Urban Fragmentation and Gated Counties

First the rich and middle class lived downtown. Then they moved to the suburbs when the poor and criminal elements moved in. This has been a pattern all over the world and especially in the United States. Gated communities are nothing new and in fact, many such as John Robb have discussed how security will filter down to such basic levels where those who can, pay for extra security and wall themselves off from other areas whereas everyone else just receives the “minimum coverage”.

State level fragmentation?

Second, as has been discussed here and elsewhere, globalization tends to lead to global integration and regional fragmentation as smaller states find themselves more flexible and ultimately successful on their own, provided they are under a larger security umbrella (e.g. the EU). Yet, forgetting the global level, what does this look like on the national level. This article may be a clue.

White Atlanta suburbs push for secession

ATLANTA - A potentially explosive dispute in the City Too Busy to Hate is taking shape over a proposal to break Fulton County in two and split off Atlanta’s predominantly white, affluent suburbs to the north from some of the metropolitan area’s poorest, black neighborhoods. Legislation that would allow the suburbs to form their own county, to be called Milton County, was introduced by members of the Georgia Legislature’s Republican majority earlier this month.

While race issues are worse in the south than elsewhere, this could be a useful precedent for other states and counties. The article notes for example,

represent 29 percent of the county’s population of 915,000 but pay 42 percent of its property taxes, according to a local taxpayers group. A split would lead to the loss of $193 million in property taxes alone for Fulton County.

Part of the idea behind taxes is that local, state and federal governments collect all of it and then redistribute it as they see fit. Allowing richer counties to break off and form their own counties undermines the government’s legitimacy as the sole decision maker in this process. While the federal/state divide is aimed at allowing people to maintain a fair amount of local control over. Are we moving from gated communities to counties?

From Gated Communities to Counties?

In the US, gated communities are mostly located in more affluent areas and thus aren’t primarily for safety but often prestige. However, in South America and Africa, gated communities are almost mini-cities with hospitals, schools, backup power and sanitation and more. This may be understandable in the third world, but on a smaller level, it is present in countries like the United States. Could we one day live in a kind of medieval walled cities? In this author’s city, such gated communities have sprung up all over the outskirts. Yet, as real estate and development continue, many residents of bad areas are being priced out of the blue seam area below, which connects parts of the city’s core.

While this one example from Atlanta is hardly a harbinger of doom, but it would behoove us to pay careful attention to the many forms of the aforementioned trends that are occuring at home and abroad.