Community living is a necessity for various reasons. It is a reality and necessity and has come to stay. Like with anything, community living also has its pros and cons. I have been living in gated apartment communities since the seventies till the first decade of 2k.
As it is a microcosm of the society, it has also all the characteristics of the society of that time. I don't think gated communities are only of the middle class. The concept of classes is fast changing.
In the present day, the income and earnings of people have changed. Loan facilities for housing have become easy, cheaper, and convenient. So many people are now able to afford to buy flats or villas in gated communities. Even the urban-suburban or village differences have vanished in this regard. We can see luxury apartments and gated communities even in interior villages. So now we cannot say that only so and so class people are in the gated communities. It is a mixture and microcosm reflection of the society in general.
Now, coming to the stated point of "...Not much of interactions at any level.....the younger generations have no time .." it is not just specific to gated communities but is the feature of present generations and times. The present generation and times give more emphasis to individual space and freedom. They can be financially independent and can afford to live independently with very minimum interaction with others around them.
In earlier times population was less, people's mobility was less, and affordability and facilities were less. So most people remained in the same village or town. At the maximum, they moved to the nearest town or city when needed. As the number of households and total number of people were less, and as they stayed bound in the same place, it was natural that most people knew each other pretty well.
But in today's general urbanization pace, even a single multistoried apartment has 500 or 1000 people living there. This is less than the total population in a ward in a Panchayat. I was living in a gated apartment complex comprising eight apartments. Each apartment has seven floors and 3 wings. Each wing has 4 flats on each floor. So in my building, we had 28 flats. If there are at least 3 persons in each flat then it is 28x3 +84 in one wing. Thus for 3 Wings, it is 84x3+252 persons. But some flats had five or six people too. So what will be the total number of persons residing in the whole complex? It will be more than 2000 people as some buildings have more than 3 wings also. It is equal to a whole village or two or three wards in a Municipality. It is not possible to know all the people there in a short time.
But such gated communities have periodical meetings, gatherings, and get-togethers to celebrate festivals, general body meetings, etc. So by and by over a period of time most residents come to know each other. As there need the resident's associations and friends clubs for the welfare and entertainment of the residents, and there are periodical elections and changes of the office bearers, after a few cycles of these, most residents become familiar and friends with one another.
So as far as I am concerned, I have a favorable bias towards community living, especially gated communities. Yes, it has to be admitted that there also may be some who may not be that cooperative accommodating, and understanding. There may be some small nuisance creators. But in general, even they will have to follow gradually and conform to the overall atmosphere and needs.
All said and done, with many attendant cons community living is more secure, convenient, and less worrisome.
