The Edge and The Center-Setha Low

"The Edge and the Center" Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear

Thesis: Due to violence and crime gated communities have become a new phenomena in the urban structure.

"The Edge and the Center" is an article that speaks about how some city dwellers are now enclosing themselves in a community that restricts access to the uninvited due to fear. Seth Low compares and contrast two gated communities in San Antonio,Texas and Queens, New York. He explains how the diversity in these towns has caused fear in some residents. Therefore they move into this specialized communities that are "enclosed by five to six foot masonry walls broken only by the entry gates and monitored in person (New York) or by video camera from a central guard house (San Antonio)." (Low pg.134)

The question is why are people moving to the city and then into these gated communities. According to Low the people who are moving into these gated communites are " upper-middle class" The people are moving to these communities because the seek "sameness" and they are concerned about conflict in their neighborhoods they are moving out of. " I first gained entrance to a number of homes located within a locked, gated and walled community on the outskirts of the city and found young, white, middle class teenagers discussing their fear of "Mexicans" who live nearby." (Low 133) The article goes on to examine each of the communities one in New York and the other in San Antonio. He explains how difficult it was to gain access to the communities and even harder to reach the residents. When Setha Low was able to interview residents some of their main reasons for moving into gated communities was that they were trying to escape crime, and the changes in the community.

I think that the whole idea of gated communites is a way to isolate thoes with money from those without money. Living in a society where having money can create a divison between people it is no surprise that the wealthy are seeking to isolate themselves from the rest of the group. And although crime does exist in the city, I dont think that it is a reason to put yourself in such a secluded situation. Some of these communities have ameneities that will create a situation where the residents never leave the community. And in my opinnion if crime was to happen it could also happene inside a gated community because acts of crime are not only comitted by the less fortunate but for other reasons as well.