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Gintarė Pociūtė-Sereikienė, Lithuanian Social Research Centre; Dovilė Krupickaitė, Vilnius University, and Laura Peciukonytė, Public Policy and Management Institute Group, Lithuania
In this blog we present our research results on gated neighborhoods in Lithuania (with particular emphasis placed on the Vilnius region) which has been previously published as a journal article in Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 63(3) 2014 and can be found here.
Development of a socially sustainable city is not an easy task especially in the context of socio-spatial residential differentiation. One of the examples of such differentiation is the desire of residents to flock into the “social ghettos” – gated and guarded neighborhoods (GGNs). This research is focused on gated communities that are located in Lithuanian capital Vilnius and its surroundings.
The analysis of the literature highlighted that gated and guarded neighborhoods have been increasing in most European countries, including those where this form of housing had been rare until the 1990s. However, the appearance of GGNs in Lithuania, compared to other post-socialist countries (for example the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, or Russia) was late. The idea for such development of neighborhoods in Lithuania came from abroad. The first GGN in Lithuania appeared at the beginning of the 21th century and became popular in the middle of the first decade. This period coincided with the country’s robust economic growth and a real-estate boom.
Our survey in 2010 showed that around 25% of newly built neighborhoods with detached or semi-detached houses in Vilnius region were gated and guarded. Figure 1 shows the locations of GGNs in Vilnius region.
In our research we chose “Neries kilpos” gated neighborhood for a detailed case study, because its characteristics (size, security installations, socio-economic status) are very typical of other Lithuanian GGNs. “Neries kilpos” is well secured by fences (Photo 1). There are also automatic gates and video cameras. Furthermore, the whole territory is supervised by the territory manager on workdays.
During our research we analysed different actors’ motivations regarding the development of gated neighborhoods in the Vilnius region: the motivations of developers and the motivations of residents. Additionally, in order to understand the market demand, we analysed the advertisements that presented such type of neighborhoods in Lithuania.
Therefore, the detailed analysis of advertisements of gated neighborhoods revealed that comfort, quality and “fascinating” exclusive landscape were unanimously emphasized. The geographical location in the urban region was another important factor, which was followed by the prestige of the settlement. Regarding the security aspect, the real estate advertisements underlined not only property protection but also the granting of more privacy.
Our research and discussions with “Neries kilpos” GGN residents revealed that exclusive landscapes and attr