GATED URBAN COMMUNITIES AS METAPHORICAL SPATIAL UTOPIAS OR REVOLUTION. CASE STUDY: GREATER CAIRO REGION, EGYPT
Gated communities are often seen as symbolic spatial utopias, where a single vision of society is possible, but it can be argued that these same places are associated with crisis and can become the stage for real revolutions In the greater Cairo region, a dynamic city with more than 500 gated community projects, within the setting of the East-West axis, a study project assessing the quality of networks and generalised trust of social capital between different social groups has been launched. This paper initially gives a brief overview of the methodology before reviewing the findings for 411 respondents using cluster sampling, who resided in various locations that varied in terms of their social-spatial characteristics and the degree to which inhabitants of gated communities and open communities were segregated. Residents of gated communities are the "insider" social group in this study who will be compared to the "outer" social group who reside in open communities. The research primarily examines the phenomenon of gated communities and how it has affected the behavioral component (generalised trust) of social capital by analysing the potential effects of the social setting on a variety of social capital indicators, including social networks and social behaviour. (lance & dronkers, 2011), stolle, et al., 2008). The main conclusions show that According to these perspectives on networks, trust, social exclusion, emotional, cognitive, and behavioural responses, as well as exclusion, members of both groups—"insiders" and "outsiders"—have both claimed to have experienced exclusion as a result of either living in or not living in a gated community, respectively. All groups demonstrate how there are two main groups that seem to be discriminators and those who are segregated against, and it can be problematic to distinguish between the two. However, the narratives' interpretation lies in the way that they provide several points of view. Whoever the segregator may be, it appears as their attitudes toward the other social group have an impact on how "insiders" and "outsiders" interact with one another, which may lead to social-spatial segregation in certain areas. They also draw attention to the social division identifying that gated communities can be a tool or mediator for social transformations and may be social revolution.
Social-Spatial Segregation, Space Revolution, Utopia, Gated Communities, Social Capital, Generalized Trust