INSIDE
THE GATED
COMMUNITY
By Stephen Metzger Managing Director
Small Vehicle Resource, LLC smetzger @ smallvehicleresource. com www. smallvehicleresource. com
Vision of the Future: The Gated Community, A Model for Urban Mobility Systems?
18
Gated communities are sometimes view-by both non-residents and residents alike— as a collective of families and individuals separated from the rest of civilization by clear boundaries and a gate( or several gates). Gated communities are also associated with the senior population, despite the fact that young families populate many of them as well. Indeed, to a large extent, this characterization may be accurate.
In addition to the physical and demographic descriptors, gated communities have an air of efficiency about them, as they are noted for the combination of consumer amenities, including restaurants, recreation facilities, theatres, and libraries— and sometimes schools. Moreover, rules and regulations are in place so that residents can easily get from point A to point B— quickly and without traffic delays.
The vehicles used in the transportation network are also key to this environment. They are small and are quick and agile enough to be both fun and efficient. These vehicles are also fuel efficient and essentially non-polluting by conventional automobile and truck standards.
WWW. GOLFCAROPTIONS. COM
New vehicle developments: New wine in old wineskins?
As previous columns have discussed, there are a plethora of new developments with regard to small vehicles and drive systems. Most, but not all these new vehicle concepts emanate from Europe where there has been intense focus on electrification of the transportation system and the reduction of air-borne pollutants caused by conventional ICE vehicles( consumer and commercial). Europeans are also concerned with urban congestion which result in inordinate delays and is a serious source of pollution as well.
These concerns are also prevalent in the United States and becoming more so, but, compared to Europe, the top-down planning which is required to deal with the situation is far less prevalent. Both in urban environments and in gated communities the introduction of faster, more efficient small vehicles is slow to take hold.
Figure 1 The five-passenger Uniti
Take for example two vehicles featured in previous columns.
To the left is the five-passenger Uniti, developed