I sincerely doubt there are many gated communities that are even a two-hour walk from end to end. For the record, the largest one in the US is hot springs in Arkansas, at just under 40 sq-mi making it at around 6x6 miles, and it is not a wealth-exclusive area, having a pop of around 8000 with a meadian household income of a little over 40k. It has a median age of 67 (yep, retirement villa) over half the pop is 65+
But if you're talking about commuting in from a neighboring city/town, it's more. A 2-hour commute isn't so unbelievable. 20 min walk to the bus, 20 min wait, 20 min walk from the bus - that's 1 hour already. (For example, I did this.)
Also DK was talking about more than a community, but a town. And thus it'd have to be far enough from the other "poor" town.
I'm pretty sure the 20 minute wait at the bus stop and the 20 min walk to the bus stop are not the gated communities fault, nor any distance the person has to cover beyond what land is actually in there community or town. Someone can slap an apartment building right on the first piece of free land outside of the area after all. Anyway, people do these exact same wait times and travels to get to other jobs too. Outside of urban areas a 10-20 mile commute is fairly normal, and most of these types of places are not in urban areas. Also, one would point out that the best way to avoid having to deal with problems of this sort is to simply not work for anyone inside a gated community, presumably the normal market forces will drive up the cost for them and either break the chain or more than adequetly compensate the workers for their inconvenience. I can't think of any abuses such places are guilty of (in the US at least) that you wouldn't find regularly in different situations. If people don't like the inconvenience of working for people in a gated community, that's no different then people inside not liking the inconvenience of lving in other communities. If they find it inconvenient, they can find a different place to work, considering the people in such places apparently already found the normal situation inconvenient enough they were willing to move away from wherever they previously worked and lived at great cost.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Question about starting a city in the US. Also a survey
22/02/2010 10:02:46 PM
- 602 Views
No low income people.
22/02/2010 10:14:23 PM
- 464 Views
2 hour bus ride?
22/02/2010 10:38:38 PM
- 392 Views
How far to the next town?
22/02/2010 11:35:22 PM
- 484 Views
Re: How far to the next town?
23/02/2010 12:18:39 AM
- 447 Views
I prefer naturally mixed cities
23/02/2010 12:23:30 AM
- 470 Views
Many of us do, though we typically have different ideas of ideal mix
23/02/2010 12:53:02 AM
- 423 Views
If it's a "city", then you can't own it. If you own it, then it's not a city, it's a gated community
22/02/2010 10:23:24 PM
- 478 Views
Yeah thats what I thought. I thought I heard somebody owned a city once thats why i asked *NM*
22/02/2010 10:26:11 PM
- 173 Views
No fatties. No dumbasses. Aeryn can only come in if she wears a collar. *NM*
23/02/2010 11:56:39 PM
- 281 Views