Gated Housing as a Reflection of Public-Private Divide: on the Popularity of Gated Communities in Poland

The aim of this article is to suggest an explanatory set of factors to the popularity of gated housing in the Polish context. The explanation focuses on the divide between the public and the private sphere and encompasses economic, cultural and institutional explanations to the gating phenomenon. The empirical material consists of interviews, discourse analysis, a questionnaire, official reports and data, and legal regulation analysis. The Polish example display that both the remnants from the past and the contemporary ideals can be derived from the public-private divide. This divide has played a central role in the negotiations on urban space, the role of housing, and the identities and activities connected to housing and spatial issues since 1989. It is argued that the introduction of market economy followed by socioeconomic inequalities, has resulted in specific forms of creative strategies for individual actions among Poles and to the popularity of gated housing.