Towards a theory of urban fragmentation: A cross-cultural analysis of fear, privatization, and the state

This paper employs a cross-cultural analysis to explore regional and national variations in residential gating and enclosure as a first step in developing an integrated theory of urban fragmentation. Utilizing data from the urban and suburban United States, Latin America and China, a series of dimensions are compared: 1) domestic architecture, 2) urban/suburban settlement pattern, 3) the role of the state, 4) governance, 5) citizenship, 6) cultural meaning, 7) identity, 8) provision of goods and services, 9) taxation, 10) degree of privatization, 11) cultural pattern of social sanction, and 12) fear of crime and others. This comparative analysis locates culturally meaningful and theoretically significant distinctions among the regions and provides data for the development of explanatory models in which each region varies along a dimensional continuum. At the macro-level of analysis, the impact of globalization and flexible accumulation with increased local heterogeneity, increases in inequality and changes in perceived crime rate emerge as the major underlying factors in the fear of crime and others found in all three regions. At a micro-level, differences in cultural meanings are explained by local social and political contexts, while provision of goods and services and governance depend on club realm economic explanations.