Sense of community (SOC) in gated urban neighborhoods: Empirical insights from Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Despite gated communities becoming a prominent form of housing in the Global South cities, the extent to which these privatized neighborhoods foster a sense of community remains understudied. Most of the studies on sense of community are based on experiences from the Global North. To address this lacuna, this paper examines the extent to which residents of gated communities develop a sense of community and the different factors that are associated with this sense of community. We conducted regression analysis on cross-sectional survey data from Devtraco and Manet gated communities, to determine factors associated with a sense of community in these gated communities. Our findings demonstrate that residents of gated communities exhibit a stronger sense of community—shaped by different individual, household, and environmental characteristics. Interestingly, our study reveals that males have a higher sense of community compared to females. Age, length of residence, tenure status, household size, and proximity to community features were significant factors associated with sense of community. Our study adds to the extant literature on a sense of community among individuals living in gated communities in the Global South.

KEYWORDS:

• Gated communities
• sense of community
• neighborhood
• Accra

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the participants from Devtraco and Manet gated communities for taking their time to respond to our survey questions despite their busy schedules. We are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and senior associate editor Dr. Patrick Cobbinah for their constructive comments. The authors also thank Karen Vankerkoerle, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Western Ontario for producing Figure 1.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elmond Bandauko

Elmond Bandauko is a PhD candidate and SSHRC Vanier Scholar in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Western Ontario. He is an interdisciplinary urban scholar whose research revolves around three themes: (i) urban informality, (ii) urban inclusion and exclusion and (iii) built environment and quality of life (including issues such as sense of place, sense of community, etc.). Elmond’s work is published in different journals such as Cities, Housing Studies, Area, International Planning Studies, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Urban Research and Practice, Land use Policy, Journal of Urban Affairs, Gender, Place and Culture, among others. Elmond’s research has been funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) Foundation.

Philip Baiden

Philip Baiden is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Social Work. His areas of research interest include non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), child abuse and neglect, international social work research, as well as quantitative research methodology and statistical analysis.

Godwin Arku

Godwin Arku is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests span the “urban” and “economic” sub-division of human geography, especially as they relate to the transformation of urban systems in a changing global environment.

Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

Hanson Nyantakyi‑Frimpong is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Denver. He is a human-environment geographer interested in questions at the intersection of two main subfields: the human dimensions of global environmental change, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Senanu Kwasi Kutor

Senanu Kwasi Kutor is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Western Ontario. Senanu’s research interests span rural–urban migration, urban informality in cities of the developing world, international migration, migrants’ integration, and transnationalism.

Thelma Akyea

Thelma Akyea is a master’s student in the Department of Geography and Environment, University of Western Ontario. She is interested in urban inclusion and exclusion, sustainable urban development, and agency of marginalized populations.