Today's home has become a kind of fortress that says as much about our need for privacy as it does about ensuring our security. Fortress homes, gated communities and elaborate defensive systems have become everyday features of urban life today, highlighting the depth of fear as well as desire for prestige and social display. Domestic Fortress offers a fresh analysis of our homes, our demands for security and anxieties about invasion, loss and finding seclusion in a worrying and divided world. As industries and politicians raise our fears further, Domestic Fortress considers why gating and fortress designs, beloved of celebrities and the super-rich, have become the ordinary feature of societies affected by rising social inequalities, the exclusion of strangers and constant anticipation of disaster and loss in our daily lives. Using a rich range of sources from cutting-edge research to media accounts, Domestic Fortress considers the fantasies and realities of dangers to the contemporary home and its inhabitants and details the extreme measures now used in the pursuit of total safety. -- .

This internationally edited collection addresses the issues raised by multi-owned residential developments, now established as a major type of housing throughout the world in the form of apartment blocks, row housing, gated developments, and master planned communities. The chapters draw on the empirical research of leading academics in the fields of planning, sociology, law and urban, property, tourism and environmental studies, and consider the practical problems of owning and managing this type of housing. The roles and relationships of power between developers, managing agents and residents are examined, as well as challenges such as environmental sustainability and state regulation of multi-owned residential developments. The book provides the first comparative study of such issues, offering lessons from experiences in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

This internationally edited collection addresses the issues raised by multi-owned residential developments, now established as a major type of housing throughout the world in the form of apartment blocks, row housing, gated developments, and master planned communities. The chapters draw on the empirical research of leading academics in the fields of planning, sociology, law and urban, property, tourism and environmental studies, and consider the practical problems of owning and managing this type of housing. The roles and relationships of power between developers, managing agents and residents are examined, as well as challenges such as environmental sustainability and state regulation of multi-owned residential developments. The book provides the first comparative study of such issues, offering lessons from experiences in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

This informative volume gathers contemporary accounts of the growth, influences on, and impacts of so-called gated communities, developments with walls, gates, guards and other forms of surveillance.
While gated communities have become a common feature of the urban landscape in South Africa, Latin and North America, it is also clear that there is now significant interest in gated living in the European and East Asian urban context. The chapters in this book investigate issues and communities such as:
* gated communities in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
* planning responses to gated communities in Canada
* who segregates whom? The analysis of a gated community in Mendoza, Argentina
* sprawl and social segregation in southern California.
These illustrative chapters enable the reader to understand more about the social and economic forces that have lead to gating, the ways in which gated communities are managed, and their wider effects on both residents and those living outside the gates.
This book is a special issue of the journal "Housing Studies,"

This informative volume gathers contemporary accounts of the growth, influences on, and impacts of so-called gated communities, developments with walls, gates, guards and other forms of surveillance. While gated communities have become a common feature of the urban landscape in South Africa, Latin and North America, it is also clear that there is now significant interest in gated living in the European and East Asian urban context. The chapters in this book investigate issues and communities such as: gated communities in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina planning responses to gated communities in Canada who segregates whom? The analysis of a gated community in Mendoza, Argentina sprawl and social segregation in southern California. These illustrative chapters enable the reader to understand more about the social and economic forces that have lead to gating, the ways in which gated communities are managed, and their wider effects on both residents and those living outside the gates. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Housing Studies.

Today's home is a kind of fortress that tells us as much about our need for privacy as it does about ensuring our security. Fortress homes, gated communities and elaborate defensive systems have become everyday features of urban life, highlighting the depth of fear as well as the desire for prestige and social display and the ideological strength of home ownership. This book offers a fresh analysis of our homes, our demands for security and anxieties about invasion, loss and finding seclusion in a worrying and divided world. Using a rich range of sources from cutting-edge research to media accounts, the book considers the fantasies and realities of dangers to the contemporary home and its inhabitants, and details the extreme measures now used in the pursuit of total safety. -- .

For those embarking on or engaged in property law research, this is a unique resource which includes contributions from twelve international scholars who each analyse a different research approach, addressing its value, associated methodology and the challenges involved in pursuing it.