Elsevier

Cities

Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2002, Pages 341-350
Cities

Gated communities in Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0264-2751(02)00042-2Get rights and content

Abstract

The style of gated communities in Southeast Asia may be copied from those in the United States, but the function is different. In contrast to the United States, where Blakely and Snyder differentiate between lifestyle, prestige and security zone communities, most gated communities in Southeast Asia show a mixture of the three types. Resulting from the socio–economic and cultural background, security always seems to be the basis for such developments. However, with the growth of upper middle classes, prestige and lifestyle become more and more important, and are also used for marketing. As examples from Indonesia show, land developers partly create the tastes of the customers and, almost without interference from the government, form new landscapes, with elements that often have more symbolic meaning than practical use.

Section snippets

Introduction: gated communities – a new phenomenon?

When talking about gated communities one usually focuses on the US, where this “new” phenomenon comes from. But for people in Central Europe, who can still see the remains of walls and gates from the Middle Ages, or even antiquity, in their towns, it is evident that this phenomenon is not really new. In parts of Asia, people have much the same experience. When walking through Old Delhi, one can find gated communities with a longer history than any in the US that are still being inhabited. The

Background of gated communities in Southeast Asia

Although walls and fences surrounding living quarters are not new, the development, structure, organisation, and extent of today’s gated communities differ from their antecedents. They have been developed since the 1980s, and must be understood in the socio–economic and cultural context of this period.

Land and housing development in Indonesia

A prerequisite for new, gated communities is the opportunity for land development. For Jakarta, as in other cities, this is a necessity, since it can no longer provide enough space for all the immigrants. The main phase of land development around Jakarta did not start until approximately 20 years ago. Using Goldblum and Wong’s phrase, it is “haphazard urbanisation” (Goldblum and Wong, 2000). They state that “to a certain extent, [large property projects] development falls within the

Research methods

To learn more about the residents of modern gated communities in Indonesia, a survey was conducted in the new towns Lippo Karawaci and Bumi Serpong Damai, both located in the Tangerang district in the west of Jakarta. The survey was done between August and November 1999, using a standardised questionnaire in the Indonesian language. 754 residents in total were interviewed, each living in different quarters (taman). Since the study was focused on the life of middle class people, only middle

Discussion

Four main aspects determine the development of gated communities in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in general:

  • 1.

    The formerly fast economic development led to the development of a new middle and upper middle class. But since the wealth has not been spread equally, a further socio–economic polarisation is taking place, resulting in a growing income gap with growing jealousy and a growing need for security. In Indonesia, the jealousy of the pribumis is mainly directed against the Chinese, who thus

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the financial support of his research (project no. LE 1010/1-1 and LE 1010/1-2).

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