Territoriality and Social Outcomes in Gated and Non-Gated Communities: A Comparison of Non-Recursiveand Recursive Models

The effectiveness of community enclosure is often assessed by the socialimpacts imposed on the local scale. The present paper investigates the similaritiesand differences of the causal effects between territoriality, sense of safety, andsocial interactions in gated and non-gated communities. A survey was distributedto a sample of ۵۲۲ habitants residing in six neighborhoods with same densitiesand different layouts. It was found that the level of social interactions and senseof safety were higher in gated communities. Using structural equation modeling,the findings highlighted the importance of personalization in gated and spatialterritory in non-gated communities to improve social outcomes. Presented modelssuggest that the direct effect of territoriality on social interaction was significantin both groups. In gated communities, the non-recursive model suggested afeedback loop where an increase in territoriality would increase social interaction,thereby increasing the sense of safety, in turn further increasing territoriality. Innon-gated communities, the sense of safety was influenced by territoriality andthus correlated with social interaction. This finding indicated the mediating roleof the sense of safety in the relationship between territoriality and socialinteractions in non-gated communities.

Keywords:

Gated and non-gatedcommunities , Territoriality , Sense of safety , Social interactions , SEM