RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION AS AN EFFECT OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN HERMOSILLO, SONORA

Abstract

The private production of housing in gated communities is generated under mercantile and exclusionary logics, these are promoted with narratives linked to exclusivity and security, they are built with perimeter walls that obstruct urban mobility, as well as other defensive elements that give cities a particular image. But how are these types of spaces distributed or grouped in cities and how do they exacerbate residential segregation? This paper aims to generate a descriptive analysis of the category of residential segregation that emerges from the research entitled "Social representations of fear of the inhabitants of gated communities in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora: the walled fear", conducted in 2020. In which, given the lack of institutional information on the phenomenon of gated communities, in relation to the amount of this type of spaces, their spatial distribution, housing density and more, to obtain the empirical material, it was decided to go to each of these developments, and capture in observation cards, urban elements of these spaces such as defensive characteristics, its geographical location, approximate number of houses, the adjoining and other elements. According to the analysis of the data obtained, we observed the distribution of this type of spaces according to their social class, as well as the differences in terms of housing density and characteristics according to the type of subdivision, in addition to alerting us to the deep residential segregation produced by these types of urban designs.