Architecture is the physical imposition of systems of control on the chaos of open space. Physical interventions can separate, segregate, exclude and divide, through barriers of varying degrees of subtlety. This, arguably, is how architecture has always functioned; as shelter and protection, structured by degrees of scale and effectiveness. The Modernist programme focused on the creation of an egalitarian society, democratising the built environment through standardisation, repetition and the removal of these traditional hierarchies of form and decoration. For many, however, there remains a strong desire to preserve society's physical segregation, for reasons of security or political ideology. In recent times these desires have manifested themselves, amongst other things, in the 'gated communities' of private homes, self-contained zones that provide their own civic code, amenity services and security. In the us, several gated communities are now seeking complete autonomy from federal control and the official tax regime (why, they argue, should residents in effect pay'two sets of taxes - one to fund facilities on a state level and one for the local level?).
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