The Consequences of Gated Communities | Look Inside the Exclusive Enclaves in the USA vs. Europe
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- The Rise of Gated Communities and HOAs in recent years has been unprecedented. How are gated communities and homeowners associations in the USA different from those in Europe? Why have planned communities with HOAs grown in popularity? Are Gated Communities safer? And why does living in some of the most exclusive zip codes.... actually save you money?
In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the fascinating world of exclusive enclaves, comparing and contrasting the unique characteristics of these communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
🏡 Discover the allure of gated communities: From luxurious amenities and heightened security to well-maintained landscapes, these private neighborhoods offer a lifestyle of comfort and exclusivity.
🌍 Explore the differences between the USA and Europe: We analyze the distinct approaches to gated living, highlighting cultural influences, architectural styles, and legal frameworks that shape these communities.
🔒 Uncover the role of homeowners associations: Learn how HOAs contribute to the management, regulations, and community dynamics within these gated neighborhoods, ensuring harmony and cohesion among residents.
🏢 Dive into urban planning and design: Explore how the layout and architecture of gated communities are meticulously crafted to foster a sense of community while maintaining privacy.
🌆 Contrast the urban vs. suburban trend: Discover the contrasting preferences between the USA and Europe when it comes to the popularity and design of gated communities, and how they reflect broader societal values.
Join us as we embark on an enlightening journey through the world of gated communities and homeowners associations, gaining insights into their significance, impact, and the varying approaches taken in the USA and Europe. Whether you're curious about real estate trends, urban planning, or simply intrigued by the concept of exclusive living, this video is a must-watch. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on for more Type Ashton content!
Episode 119 | #germany #usa #urbanplanning #urbandecay #suburbia #suburban #hoa #homeownership #homeownersassociation #city #law #legal #europe #expatlife #movingabroad #americaningermany #america #livingabroad | Filmed September 1st, 2023
🎥 More Videos to Check Out:
Are gated communities bad for cities? by @CityBeautiful • Are gated communities ...
Das steckt hinter den Gated Communities in den USA | Galileo | ProSieben by @GalileoOffiziell • Das steckt hinter den ...
Luxury Gated Community Tour: Private Neighbourhoods of the Super-Rich | Luxury Lifestyle Documentary by @JavaDiscover • Luxury Gated Community...
Jump to Your Favorite Topic 🙌 :
00:00 Intro
02:22 Fortress America
06:14 Gilded Cages as a Tax Haven? Hidden Hills, California
13:42 A European Dilemma
19:23 Are Gated Communities Safer?
📝 Sources from this Video:
Nelson, Robert H., Homeowners Associations in Historical Perspective (2011). Public Administration Review, July/August 2011, Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=2364159
Cheung, Ron, and Rachel Meltzer. “Why and Where Do Homeowners Associations Form?” Cityscape, vol. 16, no. 3, 2014, pp. 69-92. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26326906. Accessed 1 Sept. 2023.
Wyatt Clarke, Matthew Freedman, The rise and effects of homeowners associations, Journal of Urban Economics, Volume 112, 2019, Pages 1-15, ISSN 0094-1190, doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2019.05....
The Community Associations Institute www.caionline.org/
America, The Gated? by @BrookingsInstitution www.brookings.edu/wp-content/...
Resources for You:
Need English speaking insurance plans in Germany? Check out Feather!
feather-insurance.com/?...
Want to Learn German, English, French, or Spanish? We use Lingoda for German, check them out!
referral.lingoda.com/6sDJFW
Some of the links above may be affiliate links. At no cost to you, The Black Forest Family may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
🌲 Want more fresh from the Black Forest content? Connect with us!
Instagram: blackforest...
Facebook: / blackforestfamily
Visit our Website: blackforestfamily.com
Subscribe to our Newsletter for the latest info: www.blackforestfamily.com/fol...
Planning a trip to the Black Forest? Check out our guide here: www.blackforestfamily.com/tra...
Ready to make the move to Germany? We wrote a comprehensive step-by-step guide: www.blackforestfamily.com/mov... - Zábava
As a European who recently discovered your channel, your videos are a reminder that, while we like to make fun of the US in many ways for many extreme aspects of its culture and society, we are not immune to falling into the mentality that leads in that same direction. Our habit of making fun of the US is also frankly a way to detach ourself from the fear of getting worse as a society, and can lead us to lower our guard in that respect. Your videos are always thought provoking in that regard... so thank you for keeping your reporting objective and well rounded, instead of just making more "usa bad - europe good" content
That's the point: We shouldn't mock the silly Americans, but watch carefully and take notes and preventive (political) actions, if necessary, in order to prevent certain developments.
In the end, in most aspects, we're just trailing years or decades behind the US in social trends. No reason to feel superior.
@@mina_en_suiza I very much disagree with that statement. While the USA set trends in some aspects, they are firmly rooted in the 19th century in many, many others. Just look at their legal system, which in fact means people in cages, isolation torture, forced labor, and the death penalty. They are at least half a century behind in things like social security, namely healthcare, workers' rights, things regarding maternal protection, leave etc. , their inherent systemic institutional racism built into everything from education to voting rights, the lack of environmental and climate protection (look at their energy and resources consumption per capita compared to even the EU), the grave discrepancy between their talk and the very real disregard for human rights both domestically and internationally, and last but certainly not least, the toxic role religion plays in society and politics.
There is no reason to feel superior, but neither is there a reason to feel inferior. Much is to criticize in EU countries, and that's a *good* thing because what you identify as improvable *can* be improved, while denial leads to stagnation and decline, but to presume that "we're just trailing years or decades behind the US in social trends" is utter nonsense.
I think there is a lot to be learned from one another. There is so much information out there today that it often feels muddied and insurmountable. But I do hope that the ocean that divides is one that ONLY has to be literal and not figurative.
@@TypeAshton It doesn't only 'feel muddied and insurmountable', it's created this way. I think it was Georg Schramm [edited] who called it "Herrschaftswissen", hegemonic knowledge, so ordinary people are excluded. Nevertheless - I try to understand again and again, and I want to make decisions based on knowledge and understanding.
You just live off the US economy and culture.
Locking your family away from others must generate feelings of superiority, separateness, and fear. This cannot be healthy for individuals or society.
It is one of the biggest reasons for American political polarisation, especially considering that most homeowner's associations historically barred non-white individuals from becoming members.
It definitely cuts off any concern for society. Instead of saying "we need to improve the public schools, transit, or safety, you can just say "duck it, I'm in my gated community, and oil just use private everything."
It's no surprise to me that the tech billionaires are planning exclusive communities in the desert, however flawed the economics are. It's just the next logical step.
@johnnevada46, I agree. When we started our family we wanted to live among as much diversity as possible so that our children would be more fearless, open-minded and less vulnerable in an ever changing world. Hate and violence are the products of fear. Also imho, I think the entertainment industry (that includes the news) is not helping us to thrive.
If society is below low standart then its normal you want to distance yourself from that society and be surrounded with people who share your standards.
@@cosmo43095 Its actually weird wiev of world you have, it realy shows you have no sense of history you havent traveled. And totally have plebian world wiev. Yeou are content to being no one, and some how try to pass your excistance and rest you dont give a .... I live also gated community with like minded people, im not racist, but i dont tolerate idots and people who dont have goals. I lived gheto once and it was full of people who just wanted to some how pass on they life work and have fun. And it is plebian world of wiev, when people up there rule the world, plebians are not intrested of interfiering they just cry out how bad everything is. Thought i live in gated community i have many differences with people, but what matters is what we have common and aslong our differences dont intefere each other life they dosent matter
Great start for your new brand Ashton.
I hate any construction that puts people apart from the rest of society. For me the gated communities look like prisons. The fact that they can abuse the law to create their own mini-states and lose all contact with reality is frightening for me. The only way the world, or even a country can function, at any level, is by understanding, not by ignoring or shutting out.
What's the next step in this madness? Are they going to hire a private army? How much are these communities even part of the country, or are they just creating their own country? For me it's a total mess and reminds me of the Holy Roman Empire.
I wouldn't be surprised if these kind of communities became the target of violence in the upcoming decades as the wealth inequality continues to grow. Is this really the type of world people want to live in?
We talk about so many different aspects of life on our channel - from work benefits, to raising kids, to urban planning... but for a while now, I have noticed a common thread: we segregating into camps. In the case of gated communities - it becomes quite literal. But whether it is the fear of the "other", the fear of our financial future, the fear of losing control.... we have traded in real, true diversity and freedom for secured borders from one another. And whenever we see a new tragedy flash across our TV screens... we often hear "What is happening to society today?"... and I fear that it is the loss of trust in our community and the opportunity to build and gain it in the first place.
@@TypeAshton Let us hope for humankind that we will be able to build trust in each other once again. It's something I've built on all my life, and hope to keep on doing until my last breath.
I can't speak for any other such community, but ours is chock full of military veterans + former cops. Everyone is also armed to the teeth - so hooligans coming way out into a mostly rural county to engage in mayhem might realize that it was a lousy idea.
The riots of 2020 were about 15 miles away in the city, but those follks were afraid to go into the suburbs (our home is in a semi-rural area of Virginia) for obvious reasons.
