The walled and gated neighborhoods of suburban Phoenix


I'm a little kid at heart, and I love to watch construction. It's all the same to me, road construction, building construction, I'm fascinated with piles of dirt being moved around by real-life Tonka toys. And I especially like seeing neighborhoods being built.


The neighborhood in the photo at the top of this post is just east of Grand Avenue on Olive. It's a huge chunk of land which was formerly farmland. It stretches from 71st Avenue all of the way to Grand Avenue. And the first thing that a neighborhood like this gets, even before the roads are completed, are giant walls.

I really know nothing about this neighborhood, but based on what I've seen in the past, it will be self-contained. It will be surrounded by walls, have a gated entry, and have its own park, playground, green belt, that sort of thing. It will be wonderfully walkable, and only for the people who are supposed to be there. There will be no people walking through the neighborhood, or "cutting through" as I called it as a kid. It will be an island, and people will enter in their cars, clicking a button to get into the neighborhood and then clicking a button to enter their garage. Kids will have a code so that they can enter and exit, but you really won't see much foot traffic.

As you can tell, I have mixed feelings about these gated and walled islands. They're certainly safe and secure, but I feel kinda bad that once the last homes are sold, the gates will go up, and for me all I will see will be walls. It reminds me of the gated neighborhoods that I saw in California - safe for the people inside, and looking like a fortress to the people outside, like me. I guess that's what it's supposed to do!

I like suburbia, and I like the idea of garages, and walls that protect the things you love. I've lived in places where there are a lot of transient people wandering around, and they tend to be opportunistic about things that might be left lying around, or any lock that ain't locked when no one's around. So I understand the walls and the gates.

The neighborhood is growing fast, and I promise to wander over there while the model homes are being displayed, and take some photos. After that, I won't ever see this neighborhood again, I'll just see the walls surrounding it.
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