Sense of community (SOC) in gated urban neighborhoods: Empirical insights from Accra, Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite gated communities becoming a prominent form of housing in the Global South cities, the extent to which these privatized neighborhoods foster a sense of community remains understudied. Most of the studies on sense of community are based on experiences from the Global North. To address this lacuna, this paper examines the extent to which residents of gated communities develop a sense of community and the different factors that are associated with this sense of community. We conducted regression analysis on cross-sectional survey data from Devtraco and Manet gated communities, to determine factors associated with a sense of community in these gated communities. Our findings demonstrate that residents of gated communities exhibit a stronger sense of community—shaped by different individual, household, and environmental characteristics. Interestingly, our study reveals that males have a higher sense of community compared to females. Age, length of residence, tenure status, household size, and proximity to community features were significant factors associated with sense of community. Our study adds to the extant literature on a sense of community among individuals living in gated communities in the Global South.