Anyway, that still is a valid concern in many places! Thanks for your comment.
@@TypeAshton-- In our case, we were too lazy to keep doing yard work.
🤣
@@1VaDude I'm sorry to hear you have or choose to live that way.
Wonderful video that shed light on something I've always wondered about.
My Swedish sensibilities instinctively always felt gated communities where just, "wrong" on a deeply emotional level.
I guess it really boils down to history, culture and as always, money, in the end.
USA MONEY at the END and MIDDLE and from the beginning
because your country is a whole gated community by itself
Hi, in Flanders where I live, new developments typically has to include a certain percentage of social housing, to ensure a mix of social classes. And after living in this development for 17 years it's become clear that the residents in the social housing part are not very different from us. They go to work, they tend their gardens, their kids go to school and, may help avoid the negative effects of clustering all vulnerable, poorer people together, where despair and crime more easily might take hold. It helps to mitigate segregation based on income and lowers feelings of fear of 'the other' as well as exerting to some extent a bit of social control aswell, on any anti social behaviour (albeit this has never been an issue at all in our area)
You are lucky to live in Belgium ❤
No, you don't have different social classes put together in these developments. You have varieties between the same class of people. Also, crime doesn't come from segregation or poorness, but from cultural boundaries. In Belgium, similar like everywhere in Western AND Eastern Europe (don't know, why Ashton think they are different), the reason for private housing is to limit the public or state's influence to limit the property value. One big driver is the egalitarian principle of social security, making houses next to it, drop in value. Similar for placing the "gay community" or "refugees" there, for example.
It also actually helps against poverty. Not for everybody of course, but in an area with only poor people, there is really no opportunity to escape poverty. There's no demand for businesses, no jobs, and no way to get in contact with people who might give you an opportunity. If people are mixed together a bit more, it opens up opportunities.
@@jbird4478 That is nonsense, because the people are self-responsible. Demand always leads to a trade-off. That's why the government restricts social mobility, if it wants to help "the poor". By contrast, if you mix up people by force, boundaries are set. So you have more division and less access. Only retards give in for others, who can't trade off, even long term. That's a further implication, why trust is low outside homogeneous settings.
This is the recipe!
When visiting my sister in law in California, I accompanied her husband, who is a gardener, on to a gated community. It was totally weird, the residents stared at us as if we had just landed from outer space. Most of the people living there were older. And I can understand why they seek security, while we were there, and that was 4 weeks, every single day at least one person was shot and killed.
I've thought about this topic often as I have family and friends in the USA who have opted to reside in something we call gated communities. Some reside at places which are for the retired, or elderly and have the amenities and services that they would need most at hand, easy to walk or wheelchair to. The others are similar to what we have in Europe: served by public services, a gate with an entry code, like many buildings and institutions have throughout cities in Europe, yet the pool and club house are for members only. It's a reaction to 1) arising need to feel safe when vulnerable and 2)run down services despite rising taxes. One of my cousins, 70 said: "we used to have a community pool and it was fun to meet everyone there, All our kids spent summers there, but it got so run down and dangerous. If I want to swim and feel safe I have to have it this way now."
The matter of self-imposed segregation is a given as is xenophobia. I hope that the way most neighbourhoods in most European countries are (being) planned, with a mix of socioecomic housing, will keep us from evolving to such gated communities.
What?
I wonder why it's called community. This isn't a community. This is segregation. The idea of helping each other and sharing resources has long gone.
Thank you, Ashton, for the look inside.
Quite. Of the three ideal of the French Revolution; Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood, gated communities is the utter failure of the last one. It is essentially people turning the back on their fellow citizens.
Exactly, they should rename it to gated residences or housing because they are definitely not a community
I would say it IS A COMMUNITY an EXCLUSINARY COMMUNITY you BUY your way into
"a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common" per Wikipedia
they are "self selecting" to share social class in common with each other
You dont know the definition of community then. A community is a group of people living in an area. In a gated community you can walk to your next door neighbor. You don't have to walk through a gate to get to your next door neighbor.
@@jasonriddellI should explain. If you live in the gated area and 200 other people live in the gated area then it's a community.
Yet another well researched and informative video. Thank you for entertaining and educating us every week with interesting, useful content. Even for someone living between both worlds (DEU/US), knowing one or the other thing about the differences between the two - there is always new info and interesting facts in your videos All the best for the "rebirth" of your channel, Dr. Schottler. THIS subscriber will definitely go nowhere! Have a wonderful Sunday with your family.
just what i wanted to type, but i am sure i wouldn't be so eloquent...
Thank you so, so much. I am so happy you enjoy our content and plan on sticking around. ❤❤
When a new part of the suburb in my medium Southern German city was built in the 70s the dominant building was a huge block . Being part of social housing people from all walks of life e.g. refugees, "Spätaussiedler", Gastarbeiter 2nd/3rd generation etc moved in.
Apart from this block private detached and single houses were built and smaller blocks, too, all of which were not very popular compared to other parts of the city.
And today? Well, we call that block " Mutterschiff", children grow up being extremely tolerant ( I can say that as I was a teacher there) and there is not more if not even less crime than in other parts.
We are surrounded by mature trees and a forest and have all the amenities needed without having to use a car still being connected to the actual city by bus. Now people WANT to live here :) !
The blocks were just the trade-off to limit the actual gain people get by government funded housing compared to those, who work to get a living. These structures are having bad quality and were maid, to give them who live there time for integration. These were not constructed to raise crime levels (crime often happens in unregulated or overregulated environments which were not designed for those living there). They were made to keep them isolated, yet in range of the overall town. Generally these areas are split from the rest, while those people living there are on average more lazy. That's why they didn't participate so much as it was planned. In most cases, these blocks were downridden or scrapped in the last years. Nobody wants to live there, but in some places, the prices were so low and the property was allowed to get misused. Freqently, people don't use busses there, but cars and that does bring in new problems due to traffic, because these blocks were not designed for normal housing.
@@urlauburlaub2222 Do not try to convince a Neo-SED "teacher" with facts. What else can you expect from a watermelon "teacher"?
Thank you for a wonderful video that is very informative. My wife and I are against HOAs because they dictate what a person can do with their property. We sometimes like to decorate for Halloween and Christmas but an HOA could decide they are against it and we would have to remove our decorations. An HOA can give itself wild powers not originally granted to it making a place unlivable. Or put in place a feature wanted by a small, maybe very small, portion of the population but everyone then has to pay for it. Your last question hits on a larger concern, one that ended horribly. Gated communities remind me of the walled cities of medieval Europe where people lived inside the walls for protection and security. Fiefdoms if you will.
IMHO more of a MEDIEVAL Castle and NOT a walled city at least the CITY had more then one class inside where as the ONLY "outsiders" are contractors hired for a JOB
@@jasonriddell Eh, both would be total misunderstandings of what those walls were for. A castle was meant to protect not just its permanent habitants, but also the surrounding smallfolk, if necessary by harbouring them inside. Same goes for the city walls. Being granted a fief also meant being assigned the duty of protecting it. And without the peasants, you didn't exactly have an income. That land won't just till itself.
These walls exist for othering and tax evasion purposes, that's a completely different matter. They aren't meant to protect from anything real.
never heard of an HOA that is against decorating for christmas or halloween in fact they have contests who has the nicest decorations 😉
Walled cities, were atleast functioning cities, with shops, schools, professional workers and trade. They mostly had gates to impose tarrifs which is how they made a living. They were not exclusionary in the same way, because they made money specifically on outsiders entering and leaving the city.
What sort of wild powers?
Hi from the UK, I works in Weybridge Surrey, and had to visit the Chairman’s home in St George’s Hill - amazing properties. Anyway, the first issue is tax advantaged this has to be removed, by all means is some group want to arrange a different ‘private’ service and not use the public service fine. But they shouldn’t be able to setup their own city authorities or avoid taxes. We need everyone to contribute to taxation fairly (I know that’s a huge argument what’s fair) but excluding you because you chose to use a non public service is ridiculous. The UK has lots of private schools, what if parents didn’t have to pay tax if they didn’t use the state schools, and then what about people without children, should they claim tax relief for not needing schools. Get rid of tax loopholes!
Interesting points
I am NOT American but MY understanding is they AVAOID CITY taxes by NOT being in the CITY much like someone out in the country DOES NOT pay consul tax to LONDON as they DO NOT reside in OR use services from LONDON
and the USA MOST of the taxes are LOCAL/STATE NOT Federal-country wide and the LOCAL levels fund and deliver the services that in this case are being skipped
making the tax system and the public services delivered "unfair" by design
How long have you been a member of the Communist party?
I remember when I (German) was taught about gated communities in my English lessons and I didn't really get it. However, in the case if celebrities I can at least understand the urge to want to segregate yourself from others, especially paparazzi. It makes you lonely, yes, but it also gives you privacy you might not have otherwise. 😶
Of course, the Americans unfortunately have such a high crime rate that such closed residential areas seem to be the salvation for richer people, but in reality it's about education, culture and greatness of soul! - Dear Ashton, You explain things very well and have a tremendous overview of many subjects. Thank you for your enthusiasm and your valuable cultural and educational work!
