ABSTRACT
In Latin America, fear of crime is a key concern and real estate developers have promoted closed condominiums as a solution that provides safety, familiarity, and exclusiveness. There is a broad body of literature about gated communities; however, more research still needs to be conducted on how their barriers affect emotions and perceptions of non-gated residents: those from regular, open neighbourhoods who live next to the wall. This chapter explores how gated communities’ boundaries affect their surroundings by comparing eight case studies within the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. The case studies are neighbourhoods within different poverty ranges adjacent to gated communities. The chapter collected the information through walking interviews, focus groups, in-depth interviews and observations. The findings suggest that people’s fears and perceptions are affected by both physical and non-physical barriers. Beyond the effects of physical features, there was a deep concern from people outside the wall about who lived inside the gated communities: What do they do for a living? Are they involved in illegal businesses? Are they a magnet for crime? The results show profound residential segregation in seven of eight cases; residents from open neighbourhoods experience fears about those residents living inside gated communities and feel excluded. However, perceptions vary according to income inequalities: those in high poverty hold more unfavourable opinions about gated residents, whereas people from low or zero poverty have mixed impressions. The physical and symbolic barriers of gated communities affect their surroundings, producing isolated landscapes and exacerbating anxieties towards others. Therefore, walls and residential segregation fuel a feedback loop of fear of crime by both intensifying fear and nourishing it at the same time.
