Do gated communities help, or hinder, local safety and social cohesion?
The UK home secretary has called for a debate on how they improve security, while the deputy commissioner of the Met is wholly opposed to them. Security guards patrol around the clock at Bow Quarter “I know more people living here than I would do in a normal street,” says 45-year-old Terry Nicholls, resident of Bow Quarter, a gated community in East London. And Bow Quarter does not feel like a normal street at all. Like most gated communities, the complex of around 700 apartments is walled off from the surrounding area, employs security guards round the clock and is peppered by dozens of infra-red surveillance cameras. Once you’ve been signed in and got past the gates and the security guards, you’re in a totally different world to the streets you’ve just left behind. Bow Quarter is peaceful, quiet, litter and graffiti-free and, of course, feels totally safe. It stands in stark contrast to the noise, bustle and social mix found on the Bow Road at the end of the street. Behind the gates,
