Production and Reproduction of Space and Culture in the Virtual Realm: Gated Communities as the Imaginary, Intermediary, and Real Spaces

Abstract

The term “gated communities” refers to the residential developments seen across the world that emerge due to increasing economic inequality, socio-cultural tensions, and, consequently, rising crime rates and fear of crime. There are different gated communities, such as high-rises and detached houses or those built in the city and outside. Many do not only comprise housing units but also provide various amenities and combine housing, businesses, and recreation. Gated communities usually target the upper and middle classes, who demand a safe space removed from various dangers. In most studies, gated communities are regarded as creating dualities and tensions between insiders and outsiders, private and public, and safe and dangerous. They are also studied within a physical space- realm, neglecting their virtual reality. This study is among the few efforts to analyse virtual gated communities. The paper is based on the visual content analysis of the Facebook and Instagram of two gated communities, Istanbul Istanbul and Kasaba. The paper argues that there are three forms of virtual gated communities. First, “imaginary-virtual gated communities” are established by supply-side actors such as developers to promote them. These social media accounts avoid reflecting on or demonstrating these communities’ problems. Second, “intermediary- virtual gated communities” are created by demand side actors such as residents, showing the life inside these gated communities. However, since these are open to the public, they do not show the reality of gated community life with real-life tensions and problems. These are shown in the third type of virtual gated communities, the “real” ones, reserved only for their members/residents, where they can share the problems they experience or make complaints. In the end, the paper demonstrates that gated communities are not merely physical spaces but also virtual, which blur the boundaries between physical and virtual, real and imaginary, and public and private. The paper argues that gated communities are produced and reproduced by top-down and bottom-up actors (supply and demand) in both physical and virtual realms by mixing diverse cultures and identities.