Everything is shrinking. The size of your mobile phone is proof of that. Three decades ago, palm-sized mobile phones made an entry. In hindsight, they were hardly palm-sized. Discussions of mobile technology of that era now descend into facetious references to ‘brick-hard cellphones’. Nobody in his right mind would carry around those monstrosities.
As with mobiles, so with everything else. The distance from home to school has shrunk. The walk to the supermarket is shorter. The distance between loneliness and social integration is a flight of stairs.
Welcome to ‘concentrated living’, a healthy, normally-born child of our times. It’s one born out of the marriage between technology and gated communities.
Concentrated living defines, and, in extreme cases, redefines the contours of development in an area. It manages to create an ecosystem that would sustain its being. The process is so quick and automatic that it appears almost magical.
This ecosystem is built by social and commercial factors. In concentrated living, where residents can find a lot of common ground and forge a strong common identity based on geography, social interactions develop along uncharted paths.
For instance, residents of DLF Garden City, a 1,750-unit gated community in Semmencherry, have a WhatsApp group that enables members to car-pool, without charging anything from the beneficiaries. The gated community is located around three kilometres off Old Mahabalipuram Road, and some residents need assistance to reach the arterial stretch. The group is divided into two — takers and givers. At the end of the day, even the givers feel enriched by the friendships the initiative brings. Those behind the initiative say there are enough checks to ensure safety.
In concentrated living, residents are united around civic issues in their neck of the woods, which facilitates continual interaction and greater bonding. Kumarasamy Nagar-Elcot Avenue in Sholinganallur consists of around 10 gated communities, whose residents have a common civic platform. They have an ongoing project called ‘Smart Sholls’, which is about improving civic conditions in the region. Activities under this initiative are driven by WhatsApp groups. Each of these gated communities maintains a separate identity, carrying out source segregation and many other activities individually. Yet, all of them have a sense of belonging to a larger community, and are keen on seeing improvement in the region. Key members from all these communities are said to meet every Sunday to discuss the larger issues.
When a large gated community springs up in an area, commerce enters the scene and digs its feet in as well. It is commerce with an extremely sharp focus, and is flexible to accommodate the expectations of the gated community. Sometimes, it goes out of the way to help the residents.
R. Ramaswamy, a resident of Kumarasamy Nagar, says, “The morning after rupee notes of 500 and 1,000 denomination went out of currency, one of the supermarkets in the area accepted them to help residents tide over the sudden crisis. It was an act of goodwill, one that has been extremely responsive to the needs of the gated communities. And then, a sweets major, which has set up shop, stocks items based on residents’ preferences.”
Big brands adopt a more personalised approach to conducting business when they cater to gated communities. Many of them enter the residents’ network by actively participating in their social and cultural events, even sponsoring them.
When residents of House of Hiranandani Upscale, a huge gated community in Egattur, celebrated Ganesh Ustav, they received support from commercial establishments in the area, says Shailesh Joshi, prime mover behind the Ustav.
Besides brands, various service providers approach gated communities with plans tailor-made for them. Some of these focus exclusively on these communities, as they constitute a huge catchment area.
Saminathan Balasundaram, a resident of a gated community, conducts science programmes for children in gated communities. “Here, word-of-mouth publicity is swifter and more reliable.”
