Gated Residential Communities Urban Equity and Segregation in Greater Cairo

Abstract

The extensive development of gated communities has been the most notable urban phenomenon in Egypt, especially in Greater Cairo’s new cities. Meanwhile, equity has been a major assessment criterion in the global urban scene, yet local research lacks any sort of investigation addressing residents’ perceived justice inside the confines of their gated communities. This study seeks to explore the extent of perceived justice experienced by residents of gated communities in Greater Cairo. Gated communities have been classified into three categories: Lifestyle, prestige, and security zones. The research is limited to the first two categories, for the rarity of the third one. The criteria for classification was used in selecting one lifestyle and one prestige community in each of the four cities of Cairo in which gated communities are condensed. The research is exploratory and was conducted using a quantitative data collection method: a questionnaire. Findings have shown that lifestyle communities’ residents experience extremely low levels of equity, with a peripheral perception of distributive justice and a high perception of interactional justice, however they all perceived procedural injustice. On the other hand, Prestige community residents experienced high levels of equity, with an intensively positive perception of the three aspects of justice.