314-2003

Blankley, E.J. and Snyder, M.G. 1997. Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Brookings Institution Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Washington, DC and Cambridge, MA.

Blinnikov, M., Shanin, A., Sobolev, N. and Volkova, L. 2006. Gated communities in Moscow green belt: newly segregated landscapes and the suburban Russian environment. GeoJournal 66, 65-81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-006-9017-0

Brade, I., Herfert, G. and Wiest, K. 2009. Recent trends and future prospects of socio-spatial differentiation in Urban regions of Central and Eastern Europe: A lull before the storm? Cities 26. 233-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2009.05.001

Brady, R. 1999. Kapitalizm: Russia's struggle to free its economy. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Cséfalvay, Z. 2009. Demythologising gated communities in Budapest. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 35-47.

Cséfalvay, Z. and Webster, C. 2012. Gates or No Gates? A Cross-European Enquiry into the Driving Forces behind Gated Communities. Regional Studies 46. (3): 293-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2010.505917

Csizmady, A. and Csanádi, G. 2009. From Housing Estates to Gated Communities. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 9-19.

Frantz, K. 2001. Gated Communities in Metro-Phoenix (Arizona). Geographische Rundschau 53. (1): 12-18.

Frantz, K. 2006. Private gated neighbourhoods: a progressive trend in US urban development. In Private Cities: Global and local perspectives. Eds. Glasze, G. et al. Routledge, London, New York, 61-72.

Glassner, B. 1999. The Culture of Fear. Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things. Basic, New York.

Glasze, G. 2003. Bewachte Wohnkomplexe und "die europäische Stadt" - eine Einführung. Geographica Helvetica 58 (4): 325-339. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-58-286-2003

Glasze, G. 2005. Some Refl ections on the Economic and Political Organization of Private neighbourhoods. Housing Studies 20. (2): 221-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/026730303042000331745

Gmünder, M., G. Grillion, N. and Bucher, K. 2000. Gated Communities. Ein Vergleich privatisierter Wohnsiedlungen in Südkalifornien. Geographica Helvetica 55. (3): 193-203. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-55-193-2000

Handley, J. 2002. After Terrorist Attacks, Different Opinions Form about Gated Communities, Chicago Tribune (IL) 8. 12-19.

Hegedűs, G. 2009a. Features of Gated Communities in the Most Populous Hungarian Cities. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 91-99.

Hegedűs, G. 2009b. A Review of Gated Communities in Some Hungarian Cities. Geographica Pannonica 13. (3): 85-96. https://doi.org/10.5937/GeoPan0903085H

Johnson, C. 2009. The status of gates in Belgrade: notes on style and markets. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 21-28.

Kovács, Z. and Hegedűs, G. 2014. Gated communities as new forms of segregation in postsocialist Budapest, Cities 36. 200-2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.08.004

Krupickaite, D. and Pociute, G. 2009. Gated and Guarded Housing in Lithuania. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 75-81.

Lee, S. and Webster, C. 2006. Enclosure of the urban commons. GeoJournal 66. 27-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-006-9014-3

Lentz, S. 2006. More gates, less community? Guarded housing in Russia. In Private cities: global and local perspectives. Eds. Glasze, G. et al. Routledge, London, 206-221.

Lentz, S. and Lindner, P. 2003. Privatisierung des öff entlichen Raumes - soziale Segregation und geschlossene Wohnviertel Moskaus. Geographische Rundschau 55. (12): 50-57.

Low, S. 2004. Behind the gates: life, security, and the pursuit of happiness in fortress America. Routledge, New York, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203491256

Madoré, F. and Glasze, G. 2003. L'essor des ensembles résidentiels clos en France: un phénomene en expansion et aux ressorts multiples. Geographica Helvetica 58. (4): 325-339. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-58-325-2003

Marcuse, P. 1997. Walls of fear and walls of support. In Architecture of Fear. Ed. Ellin, N. Princeton Press, Princeton.

McKenzie, E. 1998. Homeowner Associations and California Politics: An Exploratory Analysis. Urban Affairs Review 34. (1): 52-74. https://doi.org/10.1177/107808749803400103

Mituziene, A. 2001. Naujo busto mados. Veidas, 2001 03 22, 26-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jncimonographs.a003456

Negura, O. 2009. Residential ensembles in "hypermodern times". A case study of their aspirations in Bucharest. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig. 59-67.

Pociene, A. 2005. Turtingi lietuviai jau gali pasirinkti ir savo kaimynus. Lietuvos rytas / Bustas 31. 5.

Pociene, A. 2006. Architektai raško saldžius drąsios idejos vaisius. Lietuvos rytas / Bustas 6. 1-2.

Pociute, G. 2007. Teritoriškai uždaru bendruomeniu Vilniuje ir jo apylinkese vystymosi ypatumai, Bakalauro darbas. Vilniaus universitetas, Vilnius.

Pociute, G. and Krupickaite, D. 2007. Gated Communities in Lithuania: tendencies and peculiarities (a Case of Vilnius and its Environs). Annales Geographicae 40. (2): 14-27.

Polanska, D.V. 2010a. Gated Communities and the Construction of Social Class Markers in Postsocialist Societies: The Case of Poland. Space and Culture 13. (4): 421-435. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331210374140

Polanska, D.V. 2010b. The emergence of gated communities in post-communist urban context: and the reasons for their increasing popularity. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 25. 295-312. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-010-9189-2

Raposo, R. 2003. New landscapes: Gated housing estates in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Geographica Helvetica 4. 293-301. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-58-293-2003

Raposo, R. 2006. Gated communities, commodifi cation and aestheticization: The case of the Lisbon metropolitan area. GeoJournal 66. 43-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-006-9015-2

Rudolph, R. and Lentz, S. 1999. Segregationstendenzen in russischen Großstädten: Die Entwicklung elitärer Wohnformen in St. Petersburg und Moskau. Europa Regional 7. 27-40.

Schmigiel, C. 2009. Preface and Introduction. In Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Ed. Schmigiel, C. Forum IFL 11. Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig 5-8.

Stanilov, K. 2007. Democracy, markets, and public space in the transitional societies of Central and Eastern Europe, [4 February 2013]

Stoyanov, P. and Frantz, K. 2006. Gated communities in Bulgaria: interpreting a new trend in post-communist urban development. GeoJournal 66. 67-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-006-9016-1

Varnas, J. 2007. Paslaptingiausias gyvenamasis kvartalas Vilniuje. Vilniaus diena.

Voslensky, M.S. 1984. Nomenklatura: The Soviet ruling class. Garden City. Doubleday, New York.

Wehrhahn, R. 2003. Gated communities in Madrid: Zur Funktion von Mauern im europäischen Kontext. Geographica Helvetica 58. (4): 302-313. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-58-302-2003

Wehrhahn, R. and Raposo, R. 2006. The rise of gated residential neighbourhoods in Portugal and Spain. In Private Cities: Global and local perspectives. Eds. Glasze, G. et al. Routledge, London, New York.

Published
2014-10-13
How to Cite
KrupickaiteD., PociūteG., & PeciukonyteL. (2014). In the middle of nowhere: Gated neighbourhoods in Vilnius region as a new lifestyle?. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, 63(3), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.15201/hungeobull.63.3.3
Section
Special issue on Post-socialist cities