In relation to the development of private residential estates (often termed ‘gated communities’) in metropolitan regions across Australia, community is seen to be a marketing device and anything but real. However this paper discusses a new version of urban community that pervades private residential estates.

This paper argues that research on segregation has had an over-reliance on statistical measures of outcomes, which limits our understanding of segregation processes and impacts.

The emergence of gated residential spaces in Australian cities has begun to attract the attention of researchers, policy makers, governments and planners. This paper considers the desire and need for security, and the formation of community and the mechanism of community title in gated communities.

The research presented here analysed the constructions of exclusivity for a master planned estate (Glenmore Park) and the extent to which the constructed identity for Glenmore Park resulted in socio-spatial polarisation within western Sydney.