Les gated communities aux Etats-Unis

Les gated communities, quartiers enclos et sécurisés interdits aux non-résidents, construisent des ensembles dans lesquels l’espace public est privatisé, et proposent un mode de vie fondé sur les loisirs. Symboles d’un éclatement de la ville, ces quartiers représentent une part croissante des lotissements neufs. La fermeture physique, et la sélection sociale qui président à ces projets posent des problèmes inédits aux métropoles américaines : elles sont les manifestations d’un morcellement de la ville en communautés homogènes, gérées comme des villes privées en quête d’une indépendance politique et fiscale préjudiciable à la métropole.
Sur le terrain de Los Angeles, la thèse étudie l’impact politique, fiscal, social de ces quartiers sur les municipalités et voisinages d’appartenance, et met en évidence la construction de discontinuités produites par la fermeture.
La gated community est tout d’abord envisagée comme un produit immobilier de consommation à destination des classes moyennes et supérieures, qui ne se limite pas aux seuls ghettos dorés. La question de la privatisation des espaces et équipements publics est mise en perspective dans le cadre de l’évolution contemporaine des villes de l’étalement urbain, et de ses implications sur la structure sociale et économique. Dans ce contexte, la nature de la séparation public – privé mise en oeuvre est étudiée dans ses aspects juridiques et politiques. Les gated communities sont en quête d’autonomie, et certains de ces quartiers créent leur propre municipalité, afin de capter les ressources fiscales et de protéger la valeur immobilière. On analyse enfin la nature socio-économique des discontinuités occasionnées au niveau de l’enceinte, en comparant les gated communities et les quartiers de leur voisinage. On évalue ainsi les effets de l’enceinte sur la valeur immobilière, et sur la construction de territoires qui se distinguent de leur environnement par le statut économique et l’appartenance sociale.

Gated communities, which are walled and gated residential neighborhoods, have become a common feature within the US metropolitan areas. Because security features and 24h guarded gates prevent from public access, these neighborhoods represent a form of urbanism where public space is being privatized. In the most recently urbanized areas, they represented an increasing part of the new homes market: they have thus become one of the symbols of the metropolitan fragmentation and of the increase of social segregation. They not only build an enclosure but they also operate a selection of residents, through restrictive covenants. Because they are managed as private corporations, and pushing for political and fiscal independence, they are leading to a project of partition that stresses social segregation.
The study is being developed in three steps, on the main field of Los Angeles. First of all, a historical definition of gated communities is proposed, describing them as a standardized suburban real-estate product. As gated communities are leading to a privatization of public space, the study of those enclaves must be placed within the broader reflection regarding the contemporary evolution of cities, especially the social patterns and urban patterns (polycentrism) produced by a generalized urban sprawl. In such a context, the nature of the social enclosure and its impact over other communities is then addressed. This impact is assessed through the relevant political and legal issues: the consequences of the fading boundaries between public and private management are discussed. Gated Communities are taking part to a trend of local political autonomies, in order to protect one’s investment. The discontinuity, which is implied by the gating of the neighborhood, is then discussed as the specificity of the communities compared to the neighboring areas, through a study of the impact of gated communities over social and ethnic patterns, and the protection of property values.

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