Iconarp International Journal of Architecture and Planning (Aug 2015)
The Increase of Prestige Gated Communities in Consumption Culture and The Reasons for Their Increasing Popularity
Abstract
Gated communities are the new forms of residential settlements, which emerged as a response to changing urban dynamics, becoming increasingly common across the world. Fenced or walled off from the surrounding and limiting the access of the nonresidents, gated communities are in an attempt to create an alternative way of living by eliminating the disadvantages of the ordinary city life and providing secure, well-managed, well-maintained and peaceful environments. On the other hand, gated communities are open to ongoing discussions and controversies. Gating attitude is mostly criticized in many fields, especially causing corruptions on the social and physical cohesion of the cities. Turkey is also witnessing these conflicts by the growing number of private residential areas. The start of constructing gated communities for higher-income people in Konya after 1990 points out a significant transformation in terms of city planning, city management and urban class relations. These housing areas having controlled-entrances are the settlement areas that are based on automobile ownership, separated from their environment using barriers such as walls-fences etc., and differentiating from urban life in terms of physical texture and socio-economy. The basic question to be answered is, why people choose to live in these prestige islands. In the this study ,the formation period and formation factors of the gated communities were evaluated with the examples in Konya and the parameters providing user satisfaction in these houses were investigated. With the findings of survey, the models for gated communities in Konya such as Meram Yeni Yol Houses was taken into consideration as the sampling area. The user profile and common characteristics of these houses, the reasons for preferring these houses, the satisfactions of their users were analyzed by the help of polls and oral interviews. In the conclusion chapter, the findings of the poll study from which various results were also derived were evaluated. The reasons for preferring gated communities and user profile were defined, and some foresights and suggestions were made on the future of these houses.
