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Topic: Anyone been to Europe?
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DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490
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posted 13 May 2003 06:16 PM
quote: Originally posted by clockwork: The question intrigued me... are there a lot of gated communities around the world? Is it an American phenomenon? I'm sure their are exclusive communities all over... but gated?
Toronto has one or two, but yes, it really is an American phenomenon. They piss me off for several reasons: 1. They deprive the city they are hived out of, of the property tax revenue that used to come from the land. Instead the residents remit money to the developer, who, of course, rakes in a very nice profit. 2. They're blatant statements of social exclusion. They say "we're too good for you, and we want to stay in our cloistered little oasis of plenty, so screw you." It is this attitude that, writ large, means the slow decline of the US spirit that was the driving force of other freedom-seeking movements in the world. An old thread where I discuss gated communities in more detail
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001
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lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534
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posted 13 May 2003 06:51 PM
The other fun one, for skdadl, is "estates" - can mean a manor but also a "housing estate", that is public housing, what they call an HLM in French (here or in France) or "the projects" down in the states. As in "where he comes from is a very tough estate". Gated communities are also found in countries with even greater extremes of wealth and poverty - in Argentina, where they are called "countries", in English, of all things, in Brazil, in South Africa. I'm sure zoning bylaws could ban them, as they have banned Hells Angels bunkers here... I've never seen any in Europe. Of course there are tony developments - some of the things I've seen by the seaside, be it the North Sea or the Mediterranean, are certainly not for the common folk - and fancy apartment buildings with guards on duty, but I've never seen gated communities as such. Doesn't mean they might not exist. Wouldn't be survived if such a horrid idea, along with the worst excesses of mafioso-robber-baron capitalism, has been imported to some of the former Soviet bloc countries.
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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clockwork
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 690
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posted 14 May 2003 03:55 PM
Gated communities are in Saudi Arabia, too: quote: But in many ways it is a cloistered life. The Saudi royal family and the strict Muslim religious establishment do not encourage mingling, but are content to see the proliferation of gated communities for foreigners and there are more than 58 in Riyadh alone.Like most foreigners, Kimberly and her family live in one of these heavily guarded complexes with names like Sahara Towers and Arizona Golf Resort that replicate a North American lifestyle down to the golf courses and supermarkets.
Behind the gates, expatriates weigh risks
From: Pokaroo! | Registered: May 2001
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