Inside The Gated Community
...Continued
The articles also suggests in the
wake of the coronavirus that
instincts for the open spaces of
suburbia might be reawakened.
And not just instincts, but cold
calculation not only of prospec-
tive property owners, but urban
planners as well.
Here some major points regard-
ing some likely immediate chang-
es in the way we make decisions
about where we reside and
modes of transit:
>> Cities are congested. The
more congested, the more easily
a disease can spread; e.g., New
York City, Seattle, San Francisco.
>> Cities are prone to use mass
transit systems, usually public-
ly-owned. This is another way in
which cities induce congestion,
thereby enhancing the possibility
of infection and rendering urban
centers inaccessible, if there
is an emergency shutdown of
these systems. The paradox is
that while mass transit systems
alleviate traffic congestion, they
increase people congestion.
>> In contrast, the suburban
living is relatively dispersed, com-
pared to city dwelling. Because
places of work are heavily repre-
sented in cities, look for trends of
businesses moving to suburban
locations, much as they did in the
30
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1960s. The technology of video
conferencing and teleconferenc-
ing are already widely used, mak-
ing working from home not only
an option say on a one day a week
basis, but on a five-day a week
basis. (Of course not all activities
can be operated this way, such as
personal care businesses.)
>> Closer to home, look at the
rationale for a dispersed clusters
of dwellings, such as we see in
our gated communities. First,
they can be quite self-contained,
including health facilities and
urgent care capabilities. Second,
there is considerable potential
for self-driving delivery sys-
tems, from robotically-operated,
in-village warehouses directly
to individual customers. Third,
personal transportation vehicles
for routine errands and trips to
recreation areas are the polar op-
posite of mass transit, yet in the
context of planned communities,
like the typical gated community,
this disease resistant (see the
above) mode of transport makes
all the sense in the world.
Government regulations in the
aftermath
Rest assured that in the after-
math of this pandemic experi-
ence, a “pandemic” of new regula-
tions will be emanating from the
CDC, the Federal government,
and State and local governments
regarding various sorts of manda-
tory preventive health measures.
These measures will also enhance
the trend toward dispersed living.
Why? Because within planned
communities, like our gated com-
munity, such regulations will be
much easier to implement—and
much less of an imposition--com-
pared to urban centers with mass
transit systems.
Thus, in wake of COVID-19
dispersed, protective living, ele-
ments and benefits of which are
described above, will come to the
fore. Our gated community, far
from being “merely” a retirement
community, will become a model
for future, mainstream eco-
systems (and yes, that includes
humans and their PTVs).
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