The fortification of suburbia: investigating the rise of enclave communities

Contemporary suburban communities are increasingly planned and developed as walled and gated enclaves, separated from the surrounding urban landscape by controlled entrances and perimeter barriers. This paper examines this trend in the context of social and economic forces and in the light of primary sources of real estate marketing rhetoric, the critical literature on the subject and the results of field investigations. Typologies of enclave communities and neighborhoods are developed based on their distributive, socio-economic and designed characteristics. Finally, the implications of the trend towards enclave communities are discussed in relation to contemporary society and the prospects for public life, and in relation to the roles and responsibilities of the environmental design and planning professions.