I prefer naturally mixed cities - Edit 1
Before modification by Aeryn at 23/02/2010 12:24:00 AM
My only point is that segregation by income is not a way to creating a vibrant, attractive community. I live in a diverse city, and I would hate it if it became restricted to the well-off only.
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.