Habitus Magazine | Issue 18

In my last editorial I reflected on the issue of gated communities. In fact, I speculated about whether they are communities at all.

Well, please indulge me if I pursue this topic a little further, because it goes to the heart of how we live – namely, the balance between privacy and community. You see, that’s the pesky thing about being human. Like Goethe’s Faust we are no sooner satisfied than desiring yet again. We need security, but we also need change. We need respite, but we also need stimulation.

We need privacy, but as social creatures we also need to belong. Margaret Thatcher supposedly said there was no such thing as society. But there is and we are what we are because of the constant interaction between what we are fundamentally and how we are shaped by our social context.

I am just back from looking at houses in Jakarta. Several were in gated communities and all were different – which made me realise that gated communities take many different forms, depending on who lives there and how well planned they are. I realised that gated communities may be defined by more than a perimeter fence and they may be driven by more than fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.

One community I visited consisted largely of Christian families and it was as much the practice of their faith which brought them together as the need for security, although memories of the 1998 riots are still very fresh. Another community, near the University of Indonesia, was largely populated by people associated with the university. Yet another community, clearly consisting of affluent people, was nevertheless adroitly planned by eminent local architect, Andra Matin, to provide common landscapes and amenities to ensure that the residents were brought together.

Furthermore, gated communities are often more porous than we might assume. The Christian community mentioned above contains a sub-community of original residents from the area. The pedestrian gates remain open until dark to allow a flow of people to and from the adjacent kampung whose residents sell food within the gated community and who are looked after when their low-lying kampung is inevitably flooded during the rainy season.

Of course, I also saw homes which did not belong to a gated community, but which still managed to maintain privacy and security while also engaging with the street and the local community.

So, the issue of privacy and community is a moveable feast which goes back to the beginning of human history and which is being played out to this day. And it will continue to be played out as new social, cultural and economic contingencies emerge. In fact, gated communities are going to become more common, so perhaps the real issue is how we plan them to ensure that they really are communities and are not isolated from the wider, outside community.

PAUL MCGILLICK | EDITOR