Bangkok living; social networks in a gated urban field

Workshop 1. Session 1.2: Segregation and strategies of gating and withdrawal. Abstract: Over the years, implicitly or explicitly the relationship between spatial form and the social world has been recurrently discussed in urban studies. Recently, this topic again gained relevance through the emerging critical debate on the social consequences of \u91gated communities\u92. In this debate, more often than not, gated communities receive a very bad press. With reference to cities like Los Angeles, Sao Paolo, Johannesburg and Istanbul it is argued that walls and gates create exclusionary spaces that physically separate the haves from the have-nots. The lucky ones can retreat in their own spatial worlds, leaving less fortunate urban citizens behind. Spatial form thus functions to maintain and enhance social-economic inequality. On top of this, it is argued that the resulting physical separation of social groups undermines the public sphere. After all, groups that don\u92t meet won\u92t know and understand each other. So, the conditions for cross-social community, solidarity and maybe even democracy are under attack. We ascertain that this critical interpretation of \u91splintering urbanism\u92 presupposes that a specific spatial form (gated enclaves) leads to specific social consequences (e.g. lack of community and solidarity) that especially hurt the disadvantaged. On theoretical grounds, we question such an elitist and spatial deterministic approach. And we prompt researchers to replace ideological reasoning on gating by precise empirical analysis of social life within gated urban fields. This paper presents a first discussion of such research conducted in Bangkok. In this Asian metropolis, not only the rich, but also the poor live behind gates. At the same time, the relational networks of inhabitants of various neighbourhoods within this splintered urban field turn out to leave space for cross-cultural encounters. However, we show that this doesn\u92t necessitate understanding and solidarity