As families look for nice places to live, more and more are choosing to live in gated communities. Some estimates say that more than 50,000 gated properties are built every year, with new homeowners purchasing them rapidly. So what is it about these gated communities that entice so many families?

Privacy, security and safety

Having walls around your neighborhood gives it a look (and often the reality) of privacy and security. Having gates also shows exclusivity, which adds to the property value of the homes located within. Gate systems act as barriers to deter criminals from entering, but these are in reality simply a cheaper way to avoid hiring security guards. You can rest assured knowing no one will enter your neighborhood unless they belong there.

Traffic restriction is also a big plus when residing in a gated community. Noise is restricted and there is less of a threat of danger from heavy traffic if children play outside. Having video surveillance cameras at the gates are an advantage also, especially if they can tape the license plates of entering vehicles. This can be one of the biggest deterrents of vandalism, if criminals can see that they are on tape they are likely to refrain from doing something wrong.

Returning home late at night, allowing children to play out in the front yard, and taking vacations are all safer to do while living within a gated community. There is less chance of unsavory people hanging around or of facing the traffic problems that come with living in a public, highly populated area. It also creates a sense of unity among those living within the gates, since the exclusivity of the neighborhood promotes inter-community interaction.

Problems with a gated community

While living in a gated community benefits you by keeping unsavory people out, it can also keep out people that you want in. Emergency vehicles and fire engines are sometimes unable to enter due to the high security precautions at the gate. Some communities utilize techniques like universal keypad codes or restricted radio frequency access to allow easier entrances.

Tailgating can be an issue for gated communities, when one car enters and another car follows immediately behind without checking themselves in. This is especially common during rush hours, and is of course only bad if unauthorized people enter. The only way to truly prevent tailgating is to force each car to enter their authorization code or use their remote or card to enter. Installing a high speed swing-arm blockade between the gate and the gate keypad will usually take care of this problem.

Another potential problem with gated communities is that they can create a closed-minded mentality among community dwellers against those who live outside. Critics of gated neighborhoods claim they are elitist, exclusionary, and anti social. This can disrupt the social contract among the citizens when people who live in a gated community differentiate issues between what happens outside their gated area and what happens on the outskirts. The gates are a reducer of urban crime, but the benefits of that only affect those that live within the gates. This makes them unaware of what the crime level and other problems are in their city while they live in a utopian-minded society.