theSun Property April 2015

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ON FRIDAY APRIL 10, 2015
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Gated and guarded
neighbourhoods
>Gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods – security or segregation
THEREis an air of exclusivity
on entering a guarded
and gated (G&G)
development. Perhaps it
is its enclosed “private” perimeters
and the feeling of being safe in a
guarded area surrounded by high
walls and thick fences, or perhaps
it is the boomgates and sentry
guards stationed at high-tech
fitted-out guardhouses. Then
again, it could be the price
tag that comes with owning a
piece of real estate in one of these
barred and barricaded restricted
areas – usually swanky in style,
meticulously landscaped, enhanced
with all sorts of conveniences …
generally resonating a sense
of spaciousness and luxury.
Customarily, properties in
G&G areas come with a more
expensive price tag comparedwith
the usual residential landed or
high-rise units situated in regular
housing areas. While the majority
perceive G&G properties to
provide a more “secure and safe”
living environment, many question
if these “barriers and blockades”
create social segregation and a
feeling of inequality that underline
one’s socio-economic status.
PERCEPTION AND REALITY
Before we move further into
the topic, let us define G&G.
We refer to the chart belowwith
information gathered by eight
students from the TunHussein
OnnUniversity. The students
wrote a paper on “Practice of
gated community developments
inMalaysia: Towards sustainable
communities”. They share
excerpts from their research,
inwhich the table below gives
various definitions of
gated communities.
DEFINITION OF GATED COMMUNITIES FROMMALAYSIA’S
PERSPECTIVE
AUTHOR (YEAR) DEFINITION
Osman, Rabe, & Bachok
(2007)
Gated and guarded communities are
commonly identified with a cluster of houses
surrounded by fence with controlled access.
Selangor Housing and
Property Board (2008)
Gated Community as defined by the
Selangor Housing and Property Board is
a development that is demarcated with
a physical structure that runs along the
perimeter or boundary with controlled
access to the general public.
Suhaimi (2010) Gated communities generally refer to
housing developments where access to the
neighborhood is restricted to the residents.
Town and Country Planning
Department (2010)
Group of communities or residents living
in a gated and guarded area of high-rise
property such as apartment, condominium
and town-house units or landed property
such as bungalows, terraced and semi-
detached houses. However, definition of
gated communities is more concentrated
on residents living on strata-titled landed
property residential area.
Mutalib, Aziz, Noor, & Eves
(2012)
‘Gated and Guarded Community’ in
Malaysia generally refers to a residential
community with secured, gated and
guarded surroundings. It can be a building
(condominium usually) or a cluster of houses
(a certain housing scheme, a taman) which is
surrounded by a fence or wall on a perimeter,
with access being limited and controlled
with certain security measures such as
guards, surveillance patrol and 24/7 CCTV or
surveillance.
ASakip & Abdullah (2012) Gated residential areas are residential areas
that are fenced around their individual lots
with no ingress and egress control within
the larger housing area in concern. Ingress
and egress control is only localised within
the individual lots, typically using fencing
elements and/or combined with additional
security systems such as a closed-circuit
television (CCTV) system, guard dogs and
others.
(Source: Researcher, 2014)
FEATURES AND
CHARACTERISTICS
The university students came up
with the conclusion of a Malaysian
gated community (after research):
“strata landed housing area
surrounded by a fence, guarded and
having restricted access, sharing
common properties and managed
by residents with their own
management”.
The students also shared
characteristics of gated
communities from their research.
These include:
• enhanced security measures
consisting of patrol units and
alarm systems;
• added privacy where residents
enjoy larger amounts of open
spaces, sometimes personal use
of facilities;
• limited access by non-residents
and the public, only permitting
entry via access card;
• luxurious spaces in home design
and architecture, branded fittings
with nearby high-end lifestyle
services and amenities;
• mixed property types whether
landed or high-rise;
• tighter terms and regulations
where residents are bound by
specific rules of the G&G housing
scheme, and are required to pay
maintenance fees for the upscale
facilities provided;
• usually strata or individual land
titles; and
• managed by a corporation that is
usually a private governing body
established under the
commissioner of building of local
authorities, agreed in deeds of
mutual covenants.
GP022
In any case, G&G residential
developments usually carry the
exclusive, posh and private label,
thus is naturally affordable to the
more affluent set. In 2010, however,
a guideline was prepared by the
Federal Town and Country
Planning Department under the
Housing and Local Government
Ministry. It was approved by the
Cabinet at the 63rd National
Council of Local Government
Meeting. The regulations
governing G&G communities were
spelt out in a document called the
GP022.
It defined the difference
between a gated community (GC)
and gated neighbourhood (GN) as:
GC – a population group living
in the gated and guarded area
either in multi-storey residential
buildings (high-rise property)
such as apartments,
condominiums and townhouses
in a residential area or landed
(landed property), such as
bungalows, terraced and
detached houses. However, the
understanding of the GC in the
context of Malaysia focused on
population groups or
communities who live in
strata-titled landed houses.
X
GN – a residential area
controlled in whole or in part, in
schemes to existing or new
housing that withhold the
individual’s right to land
(individual land title). The GN
scheme to provide security
services either with or without a
guard. In terms of law, it cannot
have physical barriers or to
enforce any restrictions on entry
and exit of the occupants and
the public.
The guideline that was approved
considered the following:
1) size of development area
2) site planning
3) location of the development
4) the road hierarchy
5) shift design housing and building
6) construction of the fence/wall
7) exit-entry log in
8) construction of guardhouse
9) landscape and tree planting
10) height of building
11) provision of parking for cars and
motorcycles
12) special route for utilities
13) placement of public utilities
14) name of the park/
neighbourhood
The GP022 included dos and
don’ts. Here are some interesting
criteria it covered:
a) GN is only allowed in city areas
especially where crime rate is
high. It is also not allowed in
areas where public amenities like
schools, suraus, public places of
gathering and public
transportation is available.
b) The size of a guardhouse cannot
be bigger than 1.8m x 2.4m. It can
only be constructed along the
X shoulder of the road andmust
not hinder traffic. It cannot be
built in the middle of a road.
Permanent structures must be
applied and approved
beforehand.
c) No fencing is allowed if there is
another residential area just
beside the G&G area.
d) Guards must be registered with
the HomeMinistry. Their
uniforms must be of these
combinations – beige and black,
grey and dark blue, white and
navy blue (colour codes are
stated in the guideline).
e) Guard dogs are not allowed
unless prior approval is received
from the HomeMinistry.
(For details of the GP022 and the rationale
behind each requirement, log on to http://
guidelines.html)
Oddly, there are quite a number
of people who feel that gated
neighbourhoods incite social
segregation. Share your viewwith
us at: propertyqs
or follow our column in the next
fewweeks to learn of the legal view
on GN and GC, as well as the
perception that G&G
neighbourhoods underpin the
principles of democracy.
Information in the article was retrieved from
a paper by UM students Nur Azhani Adnan,
Norjariah Arif, Zarina Shamsudin, Khadijah
Md Ariffin, Marina Osman and Noralfishah
Sulaiman who agreed to share their findings,
along with snippets from the GP022.
PART1