Gated residential developments, neighbourhoods to which public access is restricted, continue to generate academic, policymaker and public curiosity. In a recent paper in the EJSD Tony Manzi and Bill Smith-Bowers (2006) attempt to provide what they see as a more subtle approach to these developments, arguing, that hostility to gated communities is misplaced on several grounds. In a debate article Rowland Atkinson argue, in response, that there are several problems with the positions they adopt, and that these should be considered if we are to effectively discuss how planning practice and housing systems should work with or against these new trends in the built environment. In this new debate article Zoltan Csefalvay argues that the examination of gated communities requires freedom from the inherent bias of the recently popular politics-driven approach. He suggests that to understand gated communities we need to understand the market-driven process approach as such we should concentrate on the rational and economically rooted motivations of homeowners, developers, and local governments. In other words he argues that the notion of gated communities should be demystified.

The paper is published by the European Journal of Spatial Development (EJSD). The previous version of the journal was host by Nordregio.