Zamknięte osiedla, czyli dylemat współczesnych polskich miast. Badanie porównawcze mieszkańców zamkniętych i otwartych osiedli w Warszawie
Gated communities – dilemma of contemporary Polish cities. A comparative study of inhabitants of gated and non-gated communities in Warsaw

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the results of empirical research carried out among the inhabitants of selected gated communities in the city of Warsaw, Poland (in the years 2006 and 2008). The subject of this inquiry is the influence of residential location on the following: a sense of security (security paradox); civic activity, local social capital, place attachment (community paradox) and attitude towards gating. The occurrence of this influence has been verified using a series of intergroup comparison tests on sample of 415 respondents who live in comparable (in terms of location, standard, height of the buildings, residence time, etc.) gated and non-gated communities. The obtained evidence shows that the inhabitants of gated communities, on the one hand, were significantly younger, felt more secure and were more positive about gating of settlements than the inhabitants of non-gated communities were, but, on the other hand, their residence time was shorter, they were less active in civic terms, had lower level of local social capital and were less attached to the city. The analysis produced a puzzling result: the inhabitants of gated communities were more attached to their own apartment than the inhabitants of non-gated communities, but, at the same time, they reported significantly lower attachment to the city. Additionally, a model of civic activity has been produced, based on regression analysis of this sample – separately for gated and non-gated inhabitants. It contains key variables – sense of security and generalized trust – which characterize psycho-social functioning of gated communities’ inhabitants.

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