Much like the walled cities and towns of medieval Europe, there are now gated communities in every major city in the United States, and they are increasingly common in England, France and Spain (indeed some would say they never really went away in Europe). The gated community is a new / old form of community lifestyle, relatively free of crime.  These confines attract retired couple and young families. It’s a new age commune that offers all of the benefits of civilization to those select few that can afford the buy and maintain the real estate.  Today gated communities are rare, but tomorrow they will be everywhere in the United States and Canada.

What is a gated community?

It's more than just lush estates behind high walls and chain link fences. And more than houses on huge green lawns with tennis courts and swimming pools and expensive cars in the driveways, it’s also private school education for kids, and access to privately owned recreational amenities like members only golf courses and racket clubs. These facilities along with parks and playgrounds, fine restaurants and vegetable markets, churches and synagogues combine to become an almost Utopian setting for families. Who wouldn’t want to live there?

Do you see the problem with gated communities?  Most people can’t afford to live there. People like social workers and health care workers, teachers, post office workers, antique pickers, home stagers and… garbage collectors.  What happens when they become discontent and start wondering about life on the other side of the gate?  Then we have a very obvious class system that divides society.

Although gating is not as common in Canada as it is in the United States today, the number of gated subdivisions in Canadian cities increases every year.  The issue has not yet generated significant social debate regarding the social, economic or political implications of this residential form, but all that’s coming, just as it has in England and the US. Welcome to Fortress Canada.

The rise of gated communities parallels the price of oil.

Just as Facebook and Twitter are tearing down Arab monarchs and tyrannical dictatorships in Africa and the Middle East, the governments of western democracies are centralizing power. State assemblies in Wisconsin are breaking unions. The Harper Conservatives are building prisons, and what happened during the G20 Summit in Toronto on June 26, 27 and 28th of 2010 is an eerie foreboding of the Police State that will ‘protect’ your children and their children as the price of oil climbs even higher. The demands on the energy market made by billions of Asians eager to enjoy middle class lifestyle will keep the price of oil climbing in the next ten years until we see ‘peak oil’, which is the point when exploration and development can no longer contain the demand. When oil companies cannot drill new wells and stock is suddenly finite – look at the Hubble Curve as it originally related to whale oil.

When the price of gasoline reaches $4 a gallon in the USA, the majority of big box retailers will not be able to ship goods from their warehouses to their stores without marking up the price of those goods. Everything will become more expensive and more and more men and women, unable to compete for fewer and fewer jobs, will turn to violent crime.  By that point, being inside well guarded high technology 'castle walls' will be the only way parents will feel safe raising their kids.

A new study reveals there are more than 1,000 "gated communities" in England, and demand for such "voluntary segregation" from the rest of society is growing, particularly among young professionals attracted by the prestige of such developments and fear of crime.

The high price of oil could will make all religions more relevant, and Christian church groups and other faith based organizations will be invaluable and gain much more attention as charities. Gated communities will help funding for these groups and attendance will rise again for Sunday morning services. But I predict that new religious sects will appear inside the petrie dishes of the segrated societies. New religious orders will be formed around the need to make goods inside the community and be sustainable through trade.

The rise of gated communities could foster new religious orders

Now here’s where it gets really interesting.  There walled factory towns in some third world countries in Asia and South America that process recycled plastics and export resin wicker furniture made from rubbish, most notably used water bottles. The firms make a variety of plastic products including auto parts and electronics materials but prefer making plastic tables and chairs and patio furniture because the market is persistent. They can always sell that stuff.  And in many cases these communities are devout Catholics - there is only one church inside the wall. That’s how it is today, and yesterday; the Mennonites did the same thing right here in Canada. They made furniture out of wood and still do. So did the Quakers and many religious sects before them. In India it was cotton. The manufacture of textiles transformed the caste system into many and varied mercantile organizations.  With modern management systems and manufacturing software it’s possible to run a business enterprise from inside the firewalls of a gated community, but more likely is that the factories themselves will become smaller and more localized.  Each village will make something special and a nearby market town will sell it.  Every capitalist knows that keeping a skilled work force means providing a high quality lifestyle. The term ‘go local’ will take on a whole new meaning.  Most consumer good and certainly all foodstuffs will be produced within 100 miles of consumption.  I predict that new ‘corporate’ single faith religious communities will appear and dominate local markets and become ‘brand names’ inside these new local economies.

Do you, or anyone you know live in a gated community today?  You can read more the trend toward gated communities on this Worchester UK webpage.  http://www.nindy.com/chw/