gated communities
I notice that there are many advertisements in the newspapers for the new fashion of gated communities (good revenue for the press!). Are these a plus for our country or a minus? To my way of thinking it reminds me of a sort of apartheid and will just fuel resentment of those who cannot afford this way of living. There will always be areas where the wealthy live and the poor live but to make even greater distinctions between the have and have nots seems to be a problem in the making. T
posted by joladies at Tuesday, September 19, 2006
4 Comments:
My thoughts exactly when I opened this morning's paper! I would be interested to know if many Jordanians feel the same way. I know there is a tendency among Jordanians to feel that 'showing off' is OK.
ASH
one day the rich will completly isolate themselves from the poor.. i think this is an evolution problem, when the rich can use genetic engineering and develop into 'better' humans, inside their gated communities. while the poor continute to devolve in search of the basics. ah.. too much science fiction, but thats what i think when i hear gated communities.
It's funny. While I have negative feelings about "gated" communities both here and in the US, I do long for the feeling of a neighborhood. You know, a place where there's a sense that you live there, youa ren't just passing through. All of the "neighborhoods" in West Amman seem to be en route to somewhere else. We even looked at one of the new pricey communities wasy out in the middle of nowhere, but I'm not impressed by the size of the yard. Here I am longing for a neighborhood with yards... Perhaps I'm too American still, but I'd like the kids to have a place to play and local friends to play with... the way I did :).
Quite agree Mommabean, Rami - we all suffer from this, and yet back in the days when, even in Amman, the 'hara' was exactly that and a sense of community and hence identity was in evidence all over the towns and villages that sprung up in Jordan in the first half of the 20th century, reinforcing an important part of arab culture - family. Sadly it is fast disappearing as the old is demolished to make way for the new devoid of any sense of soul, especially in West Amman. Just look at the old part of Madaba built on top of the hill surrounding the church and notice the way houses were built, the courtyard or communal area in front of the house, being the most important aspect of a growing community of people. It is so sad that 'notion' of town planning has been lost in our over zealous drive for modernity a la west. It's not just us here who are suffering, I think the whole world has gone 'gated'nuts, simply because money talks louder than you and I (and Rami) ever can! J
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