Finding common ground in the metropolis: Do planned residential enclaves connect or exclude?

Do planned residential enclaves of like-minded people undermine metropolitan diversity and regional planning, or do they provide a supportive base of services and assistance for specific population groups? In this paper, we propose a classification of enclaves related to level of planning, resident choice, income mix, and the ways in which the enclaves are formed (i.e., physical barriers, regulations, clustering). Three planned enclaves represent pioneering examples of what became important types of environments in the U.S.: one of the first large-scale retirement communities, an alternative residential college, and an ecologically oriented neighborhood. All three were initiated in the 1960s through the 1970s in low-density environments. We find that, compared with naturally occurring enclaves, such places have more formal regulation of residents, but their implications for urban diversity and cooperation are less clear than the high- and low-income exclusionary areas, gated and otherwise, that have been the subject of so much criticism.