It doesn't help. I had friends that lived in gated communities. The gated community subdivision homes were robbed just as much as non-gated community homes. It's just it's people (usually kids) on the inside that does the robberies. The car I bought had nice Fittipaldi rims on my car. I caught a kid trying to steal my rims. The thing that stopped him was I had a "lock" on the rims. You needed an Allen wrench (star wrench) to get the lock off and to the lugnuts. The kid lived 3 doors down from my friend that I was visiting. It gives people a false sense of security.
I should say if a house (one and only one) has a gate that opens and closes then yes it does cut down on crime. If you have multiple homes behind the gates it doesn't help.
The crime rates in the US aren't all that high in most places. In most areas, it really isn't scary at all. If anything, the trend towards isolation and othering lets people live more in their fearful imaginations than in reality which they don't check because of their fears. According to the FBI, crime rates in the US have actually been going down dramatically since the 90s (with 2020 being an understandable exception), despite many in the general public, especially on the right, believing the opposite. I think the sensationalism and fear-mongering of our broadcast media (often with racist and politically motivated subtext) has a lot to do with everybody thinking they need their own fortified private Idaho. In reality, we don't all live in a John Carpenter movie.
@@Mikearice1 THIS! The same believe that NYC was so dangerous due to CRIME. It has less homicides and burglaries than whole of Switzerland - with a similar number of residents.
But crime sells. It sells ad clicks, news show ratings, and so you have an ongoing spam like flow of short videos showing something bad happens in NYC (or other big cities). It gets annoying.
@@Mikearice1 also I believe there is a subconscious connection between "drug users" / "homeless" and VIOLANT crime and violent crime is WAY down homeless and open drug usage is WAY up OR at least WAY MORE VISIBLE then even 10 years ago
I'm convinced that a small gated community can be something positive. Close by the village that I live here in Flanders, is a small gated community of about 60 to 70 pensioners. These are all people from between 70 to 90 years old. And it's quite a lovely place. The idea behind it is to create an environment for older people who can still manage to be self sufficient. So instead of sticking them in stuffy depressing pensioners homes, They each have their own appartement unit. All units are on the ground floor and they're all build around a courtyard full of plants and flowers. The community has a staff of about 8 to 10 people. Usually nurses, medical personnel and a guard at the gate. Two meals are provided every day by a local catering company. They still have to provide their own breakfast. A small grocery store is located next to the community. A bus stops each hour for people who want to go into town. There's also a small farm attached to the estate and the pensioners feed and take care of the chickens, sheeps and goats. It's a lively vibrating community. It's a daily coming and going of family members, doctors, nurses and pets. Once a week the local kindergarten goes to the estate where by the elderly help the children with reading and writing.
Seems like a good idea if it is available to people of all socio economic classes and races.
Sounds really nice in principle, no need to make such a community "gated", though.
@@phil3114 If they are that old a significant share of them will be in various states of dementia. The gates prevents them from wandering off and getting into problems.
@@FreeOfFantasy fair enough of an argument, though I'd say such an arrangement is not what ppl think of when the term gated community comes up
@@FreeOfFantasy Not likely. People with dementia can’t cope like that on their own. They don’t get dressed, make their own breakfast, they don’t eat the meals they get delivered, they can’t take care of a small farm. Dementia means people get lost inside, setting a table is often impossible and scary, colors are scary, any changes are incredibly scary, new people are scary, family is often scary, they can’t do their hygiene laundry, loose track of time and day/night. They don’t eat because they don’t know they’re hungry or forgot how to use spoons. Dementia might look like some memory issues but it it so much severe, it usually declines rapidly with loss of many executive functions, there’s often paranoia, delusions, severe anxiety, loss of speech etc.
Add the physical aspects of aging and most seniors need meds for blood pressure etc.
Independent functioning and living people with dementia is a contradiction. Some meds can delay the decline a couple of years but it’s not a cure.
Two years ago, I experienced a gated community with a "gated, not closed" concept. Everyone had to pass a gate and a face check, but the area was open for uninvited visitors, passer-bys and possibly even gawkers.
On the one hand, I found that concept somewhat appealing, because it deters certain individuals with questionable intentions without closing everything off, but on the other hand I have my doubts that the ideal will survive every community powwow in the future. Not because it would be actually necessary, but because the attitude and dynamic of the inhabitants may change.
The individuals with questionable intentions are INSIDE.
@@ChrisPage68 I won't disagree with that.
Dude I will never live in a subd6
IMHO that would only discourage "bums" AKA "under housed" individuals from using the "public" park as there home the cat burglar looking to ROB the RICH will 100% go in along with the catalyst thieves
so MAKE IT LOOK safe while offering ZERO security
Ours is 'gated, but not closed' too. We have gates for vehicles, but no fences. The gates are always open from 7am to 7pm and you need to use a key fob or PIN code at night. It enhances security just a bit, but doesn't look like a prison or jail. The main reason most people live there is because it is over 55 and maintenance-free. Almost everybody is retired or at the later stages of a career.
Communities that exclude are bad!
I live in a residential area at the outskirts of a regional centre, in Sweden. Here you find people of all ages and socioeconomic classes, which is great. The kids play and go to school together, forging bonds that improve the entire community.
Not all HoA's in America are gated. A lot of them simply exist to privatize certain utilities. This is a consequence of America's zoning regulations.
For example a developer buys a large plot of land, say a large field, farm, or wooded lot and then goes to a town zoning board and asks to build 200 or 300 houses on that land. The town will often nix the idea right away on the grounds that all those new houses would strain the existing utilities too much. The town will have to raise taxes to pay for those utilities so the town says no and rejects the developer's proposal. What the developer will then propose is that it will create an HoA for the neighborhood and this private entity will pay for all the utilities. This kind of proposal is far more likely get approval from the zoning board than a non HoA development.
Americans for the most part hate HoAs because they are expensive. HoA fees can range from a couple hundred per month to multiple thousands of dollars per month. The HoA fees can be almost as much as a mortgage payment. The reason people are flocking to HoA developments is because they are pretty much the only game in town. The choice is often buy into an HoA or go live in a dumpy apartment or keep living with your parents until your 30s. So the choice is either that or nothing.
I don't understand this s stystem. There's no benifit for the community or the people to deal this way. Why not care for near by schools and daily facilities. Everything is made for large profit. I wonder if there is a real government or if there's only a company board and a CEO. Should be called UCA for United Corporation of America
The probem is right in your staring paragraph. "A developer proposes to build 200 or 300 houses".
Not even apparments, but houses! Why is there only one?
Here a city plans and builds a street and all the necesary utilities and then sells the land to build houses on. And everyone can buy that. No need for a middle man that only seeks (often short time) profit.
@@steemlenn8797 HoAs are generally popping up outside of cities in the suburbs where the land is cheaper. The suburban town governments generally don't plan for anything. The developers just buy up whatever land they can get their hands on and then submit plans to the town zoning boards. The towns are free to vote yes or no on the plan. But as I explained earlier. The developer plans are more likely to be approved if it is an HoA development because utilities will be privatized and the town won't have to raise taxes on existing residents.
These suburban towns also almost never build their own streets because that costs money and nobody wants to pay anymore taxes. Development then concentrates along State highways which morph into Stroads as they become filled up with stores and entrances to housing developments. Instead of a traditional town center the land gets built up with shopping centers along a stroad which is built and maintained by the state government. The state government has no power over local zoning laws. All they can do is build and widen more highways.
@@nadinebeck2069 cities / zoning offices that will HAVE TO PAY for the infrastructure will often NOT have the money and will LIKELY NOT get the tax funding to PAY for the suburbs utility needs
single family neighbourhoods are a TAX burden on cities across the USA and there are a lot of CZcams vids on the subject covering the costs / deficit they cause
so in ONE level "isolating" the service costs to the HOA removed the BURDEN from the greater society
@@steemlenn8797 WHAT'S WRONG WITH PROFIT ? Why you didn'y migrated to North Korea COMMIE?
It is so refreshing that you are covering this important phenomenon! To me it looks like we are stepping back into the middle ages -- when it probably was a good idea to live the protection of fortifications. Ah, I guess while things change, they also remain the same. They can shove their 15% value gains -- I actually enjoy living on the outside among people who can teach me a new language or dialect, way of seeing things, or hacks on every day life.
I live in a 100 year old neighbourhood and enjoy being a few minutes from the CITY centre and being able to RIDE A BIKE there OR on trails or just "around" and admire the OLD and NEW architecture that living in a "living" neighbourhood filled with people from almost every background and NOT a "fortification" that I need to DRIVE OUT of to go anywhere
Just ask yourself why people feel the need to fortify themselves. It's because one political party absolutely refuses to keep those who've proved themselves capable of wanton violence behind bars for the safety of the rest of us. It's the same party that, when that set of people is again violent, doesn't say we need to keep violent people locked up but rather restrict the gun rights of the vast majority of us who are never violent instead. This, to say the least, misses the point.
In the end, it is only a sense of security rather than actual security because the violent people are still loose, and every pool cleaner, pizza deliverer, etc. around has the code to the premises.
