The Geography of Urban Fragmentation:Gated communities in the Urban Expansion of Guayaquil, Ecuador

Abstract

The increase of gated communities worldwide has put into debate the existing particularities in different contexts and the effects on cities, such as the conformation of a geography linked to processes of urban fragmentation. The massification of this residential type in the expansion process of Guayaquil in the last decades demands the definition of the dimensions of this phenomenon. This article aims to establish the importance of gated communities in the expansion of this Ecuadorian city and its influence on urban fragmentation. The particularities of these residential types are presented in terms of location, surface area, number of dwellings, density, and shared services. The study area includes the urban area of Guayaquil and the parishes of La Aurora and La Puntilla in the cities of Daule and Samborondón, respectively, where the largest real estate production in recent decades has taken place. In the investigation, a quantitative approach was chosen using techniques such as reviewing satellite images, applying the Street View tool on-site observation, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the spatial analysis. In the inventory, 229 gated communities with dissimilar characteristics in terms of surface area, density, and shared services were quantified. Most of them are supported by the presence of important road axes linked to the expansion of the city, forming unconnected fragments that do not contribute to the construction of the urban fabric and, nevertheless, are dependent on what the context can offer them in terms of facilities.