There has been a rapid rise in luxury housing schemes in gated communities across Cairo. These communities are built in uniform and high-end luxury architectural style. The social impact of these gated communities is quite controversial and has been a burning topic of debate.
El-Moez Street in Old Cairo by Omar Attallah
The development of new housing models in Cairo allows for plenty of opportunities to explain this hypothesis. The social impacts and causes of gravitating towards in the gated communities is the topic of debate in this article. After a thorough debate, it has been concluded that most people tend to prefer living in gated communities of Cairo as they offer better lifestyle opportunities.
The positive social impacts of these gated communities are countless. They offer a clean and eco-friendly housing model for residents along with exclusive private schools, tennis courts, golf courts and access to other prestigious amenities. These ultra-modern and advanced communities separate themselves from the impoverished outskirts of Cairo. With lush greenery and blue water lakes, the surrounding deserts are walled off from these high end communities.
Sheikh Zayed City in Cairo by Ihabshalaby
These gated communities offer lucrative employment opportunities and social integration avenues to the residents. Provision of privacy, security and strengthening of community ties also support the positive social impact of these gated communities on residents. New satellite cities around greater Cairo offer superior quality of life while ensuring a prestigious living atmosphere. Belonging to a Gated community has some positive impact on its social fabric as well.
Case Study
Exploring the social impacts of Gated communities in Cairo, we came across the example of Ghonimi, a new satellite city around the Greater Cairo. From micro to macro social impacts of Gated communities in Cairo, it has not been a good idea. Opportunities for social networking can be created by integrating the houses at various levels. It allows for a more relaxed traffic environment with less traffic and pedestrian channels. The provision of covered public stations allows for avenues for public interaction. It develops smooth sailing social interaction as there are lesser occasions of pedestrians and vehicles conflict. It allows for an amalgamation of a varied range of communities.
Citadel and tombs in Cairo by Antonio Beato
Residents of Ghonimi community, feel a sense of belonging to a particular sect. There are numerous avenues for social interaction in Ghonimi architecturally designed exclusively for this purpose. Various landmarks and spaces have been reserved for solidifying social relationships among members of the community. The members of the community feel a strong sense of responsibility and brotherhood. Development of a unified identity, no matter if it is confined to those living within the Gated Community allows ample opportunities to share local customs and traditions among members of the community.
Other lucrative avenues for promoting social networking within Gated communities in Cairo, could include architectural designing of visually aesthetic buildings to develop a sense of safety, security as well as promote social interaction. By recruiting architectural geniuses in discovering the exclusive locations within Ghonimi and other Gated communities around the Greater Cairo, is a good way to start enhancing social connectivity. Another supporting step that could be strengthening the social fabric of the city of Cairo would be to allow ease of access to education, health and governance at a fairly equivalent scale.
Social Challenges
Even in these luxurious housing schemes in Cairo, the rising wave of social inequality is hard to ignore. Through these gated communities, people have been limited to certain areas due to their affordability. Residents belonging to high-income status are allowed to live in these gated communities. Each resident is bound in strict boundaries according to their affordability power. Many negative social impacts of these gated communities have been observed. Rising gated communities in Cairo have brought forward socio-economic injustices from these luxury housing models.
Gated communities have received a lot of attention in recent years. Small, medium and large- sized Gated communities demarcate the scattered landforms and help enhance the urban fabric of a city. Breaking down class and status-based borders is the gateway to dampening these prevailing social differences in the region. On the other hand, the public sector needs to focus on increasing the income rates of manual laborers as well as tackle the rising inflation. They should be provided these amenities as well, along with the provision of an increase in their income and housing support. Otherwise, rising social differences between the upper and lower middle class can develop extreme law and order consequences for citizens of similar metropolitan cities, which can be a major loss for all involved. People living in gated communities have become besotted by their newfound comfort and luxury.