Thank you for another well-researched and presented topic. As an American living now in Prague, I've gotten to see how people live in both the US and Europe. I've lived in California and Tennessee. I've never lived in a gated community, but I've experienced them as a delivery driver and a Lyft driver. I tend to see the HOA covenants as super restrictive and definitely exclusionary. I have never wanted to live in such a community, with the exception of an apartment building where there is some merit to the idea of keeping the residents safer from the "outside" community. One aspect of gated communities I hadn't considered before is that most of them are cut off from all outside services. I mean grocery stores, medical services, shops, etc. These folks live inside their walls feeling secure, as you mentioned, if things get "weird" (my word here). But, have they considered that they would have to venture OUT of their safe zone should they have to get supplies? It kind of reminds me of the idea of a medieval fortress that gets cut off by a besieging force. Eventually, their secure walls will become a liability.
On a different note: I watched an awesome Czech movie on Netflix a couple years ago called Vlastnici (Neighbors). As you mentioned, after the fall of communism, housing was one of the state owned institutions that needed to be privatized. This meant that the residents could purchase their individual flats in an apartment block, just like in a condominium in the USA. And, that's what many families did. And, they quickly realized that they needed a control structure for just the things you mentioned: money for the common spaces, making common decisions about how/what/when/etc. to do things to maintain the buildings because unlike in the USA, there wasn't a management company overseeing the whole building. And thus, these "HOAs" were started. And, that is what the movie is about. One of the families is the current leader of the "HOA" and they have called a meeting of all residents to vote on a series of proposals about the old building. It's basically a dark comedy about the different stereotypical Czech personalities you find in a building like this and how they work for and against each other's interests. It's in Czech, but it has good sub-titles. I recommend it. Many of my Czech friends either loved or hated the movie because they all said it was so TRUE about these "HOA" style groups and the in-fighting that occurs.
Hello I am from Prague! Currently living in California from 2019. Your observations are spot on! My friend just moved to a gated community in Palm Springs. I went to visit her and thought I could NEVER live so cut-off and self- indulged to a feeling of false safety and superiority. Such a sad way to live. But she likes it I guess.
Unfortunately, trying to go against gated communities would only make matters worse, as the people living there would feel validates in their fears. The best thing would be to actually improve open communities by reaping roads, building playgrounds etc, so that people can feel safe and comfortable anywhere. That will slowly eliminate the need for those gated communities. That being said, there might be more gated communities here in Europe if crime was as bad as it is in the US. Like home invasions, car jackings...
So happy to see you. Was a bit worried that I might NOT find your new YT name. Thanks again for the info ❤
Great and insightful video. I had not realized how vastly different the gated communities are in the US.
Thank you and have a great sunday!
I'm from the Philippines and my family lives in a subdivision that can be considered a gated community in the US/EU. For us living in one gives us a lot of benefits like a sense of security because the community is gated and not everyone can easily enter. It makes house break-ins less likely, though the proliferation of illegal settlers/squatters outside of the community is seen as a problem. Second benefit to us is the relative safety, quiet and peace, there are no traffic passing through the community which makes it safe for children to play in the streets and at the evenings there are no loud noises from videoke machines.
That's the problem with gated communities.
Instead of trying to solve the problems for everyone, like traffic with public transport, loke social policies to combat homelessness, the only thing they do is cut themselves off and with politicians and business leaders segregating themselves away, there is only one way this can end and that's a downward spiral.
Anyways, that's not to fault you. These things must be addressed at national level. The individual can only do so much and you need to look out for yourself.
I just much rather have a society, where the society includes rich and poor, so looking out for yourself actually translates into making life for everyone better.
It gives you a false sense of security (I'm sorry). I had friends who lived in gated communities and every single one of then their house was broken into. My house wasn't in a gated community and it wasn't broken into.
The people who were doing the robberies in gated community were people who lived inside the gated area. Majority of the robberies were kids. My theft experience in a gated community was the next door neighbors kid liked my Fitipaldi rims tried to steal them. What saved my ass was I had a metal plate over the lug nuts to get this metal plate off you needed a hex screwdriver. I just happened to come out at this time.
Statistic wise there isn't a noticeable difference between non gated communities and gated commities (for US). What was significant difference was gated communities slowed down police response time (for US) vs non gated communities. Home security systems are the most effective way to prevent burglaries.
*Edit in South Florida 1 robber robbed 10 different homes in a gated community and made off with more than $100,000 before police caught him. For South Florida burglars target gated communities because it means you have money. Sure they can't make off with a big screen TV, but they can make off with very expensive jewelry. You don't see a middle class person wearing a 3 carat where you are more likely to see a rich person wearing a 3 carat diamond ring.
Again a very thorough investigation from Ashton, as we all love it. Thank you very much Ashton for the well-done insight in this matters. 🎉
First time new Intro for me! The new style of the channel definitely suits the scientific focus! (Even though I enjoyed the relatable warm feel of the black forest family)
None the less love your content!
Thank you so much!
I know Gated Communities from Latin America since the 90s.
Actually, a friend of mine, who is a professor in sociology at the University of Córdoba, Argentina, wrote a research paper about the growing global trend towards privatisation of the public space in the early 2000s. She didn't like it any more than I do.
Also, a very distant relative of mine, once had a very bad experience with the illusion of security, gated communities provide: Whilst at the gates of his community were guarded 24/7, the lake shore wasn't.
So one night, a group of criminals entered with boats and machine guns, assault style and robbing almost every property.
Things like that, probably don't happen in the US, but who knows?
Gated Communities are not made for security against organized robbers, but to organize themselves in a variety of cases. So robbers will be caught afterwards.
Safety is such a fascinating concept. It's clear that people can live in low-crime neighborhoods and not become victims of any crimes (that they notice/that inflict actual harm), but still can feel afraid because of a combination of their media diet and their general personality type and ideology. Given how much of the news, especially freely-available news on social media, is concerned with covering crime, I'm not surprised that people who lean towards frequent consumption of crime news to isolate themselves from people they deem as unsafe, which mostly translates to the same economic class (and ethnicity and/or religion as secondary factors).
It's feels like the top 10 percent of the populace that segregates itself from the rest of society this way. In Germany that would mean, using 2017 data available from the bpb ("Vermögensverteilung | Die soziale Situation in Deutschland"), that the top 56 percent of the total wealth in the country would be detaching themselves from the rest of society. Both in terms of where people live, where they send their children to get educated, how they spend their free time, where they eat/where they get their groceries from... The wealthy are gradually reducing their spaces where they have to interact with the lower 90 percent of society. There have been recent studies from the US that libraries, city halls, and some sit-down restaurants are the last places where the poor and the rich can still see each other. And with growing digital services provided by city halls, that is one avenue which is disappearing.
Segregating rich and poor is the base for revolutions.
At least in Germany we have not yet reached this point. We live in Bad Homburg where the Quandt family lives (among top 5 richest families in Germany) and their children go to a public school (I know because my son attends the same). Imagine that in the USA. Also here we have only houses with fences where rich people live but nothing like a gated community.
@@mudi2000a yes, my nephew had a classmate who had his own car and driver (=security?), but all went on the same school, also refugee children.
Thank you for another well researched and structured video.
I’ve lived in different countries, in good and dodgy town centres, in relatively urban and well-to-do European-style suburbs, and in transition as well as rural suburbs. I’ve actually felt safest anytime that there were businesses and people around, and that tended to be in relatively urban spaces or suburbs. I also found my quality of life was better there than in the more rural type of suburbs or in the actual countryside.
To start with, the more rural the area, the more you will feel exposed and in danger without being in a car, because even during the day you see few people. During the night it gets worse, of course. And I’m a guy. I can only imagine how intimidating it might be for women or children.
But to follow, all of these ‘communities’, are no community at all. Maybe if there are all sorts of sports infrastructure or so, there can be something of a community, but even then, each person is much more of an island than if you live in a place where you constantly come acrosss other people and have to interact.
And further, even in terms of space and nature, in places like Northern Europe, less so in southern Europe, ironically, you will often have contact with better quality nature in public spaces close to towns or inside the actual towns, than a commuter distance away, where you just find mostly industrial scale agriculture, often inaccessible.
So, give me open, real communities anytime. Even in less than great urban areas, I’ve often felt better there than out in the outskirts, isolated from the world. Although, granted, some areas I would definitely avoid, at least after certain hours. But, be honest, I would avoid some suburbia areas after hours just as much, if not more.
One more word about something I find it mind boggling, and that is how a potential impact on the value of properties seems to be used as an applicable argument against often eminently reasonable and necessary measures. It’s an insane turn of the rules of the game that suddenly individual interests of a few can trump the general interest of the public as a whole.
Sure, concerns should be listened to, and around here there are myriad ways people can get their views heard, but it is a matter of adapting and improving what needs to be done, not of vetoing it.
Ps: I almost forgot, I also visited someone living in a gated community a few times, and it felt safe enough inside, but getting there without a car was spooky af. It’s a total no-man’s land, where one of the escape routes is completely blocked off to you. So, enjoy having everyone in your family being prisoner of the gated community and car.
