Effectiveness of Gated Communities in Providing Safe Environments for Children's Outdoor Use

Abstract

Due to the safety factor, children use of the outdoor spaces in the urban neighborhood is rather limited. As easily-targeted victims, it is important for children to be safe while using the outdoor spaces. Since a gated community is generally referred to as a residential community with access control and guarded area, more young parents choose this type of neighbourhood to bring up their family. Focusing on high-rise residential gated community, this paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of gated communities in providing a safe environment for children to use the outdoor spaces within it. Seven elements that relate to safety in a gated community are identified based on the literature review and extensive observations. These are measured and tested through a combination of survey questionnaires, in-depth interview and unstructured observations to investigate the influences of these elements in shaping parents’ perceptions of safety and the children's use of outdoor spaces. The results revealed that the parents’ perceptions of safety on these elements have direct influence on their children's use of the outdoor spaces in a gated community. Parents are also affected by the sense of community of their neighbourhood when making decisions involving their children. The findings of the study regarding the parents’ concern for their child's safety in the outdoors of gated communities raise questions about the effectiveness of a gated community in providing a safe environment for the children and the impact of the children's physical and mental developments.