'GOOD' AND 'REAL' PLACES: A GEOGRAPHICAL-MORAL CRITIQUE OF TERRITORIAL PLACE-MAKING

As a spatial strategy to control people by controlling access to space, gated communities are territorial place-making devices par excellence. While gated communities often conjure up images of extreme urban inequality and social–spatial segregation, relatively few works have actually engaged in more normative analysis and debates on these contentious urban forms. Addressing this lacuna, this paper will critically examine the geographical-moral dimensions of gated communities by adopting Sack's (2003) theoretical framework on 'good' and 'real' places. Specifically, the paper seeks to underscore the geographical-moral significance of place by considering gated communities as a key site for the critical reflection on the moral content of urban development driven by ideologies of privatism and neoliberal market logic.