You aren't "unsafe" in rural areas. There's absolutely NO ONE around to get into trouble. If there is an outsider the entire community knows pretty quickly and let's everyone know. What is unsafe in rural areas in the US is the wild animals (wolves, bears, alligators, mountain lions, etc). Also if you're in a car crash people may not come across the crash until you are dead. You are more likely to die from a heart attack, stroke, drug overdoese, etc because you are so far away from a hoverdose, I'm a woman and I felt 10,0000x safer walking in the middle of the night in rural areas. When I was 13 we moved to a rural area. I felt safer there than I did in an upscale area of the city. I lived in the city and out in rural in Switzerland. Again I felt safer walking at night in our rural area than I did in the city. Everyone in our rural area knew who I was. In the city I was just another face.
@@jessicaely2521, so, I went out of my way to ask around, already before your reply, and virtually every woman friend or family I asked felt more at danger out of town. And every single one gave a resounding “no way” about letting kids go around unattended out of town where there is no one around the moment it gets dark, whereas in urban areas it was from late at night that the feeling of lack of safety occurred. Everyone felt safer if there was people, any people somewhere. During the day, fine anywhere, I guess, but the minute it gets dark, urban was a definite winner, as a whole.
Of course, everyone feels different in different about everything for one or the other reason, and I’m sure some rural areas feel cosy enough, although I’d personally be surprised if any of these cosy rural areas were suburb-style as opposed to actual rural villages (those are a different), but you would definitely be a small minority around here, as far as I could see.
Full disclosure, everyone I talked to either lives or has lived most of their lives in or around urban centres, so maybe that makes a big difference.
you need help 🤣
We are retired and live in an active adult community. We live in a small villa that is very energy efficient and use community facilities for recreation (pool. hot tub. fitness rooms, pickleball, etc). The community is gated so only residents can use the facilities, and this is very common in Florida. The community is diverse but as you said the residents have similar financial assets. Gated retirement communities are growing rapidly in our area and people talk about the financial classes of each one.
I keep thinking of the famous The Villages in FL which is a type of independent living community for active seniors. They’re fine if you can take care of yourself but I prefer a little handholding and being provided with cooked meals and on site laundry so I’m happy with assisted living which allows me to remain independent but still be looked after when I need it.
That may be our next step as we age. Maybe we will see a future video on retirement communities in Germany vs USA
@@davidgolieri4218 I would like to see Ashton review them. Many of us don’t think about our future needs when we’re young because we’ll have good health and strength and think it’ll always be like that but in truth our circumstances can change when we get older.
Yes! @@davidgolieri4218 Next week I actually talk about retirement in Europe - but it is more so of just an overview - looking at general retirement patterns and why Americans are choosing to move to Europe in their golden years more than ever before.
Ashton. Thank you. I look forward to your videos
Ganz klar, die Amis haben leider eine dermaßen hohe Kriminalitätsrate, daß solche abgeschlossene Wohngebiete für reichere Leute die Rettung zu sein scheinen, aber in Wirklichkeit geht es um Erziehung, Kultur und Seelengröße! - Liebe Ashton Du erklärst die Dinge sehr gut und hast einen enormen Überblick bei vielen Themen. Danke, für Deine Begeisterung und Dein wertvolles kultur-pädagogisches Wirken!
Ich zahl lieber Steuern für eine angemessene Sozialhilfe und gute Erziehung aller Kinder, als daß ich mich fürchten muß vor Einbrechern und anderen Kriminellen.
Nein, das hat mit Kriminalität wenig zu tun. Es geht um Erziehung und Kultur, aber hauptsächlich auch ums Geld und den Wert. Kriminalität wird in den Communities nicht ausgeschlossen und sie findet dort auch mit Jahren Einzug. Zudem sind die Modelle unterschiedlich, d.h. in der Vergangenheit gab es viel weniger Standards und viel mehr Ungleichbehandlung. Deshalb stehen diese Communities in Konkurrenz zueinander.
Es geht um Einkommens- und Vermögensverteilung. Je ungleicher die ist, desto mehr solche Phänomene treten auf. Gated Communities, Privatschulen, teure Eliteuniversitäten, exclusive clubs in denen "networking" betrieben wird, etc, etc. Die Amis tun das nur wesentlich unsubtiler.
Es gibt genug soziologische und ökonomische Studien, die zeigen, dass der gesellschaftliche Zusammenhalt am besten innerhalb einer gewissen Bandbreite auf den Gini-Kurven von Einkommen und Vermögen funktioniert. Zu viel Ungleichheit führt zum Zerfall, zuviel Gleichheit zur Stagnation.
@@catriona_drummond Nein. Elitäre Universitäten entstanden, als es eine gleiche Verteilung an Reichtum gab. Standardschulen entstanden in Deutschland, als es eine große Ungleichverteilung gab. Gated Communities sind nicht wg. Vermögensverteilung entstanden, sondern aus Abwehr vor dem linken Staat. Die offenen Communities wurden einfacher von Zentralbehörden übernommen, da die lokalen Strukturen ausgehebelt wurden.
In Südamerika entstanden Gated Communities ebenfalls als Abwehr vor der reichen Mittelschicht für linke Führer.
Der Zusammenhalt in Deutschland war bei hoher Ungleichheit stets besser als im mittleren Bereich, wo wir jetzt sind. Der Unterschied macht das Mindset. Heute ist es eher ein Verlierermindset in Deutschland, was Neid kennt.
Breakfast check, baby diapers check, new video by ashton hell yeah. Good sunday everyone:)🎉
Quick edit, i Like the Logo, good Intro aswell!
I live in Zimbabwe and everyone I know who is moneyed in the city either lives in a gated community or has two metre walls with electric fencing strung across the top for good measure. I moved to the countryside during the pandemic and the fears I now have (e.g. will a leopard attack my goats?) are now very different.
We live in Houston, TX in the urban core and prefer to live without gated communities, but I still understand the motivation. When you see videos on nextdoor of your neighbors getting robbed at gunpoint in front of their homes after coming home from the bank, you do think, this could not have happened in a gated community.
I think gated communities for middle / upper middle class are primarily a function of crime rates. So the bigger income and wealth inequality is, the more crime you have, the more "regular people" try to protect their families from potential harm. It's not about tax incentives or protecting financial investments, it's the fear of physical harm to your loved ones.
When I grew up in Austria I NEVER had that fear for my family. I never looked over my shoulder while pumping gas or while putting my kids into the car seat in the grocery parking lot, wondering if somebody will stick a gun in my back.
Pittsburgh has no gated communities within the city limits, and we are proud about that. Someone on Reddit asked if we had any within the city and the entire thread was either “no” or “don’t move here if you want to wall off the city.” Very proud of that
my first thought - and explanation is : fear
According to a study (years ago) .. off of all western modern nations, Americans are the most afraid of .. well, everything.
Great video, Ashton. All these gated communities and HOAs use their legal possibilities. If it is not the government‘s or the people‘s will and project to act against this segregation, nothing will Happen. Given the political situation and the fact that presidential candidates and certainly candidates for other political offices depend on fundraisers, i.e. those who are a part of the population of the gated communities, the perspectives are not surprising.
„Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing.“ Whose bread I eat, his song I will sing😉
The easy part: Love the new look to the channel! It definitely reflects the professional turn the channel has taken. Quite frankly, this direction is why I support and subscribe to your channel; a continued focus on family life would have not set you apart from the many other CZcamsrs who I will watch occasionally, but not really care about. Anyway - I like it!
The hard part: I haven‘t been back to the US for 6 years and I have very little contact with people there in the meantime, but what I sense from the news, videos and other information sources is that fear is extraordinarily pervasive in the country - fear of other races, other cultures, other gender or sexual identities, etc. The fear seems to lead people to regard any difference as an attack on their own values and lives. This is certainly not limited to the USA; we see the rise of the AfD in Germany, the election of a far-right president in Italy, the threat from the right in France, Brexit - the list goes on and on. It would seem to me that gated communities are bound to exacerbate the situation, strengthening the sense of „us vs. them“, „being under attack“. The last few years I went to the States, I was unnerved by the many people in my parents‘ circle of friends who were buying guns and carrying them all the time. (I know, the American cliché.) I really don‘t think they were at that much of a risk, but they were almost hysterical, as if murderers, rapists, and who knows who else were lurking at every corner, behind every bush. Strangely enough, I have some American friends here in Germany who are uneasy when I walk home from their place at night. I don‘t want to live in that state of fear! I hope it never reaches that point here.
Thank you Ashton, for making my Sunday Morning Routine perfect. 🙋♂️
Excellent video. Thank you for your perspective and the amount of research that you do on a topic. 👏🏻👏🏻
My pleasure!
Amazingly interesting ! I don't have the answer to your question, but your video is helping me to understand that we must think that it's not a very simple question. Thank you for pushing us to think about this tendency, and try to avoid falling in the same exclusion mentality.
We've lived in a gated community for the past 20 years and love it. Wouldn't have it any other way.
I guess the reason they're not really prevalent in the nordics is the right to roam we have, even here in Denmark with the most limited right, due to the much higher population density, you still cannot gate off an entire area just like that. The only area that is somewhat protected for a landowner is within 50 meters of the residence and it also has to be your land, few plots are large enough to extend more than 50 meters away from the residence. So in effect this leaves just closed courtyards in apartment blocks as the closest thing to a gated community, still pretty far from even just the british ones mentioned, much less the US ones, which would be illegal here for so many reasons.
