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Boundary and the making of home: a cultural study of the gated communities in Guangzhou, China
2014, 23(03):
64-73.
The rise of gated communities has become a global phenomenon. Accordingly, the discussion around gated communities has been lively with observations in a variety of cities world widely. However, most of the research focuses on the spatial, institutional, economic and social dimensions of gated community while the cultural analysis of the emergence of gated communities is relatively weak. In addition, a wide range of research has focused on the relevance to the broader context of race, minority and class, and the enclosed compounds are interrogated as privileged construction depending on distancing and separation from marginalized others. On the studies of gated communities in China, for example, the affluent middle class group and foreigners employed by multinationals in China have been concerned. On the contrary, this paper draws attention to the new urban immigrants emerged in transitional China, and argues that the gated communities are socially constructions of creating homely homes for this group. The home is not only a physical location as house which offers shelter or a repository that contains material objects, but a place where personal and social meanings are grounded. Some scholars argue that the imaginaries of home as a desirable, private and comfortable space are constructed by the dichotomy of inside and outside. The inside represents home as haven, while in contrast, the outside world is perceived as an imposing, or even threatening space. First, the paper explores the ways in which the conceptualizations of home and family have been mobilized by the developers to marketing the real estates. It reveals that the elements of an ideal home are promoted intensively, and moving beyond the household scale and stretching over the estate space at large. Then, the study shifts to the sense of home experienced by the inhabitants living inside the gated communities. The results show that the imaginary home is bound up with the material boundaries. Finally, the paper highlights the investigation on the perceptions, attitudes and living experiences of the adjacent neighborhoods. Despite the resistance practices of reclaiming home space, the general views towards the boundaries are not negative. In regarding the scale of home, the residents living outside experience a wider home than their neighbors living in the enclosed enclave. This study contributes to the further understanding of the relationship between the boundary and the home-making practice and also makes new perspective to the debate on gated communities worldwide.
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