In the middle of nowhere: Gated neighbourhoods in Vilnius region as a new lifestyle?

Abstract

This article provides an overview about the new tendencies on the Lithuanian housing market shedding light on the development of the gated and guarded neighbourhoods (GGNs). Field surveys and interviews with developers, residents as well as local planning authorities in Vilnius and its surroundings provide the basis of discussion about the "fencing phenomenon". Can this phenomenon be explained by such factors like socio-economic segregation in the city, extensive marketing or a specific niche on the market? The research results show that gated neighbourhoods are established not only because of the need to prevent residents from violence or to show their social status but also to protect their lives from the chaotic and socially unstable outside world where the gates have more symbolic meanings.

Keywords

• gated communities
• gated and guarded neighbourhoods
• residential segregation
• post-socialist cities
• vilnius
• lithuania