One thing that took me by surprise and still is haunting my thoughts is the rule of "stand your ground" to concider the fear of an individual to be justification for using force against someone else. I am a big man with a beard while having a shaved skull and I am very awear of the fact, that my appearence enwokes questions in the head of the people I meet - how many of them would feel an amount of fear, that for them would justify to pull a gun on me.
Gated communities expands the sphere that people are claiming to be free from others they do not know ...
Everybody should be challenged by the presence of the unknown espacially unknown people, because we fear the things in life most that we don't know ...
Why don't you live in a favela?
at work I was talking with one of our customers and he is friends with the local police officer in his rural area and was recounting a story
he drove by his officer friend doing a traffic stop and there was a car pulled up and 4 LARGE African MEN outside hands on the roof "cops style" and the ONE OFFICER 100% confused to what happened and what to do so he turns around and went back to see if the officer needed "help" and the 4 men are from the deep south in the USA and this is NORMAL as they would likely be shot
in Canada it is FAR different
these 4 MEN where scared for there LIVES and would have LITTLE issue KILLING the officer and my friend in unarmed combat but the level of FEAR from segregation / racism
Wish you a wonderful Sunday morning. Again a well researched video that allows a more differentiated view on this phenomenon. Even I think, different to a Condo-HOA like we have in Germany, these completely gated (segregated) communities are fostering racial and social segregation and are at least "poison" for the community.
Have a nice Sunday with your loved ones.😊
They certainly do. Back in the day the bylaws of many even specified that only white people were allowed and you were forbidden to sell to non-white people.
I live in th US and I see racism daily - also from people calling themselves "liberal". It is always the same: Whites move into a white neighborhood or take over a latino or black neighborhood via increasing prices. And they are only satisfied when the last interesting shop or venue is gone and everything was replaced by realtors (Oh I need another house for wealth and retirement, ...), boring bagel shops and some horrible overpriced "steak houses". Not forgetting "salad bowl shops" with overpriced salads and always something with "healthy" and "gym" and "I have to choose careful my proteins, my carbs, my ....". It is just plain fad.
And the same then complain in the New York Times about that racism everywhere...
I live in Canada and gated communities are VERY rare here and the ones I have seen are more of a "condo" then a "village" as far as the body corporate / HOA is concerned where they "police" infrastructure / running of the facility and LESS about policing social policies / constructs
I was really struggling to understand why it's hard to get accurate numbers of people living in gated communities until I remembered that in America, you don't have to register your address wherever you move
I took a couple of business law classes and it amazed me the sheer number of laws that were written to provide people with a lot of money the ability to shelter themselves from liability. That's pretty much the whole point of a corporation. All the benefits of owning and controlling a business but without the personal liability. The tax advantage afforded gated communities is consistent with these laws and this mentality.
As a UK resident, i can see a similar response in gated communities to what the Normans did after 1066. Gated communities are modern versions of castles built to keep the inhabitants safe and the locals out. You only let in trusted locals who have skills you need.
As much as I dislike gated communities, there are some distinct advantages of HOAs for some (not all) owners. First, the landscaping is typically organized by HOAs, which is a benefit for those who don't have a green thumb or are physically handicapped. Second, HOAs keep an eye on the outside appearance of homes and thus make it easier for landlords that are renting homes in HOAs.
I lived in gated communities in the USA and they give a feel of security and exclusiveness. However, it is very strange that we move behind gates in the supposedly freest country on the planet!
Europe used to have gated communities too. We called them palaces or courts. We mostly did away with them.
By the way - Love your videos!
Interesting video Ashton! It’s nice that you include different countries in Europe to compare to the us . (I love the map graphics btw.). While viewing the video, it reminded me a lot about the movie ‘The hunger games’ with all the districts and segregation. I don’t think this is the way forward for our society.
The two things we as citizens can do against segregation is to make aware of it as soon as it happens, which you obviously do with this video. And the second is, that we consider at any election which party will work against it.
And of course in our personal life we should not segregate ourselves from people with different origin. We should stay in contact with all kind of people and leave our comfort-zone whenever we can.
It would be interesting to see what would happen when communities around a gated community became gated communities as well. The original gated community might get locked in by gated communities and its residents unable to get in or out without permission and/or being scrutinized by the security of the surrounding gated community. Is such a thing possible or do zoning laws make this impossible?
I've always thought that gated communities are mainly about security, which would also explain why there are more of them in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe, just compare the crime statistics between East and West. And in a country where any of your neighbors can legally and very easily stuff their houses to the roof with guns, you certainly want to have some control over who your neighbors can even be. Also, those gun laws make everyone around you a potential threat, after all, anyone you meet on the street could have a gun in their pocket and use it at the slightest aggression, so you want as few people around you on the street as possible. And if there is any truth to this assumption, it is yet another argument against the claim that guns in private hands provide safety, because rather the opposite is true: easy access to firearms makes citizens more dangerous, as they can much more easily become a terrible threat.
3:15 This is soooooo USA 😊
Living in a glamourus gated community, shiny white walls, uniformed gards.... But when it comes to the details. Crapy cheap run down key pad.
Something i noticed frequently during my visits and it always make me smile and i remember the tree that was growing in the closet of my room in a motel between Frisco an LA😂
The landscapers always using a leaf blower, always covering my grill and my windows in dust.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this . When you have money and want to use it for safety and privacy, that is your right.
Hi Ashton, first of all, I love the new format. One suggstion: I feel like the sound effects that are played while text is displayed are a bit too prominent; maybe consider lowering their volume a bit.
Regarding your question, i repeat what i wrote to the last video about the Right to Roam: Land shouldn't be allowed to be privately owned in the first place.
That reinforces in my mind the notion that segregationism is one of the most important characteristic of American society (thought, as stated in the video, this tendency is not limited to the USA.)
The simple fact to describe as a "community" what is basically a "neighbourhood" is part of that (OK, for once, the term "community" can be rightfully applied to some of these neighbourhoods.)
So, yeah, instead of opening up my mind, you reinforced my stereotyped ideas about American society. Thank you, video! :-Þ
I remeber once I was walking in London Fulham and saw a park on a way, I though I will have a look. But soon was noted it's private members club park or smth. The feeling almost of shame I got from not realizing it's not for simple human like myself was very very uncomfortable.
Hello Ashton! Thanks for that great video. I'm sharing your concerns regarding Europe. People claiming that Europe doesn't have something comparable to Hidden Hills are ignoring that the means to achieve that effect could be far more subtle.
It starts with costs of living and the availability of jobs. This is setting places like Starnberg, Baden-Baden, Bad Nauheim, Grünwald/München and many more massively apart from other places in Germany. Security is much less an issue since the right to bear weapons is severely more restrictive all over Europe and police forces are very well equipped and are cooperating across borders.
And last but not least: we don't need exclusive zones with permission to set their own laws. You just look at the neighbouring countries with a significantly higher GDP per capita and - Bingo! - there you are: the tax heavens of Switzerland and Luxemburg (I'd count a few more in but let's be a bit relaxed here). And actually they're dotted all over Europe: Andorra, the English Channel islands, Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Malta, Cyprus, ... I'm sure that this list isn't complete.
Of course they do offer quite everything "Hidden Hills" does - but far more elegantly and discrete since most of them are comparatively small, souvereign states (however the English Channel islands aren't part of the UK but possessions of the Crown with a separate legislation).
BTW, there's a term for that kind of mind set in German:
Wagenburgmentalität (literally translated wagon fort mentality).
More and more often I find myself asking what has become of the values of the French Revolution:
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
I remember getting a ticket for driving into a residence only street in Heidelberg. This was a government street. I thought I couldn’t imagine such a thing in the US.
I guess city planning and CZcams-Comment-sections are pretty alike. You alway get what you give. If the city, the county or the cuntry provides solid, mixed housing space, you can avoid seggeration. If you nurture Gated communities, you support it.
It always depends on the idea, the Utopia, you promote in the people. I, as an european in a city-area, like the idea of mixed neighberhoods. With a small store on the ground level and two to three appartments on top. With people meeting on the streets ans chatting on benches in small pedestrian areas. Where my kids can meet other kids and go of to the playground and even if I'm not looking there are other parents keeping an eye.
The Gated communities are the logical extrapolation of the "Single-familie-only" policy of many suburbian areas in the US.
Thank you for the grate video!
In Oklahoma, gated communities are very popular, at least in the newer and/or pricier areas. Conservative areas thrive on fear because it's a huge money maker. I refused to purchase a home in one because 1) it's VERY expensive each month because you have to pay for road upkeep since the city won't. 2) It isn't necessary, as the NextDoor app indicates, crime is no different in one or out. 3) It's entirely about fear, particularly of people who look different and I'm not playing that hateful game.
My small experience of this as a child in the south was my parents moving us to the outskirts of the city as part of the "white flight" to get us out of the older parts where the public schools were thought to be going downhill. It is indeed economic segregation. Our HOA fought any development of apartment buildings in the area because it might bring down our property value and crowd the schools with poor kids. I'm not sure what the solution is, because I wouldn't want my kids to go to a downtrodden school either.
