On the latch : dynamics of segregation in a gated community in Bangalore, India

Abstract

This thesis examines the issue of segregation between middle-class residents of a gated community in Bangalore, India and the rest of the city. It looks at the ways in which residents relate to each other as a community, their service providers and the rest of the city. The objective of this thesis is to explore some of the ways in which the gated community is both continuous and discontinuous with the urban social and physical fabric of the city and neighbourhood within which it is located. This glimpse of gated community life in Bangalore aims to show how, and the extent to which, the residents foster values and actions that encourage the notion of exclusivity and inclusivity. Research for this study was conducted through participant observation over the span of a year (2019-2020) living in the gated community, as well as semi-structured interviews amongst fourteen of the community residents. The analysis reveals that the issue of segregation between the community and the rest of the city was dynamic. It shows that though several residents highlighted differences between themselves and others often by drawing up class differences, many of the residents expressed the fact that they valued notions of inclusivity and encouraged each other to do so. This was particularly the case when observing their relationship amongst themselves as residents, their relationships to their service providers as well as their relationship to their city. The conclusion suggests that gated communities can be seen as both a way in which people can partially shut themselves off from the rest of society, but, at the same time, they can be a place wherein residents are encouraged to be mindful of their impact on the rest of the city and to engage with it in a responsible way.