IMO we have to start treating taxes like the "community" fund that they were intended to be. Here in Germany, property taxes are paid to the individual Landkreis (think county), but the revenue is small, so the majority of the tax base comes in the form of either Value Added Tax (think sales tax), trade tax, or income taxes. There as some nuances on each tax and how it is distributed... but in general, taxes are pooled at the federal level and then there is a fancy algorithm which dictates how that money is spread amongst individual states and local municipalities based on things like population and need.
The biggest difference from the US to Germany can be seen in the school systems. Schools are treated as a fundamental building block of society and should not be a situation of haves and have-nots when it comes to public schools. In the US, schools are funded mainly through property taxes and those taxes come directly from the surrounding neighborhood. So wealthy families with big houses pay more in property tax and their schools are much fancier as a result. And poorer neighborhoods have a smaller tax base and struggle with funding.
Then in the US we compound the problem by habitually defunding or underfunding public education at the state and federal levels.
Countries are also gated communities serving somewhat similar goals on similar criteria.
Hello Dr. (Type A)shton,
Thanks for another provocative well researched topic video.
Like the rebranding for these topics but still enjoy seeing your lives in the Black Forest. (I’m still hoping to see Jonathan’s guided tour of your home’s technical room, it’s features, and how they differ from a typical US house.)
Not all gates are visible. There aren’t many physically gated communities or even HOAs in my part of the country but we have essentially got gated communities via a gate of a different type, housing prices. Housing prices are highly correlated with public school system quality and those that value education are able and willing to pay the initial higher prices to buy property and ongoing local property taxes to support them. This leads to widely differing income, ethnic, linguistic, and social demographics separated by only a town/city boundary line on a map. For some reason, violent crime mostly respects that boundary, too. I’m not sure why but it is rare to read about violent crime in localities with higher housing prices. Even property crime is less. So it is possible to have a “gated” community without the gate.
It's a complex issue for sure, and unfortunately I think it is fueled at least in part by how the US funds Public Services. Just as your example with schools (where wealthy areas have nice schools and poor areas have a lower quality of building/opportunities)... The same is true for other public services too. I would imagine that it all feeds into the psyche of neglect that so many feel in the disadvantaged areas. Why should they trust public officials when they are left behind and treated like second class citizens with second rate services and opportunities? (Rhetorically speaking)
I had to smile at the short pause you inserted in your closing words: "for more content from ... pause ... type Ashton ... hit the ...". But maybe I just imagined that pause ...
Gentrification takes various forms. One of the most glaring is how now starter homes are $300K+ . That eliminates lower income, fixed income, and younger starting out families. Higher entry costs create lifetime debt, without the likelihood of breaking free from that. Add institutional investors in Air BnB's and build to rent only, housing inventory shortages will continue. No need for gates with this model, but it eliminates many from entry.
since the 50s the USA developers have pushed a 2 choice model
live in a flat/apartment in an inner suburb / down town that has little in the way of actual space to do anything and little "public" space outside the apartment
OR a suburban detached home in a "field" of detached homes with little outside of green space and car driving space for "public space"
and with the high LAND usage of detached AMERICAN suburban design we have "runout" of good and easily serviced LAND and that is causing the housing crisis and causing major population migrations OUT of major centres as they can NOT afford to live there and causing the people that do STAY to demand far higher compensation driving inflation and TAX levels to NEW heights
and add in the COST of maintaining the suburbs draining already dry city coffers
Fascinating. Ive always wondered what on earth those gated communities are.
An excellent start to the new brand! Thank you.
The answer to your final question would, IMHO, take up so much time and 'real estate' on this page that I have to disappoint you with no answer.
All I shall put forward is that you suggest it would be better not to have this 'exclusiveness' but rather seek more 'inclusiveness'.
I think, however, it is exactly this excluding oneself from anything strange (German "Fremd") which is sought by people who live in such communities. They wish to be amongst their like and not have to suffer difference.
Whatever ....... a very interesting video again. 👍
Used to live in SA! Many, many gated communities! Mostly due to high crime rates by us making additional security an attraction
Type Ashton is off to a flying start with a video that I feel is your signatuur "style" well researched and well presented, unbaised while still questioning/wondering about "why" we do things.
Also loved to you mentioning my home country of the Netherlands.
All housing development (or nearly all of them) must also offer affordable housing for low income as research seems to show that growing up in a mixed environment leads to greater empathy and understanding of "others"..(I.e. it counters to "fear off the unknown").
Keep up the great work!
Ps. I would love to see your thoughts/comments on initiatives like "strong town".
I think using a few multi million dollar communities in 1 state to call all HOA communities elite and privileged is bit of a stereotype. While some HOA in Florida have high prices, they are very much not elite, nor controlling the city tax structure. (Except maybe the villages, which is a city in itself)
I think the main reason people choose gated communities and willing to pay the premium is security. The homeless problem in the US isn't handled very well.
Did you introduce what HOA stand for at any point that i missed? I was confused when you started talking about HOA and had to google it as that is not a term i was familiar with.
New channel name, same video quality. Thanks for making us think :)
It’s the modern version of lords sitting inside their castles. I understand why you would want to protect yourself especially if you have a lot of money but it’s not good if societies develop into such segregated communities with the rich and poor never meeting each other. It’s a trend I hope I never see here in Sweden. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes more popular as wealth distribution becomes more and more unequal.
As a non-wealthy Dutchman I can only speak from theory and what I think is common sense. My question is always: in what kind of society do you want to live. If the balamce between common wealth and individual wealth favors individual wealth, what does that mean for the have-not's in the society. The 'have's' cannot move freely in the society but only from guarded bubble to guarded bubble. So, in this case, if you want to build and live in an Utopia, what will they run into outside the guarded walls. I think that this kind of segregation is probably also a bad choice economically in the long run. Yet, that is easy to say if you do not have that much wealth (and position) to lose.
Nice subject though!
I would say as you drift further towards "private wealth" OVER "social wealth" you see an increase of "throw away" people like mentally ILL OR of marginalised backgrounds
and the "society" chooses to NOT care for them causing a decaying public environment creating increased "fear" as desperate people do "desperate" acts and the "litter" of un housed people living "hard" as they say in public spaces
I see no reason to limit the exclusion gates communities provide. People should be free to live how they wish, in whatever communities they prefer.
Great video! Gated communities have always given me a big of the hee-bee-gee-bees. I used to live near St. George’s Hill in Surrey and even the locals thought it was a bit odd. Lots of celebrities so that made sense for security, but for others who only had tons of money it seemed elitist and snobby. Lots of socioeconomic segregation in the USA.
I actually live in the De Brekken area in Lemmer (17:30) and although it has a gateway for cars with a number plate identification camera, everybody can easily enter the place by foot or by bicycle. A lot of the houses on the right side are rented as holiday homes. The restaurant for example is also popular with the locals from other parts of Lemmer and the boat rental, the minigolf course ore the playground are open to everybody. Maybe not a very good example for the purposes of the video?
Here in Geneva, Switzerland, pretty much all areas are a mix of subsidized (social) housing and non subsidized.
It keeps everyone integrated.
It is not a good idea to isolate different economic classes into separate areas.
I have extended family who live in some of the poorer parts of Geneva. I have always been deeply impressed at how cosmopolitan, vibrant, well-managed and secure these communities feel.
I Germany the equivalent of an HOA was put into law for condos, but could be used for single family homes as well.
The German wkrd "Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft" (or WEG) translates to "appartment owners association".
Most WEGs have a board (Beirat) - but it's not mandatory to have one. By default this board doesn't have any power to make decisions. It's main function is to assist and control the administrator of the WEG. The administrator is usually a private company. All major decisions are made on an annual meeting by all owners. All day to day decisions by Tha administrator.
Our monthky WEG fees are way lower than US HOA fees.
Canadian here, so my situation may not translate. I spent 30 years living in Toronto, our largest city, moving numerous times due to shifting living situations. I lived in a fairly broad spectrum of neighbourhoods, and the ones I preferred were in between the middle and the working class areas. It was the mix between people of different backgrounds, economic class, ethnicity and religion, that made the places vibrant and interesting. I don't actually know if there are gated communities in the Greater Toronto Area (there probably are) but the very rich neighbourhoods, while often beautiful, seemed empty, monolithic and sad. There's a concept in urban planning called "Eyes on the Street", where the fact that there are people living, working, dining out or shopping, that makes the area safer because it would be harder to commit a violent crime unseen.I lived in a few rough places, but it was only in the well off areas that I actually felt unsafe.
Theres gated Trailer Parks in Jacksonville FL, I don't know about other cities or states? I never understood paying the fees to live in a box in a hurricane ridden state
Gated communities seems to be exported to other parts of the world but it doesn't always work out. Those gates may keep riff raff out but they keep the residents in. From what I know of south America and even parts of the Caribbean some got targeted by thieves using knowledge of the residents' movements provided by caretaker staff and guards. Most of the staff are fine but it's just the odd one who knowingly or unknowingly gives out information.
I have heard of places in India where the local residents have FORCEFULLY taken over there street and made it a gated community to KEEP CORRUPT officials out and to provide the services that are NOT being provided by the local consul
4:05 - "would be open and shared by all citizens of a locality" - yeah, but also the illegal immigrants. If the governemnt doesn't enforce the borders, private individuals will for themselves.
hello Ashton, first I would like to say that the new name of your channel is well chosen. because this video is, as so often, a typical ashton video - well researched and presented in a sympathetic way! In my opinion, it also shows - like many of your previous videos - another nuance in the greatest war of mankind, the war of rich against poor. and if in return you see pictures of entire streets full of homeless people, i believe that in the usa - which celebrates the capitalism of all "developed" countries in its most brutal form - stories like "Blade runner" are the quickest to become a sad reality !
Greetings to your men Michael/Hanover
Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the rebrand.
Now i get where the developers of Fallout got their inspiration from. Really depressing.
Soylent Green, Blade Runner, even The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy show gated communities
In the Netherlands there is a tax on property. This tax was the reason for a lot of houses with enormous parks around the house to open them for the public. It’s not forbidden to close it but then you have to pay private property tax. This tax is calculated on the value of your land. With prices of Dutch land very
Often above €100 per m2 it can be very expensive. A gated community has also to pay these taxes for the shared areas. In nu a not gated community the government is paying for the maintenance and uphold cost and the residents are only paying private property tax over their house and land they own.
Interesting story. As an American living in Europe I do see the differences, and yes it is cultural, but in some part for reasons not completely covered. Americans have a very large sense of personal space and privacy that is not so common in Europe. I have lived here on and off for many years and still find adapting a problem at times. The concept of "peace and quiet" is very ingrained in Americans and involves many facets. Look at how people line up for things in the two areas. A 4 meter section of a line here in Spain, and most of Europe, might be 10 people where in the US it might only be 6 or 8. Noise can be a real issue too. Personal space is much more of a "thing" in the US and it extends to our residence style. Look at the sprawling suburbs in the US as opposed to cities in Europe. The houses are spaced much farther apart with larger private areas for "personal use" than a home here in Spain. Much of the idea of gated communities may have a basis here in Europe just on a grander scale. How often do you see a house (not apartment building or town house complex) in France, Germany or Spain NOT surrounded by a 1.5 meter concrete wall or iron fence on at least two or three sides? Hidden Hills is an extreem version of these gated and private communities, but maybe with a different goals. Fame, either through wealth or notoriety, tends to attract a crowd. Restricting access can alleviate some of this like people on your lawn taking pictures or molested when out for a walk, a swim at the pool or going to a community facility, plus a deterrence in nefarious activities. There is a quote attributed to a 1920s gangster. When asked why he robbed banks his reply was "because that is where the money is". The same could be said of the homes in these communities, because that is where the good stuff to steal is. I want to add, congratulations on your new adventure and I look forward to next Sunday and you good coverage of another interesting subject.
Aren’t there also Neighborhoods with smaler plots and 2 m wooden walls around in the US?
I think privacy is perceived very different in both countries. In the US it is about physical space between people but once you have to interact with them it gets private. In Germany you can stay anonymous while interacting with people and small physical spaces are not a problem
@@karinland8533 look at nudity across the pond in the USA undressing to use a shower 100% MUST BE PRIVATE with ZERO chance of being seen (common to have a shower in the MASTER bedroom in newer homes )
where as showing "some skin" in public as a LOT more acceptable
I think I saw a video about HOAs where it was stated that France was the place of invention for the idea, but that it was abandoned for some reason... I don't remember which channel or the specific title, but it was quite interesting from what I can remember!
EDIT: I think it was from Adam Ruins Everything!!
Have visited a number of normal homes in gated communities in Florida. Some are near universities, entertainment, or other high traffic areas with limited free parking spots for the public. A few of the gated HOAs, which I have not visited, have much larger properties with wealthy residents such as entertainers, sports figures, and big business owners. Have been able to view these via real estate sites to see how many rooms they have and the amenities. Have heard some good experiences with conveniences and a few very annoying rules and costly circumstances of outstanding fees against a homeowner. We avoided an HOA which is harder to avoid near urban areas in Florida.
Living and having been a Taxi driver in night shift for 15 years in Augsburg, Germany, a city of 300.000 which had already 100.000 residents with migration background _before_ the Syrian and Ukrainian refugees crisis, I have one simple advice: The more you mix your population the better. There are neither gated communities here, nor ghettos or "bad neighborhoods", neither migrant gangs and nor Nazis. The police is tough in comparison to other cities, but not brutal or racist. The city is acutely aware when some quarters are in danger to fall behind and acts accordingly to better the situation as soon as possible. The complete city is safe for everyone anytime, even at night for women. (Rare exceptions like murder or manslaughter in public spaces make headlines for weeks and are still shocking because of their rarity. The last one I remember lies years in the past and didn't involve migrants at all.) - So, albeit being one of the cities with the highest percentage of migrants in Germany, Augsburg is a calm and safe city with few problems. On the other hand, where natives haven't had much contact with migrants, like in Eastern Germany, there xenophobia is a far bigger problem. The solution is not segregation but cohabitation.
yeah, it spreads the crime around over a much larger population of victims...
That's what the inevitable result is in any country that's tried forcing these migrants onto smaller towns and cities in massive numbers, usually without providing those towns with the extra police forces needed to enforce the law, and/or with laws that turn these migrants into a class that's above the law.
And this started decades ago. In the 1990s in the town where I lived there was a "refugee center". The inhabitants were free to roam the town, go shopping, etc. etc. and go home to their dorm rooms to sleep and get their free meals.
A lot of them took the opportunity to go shoplifting, sexually assaulting local women (and children), stealing cars. And the local police (seriously understaffed) were told they had no authority over the "visitors" and they could not arrest them for anything because of their refugee status. And then the locals got attacked by the media and the justice system for "hate speech" and "nazi ideology" when pointing out this idiocy.
haha. Good one.
@@jwentingI have to say, I have rarely read such a stupid comment as yours. This unjustified statement that the police are required not to hold certain groups of people accountable if they do not comply with the law is not only misleading, but also false. In Germany, there is a separation of powers for a reason. The police act according to the law, no one talks them into the craft. Neither local nor national politics has a say in this, even if some contemporaries, like you, would like to claim it so often. It is and remains a hoax. The reasons for this are plain and simple: it is an attempt to criminalize certain people and drive a wedge into society. Xenophobia is packaged in a pseudo-enlightening way. That's really pathetic what you wrote here.
@@jwenting No, cohabitation doesn't spread the crime over a larger population. It prevents parallel societies from forming and increases levels of integration and assimilation, which increases social participation, and in turn gives people a feeling of being full members of society - all things that reduce crime rate. That's one of the main reasons why Germany had fewer and less severe Islamist terror attacks and has less migrant-related crime compared to France.
That is what here in the US could be, but instead we have oligarchs who have kept us divided. May I share your comments verbatim on my Facebook feed?
Didn't any nation fail if its citizens seek protection from their own community / state / nation in a secluded area with it's own rules? Is that not why we have nations in the first place - to protect me from "others"?
Hello, my property in Texas has an HOA. I think they're pros and cons. Pros: Sets standards to what owners can do to their properties "no crazy colors or decorations," and also prevent trash containers from being left outside too long. Cons: The enforcement of those standards leads to fines, which can add up quickly. You're living in a constant state of severance. The HOA would drive by, and if you're past your time to put something away, trash container, basketball hoop, etc, by minutes, they'll take a notice with a picture. Half of the time, their website won't work, or you won't be able to reach them over the phone. Leading to substantial fines. Also, if you don't get along with your neighbor, they will report you to the HOA. I'm not a fan of HOAs, not again. 😳
Honestly even the Pro sounds like a con to me. If I manage to own a house and the land it stands on, I want to be able to do with it whatever I want as long as its within the law
Ashton doesn't seem to have understood the German system. In Germany, you have common property, but with a fixed coersion to invest in that common thing! In the US, you have the exit possibility for those, who can't keep the cost payments, leading to "the richest" to pay for the rest. Or having standards undercut like nobody doing the things "promised". In both systems, you have "fees" to prevent misuse of the property. But in the US, the one who doesn't really pay his rent, can fee up a person, who lives his own life, because America makes people "equal".
@@anna-flora999 Exactly that is not legally right in the US. The initial "gated community" was the way to get what you want. But the US State (under Kennedy, Clinton and W. Bush) further limited the possible division within your own ground. That made these "Gated Communities" just a lifestyle choice, which were mostly underfunded and the less bad option to choose in areas, which are done. Like California or New York. That doesn't make it a great option. In Germany, we have the same Socialist mindset, and e.g. with the Social benefits by the state, a restriction of property value and your freedom within and around. But, you have more conservative structures and far less "gentryfication", so things don't go to a shit so fast.
"no crazy colors or decorations," is somethign that is strongly connected to city having a hard hand, not a private entitiy, here. So a HOA is not needed for that. Not to mention that I would call it a disadvantage.
trying to find a PRO in your statement
so it is a PLUS I can NOT paint my front door RED as that is a lucky colour because it "clashes" with your idea of "beautiful"
there are HOA/Body corporate free terraced homes in my city that one house is totally different then its "mate" side and I am 100% OK with it and as for dust bins being "left out" to long that is a LOCAL consul issue along with "junk" cars ETC
love the American system
I visited a gated housing once not in the US though. Armed guards checked everyone it was are really weird experience. Like crossing the border to the former DDR. It does create instant fear of the outside