privatopia

(pry.vuh.TOH.pee.uh)

n.

A walled-in or gated community of private homes, especially one in which a homeowner association establishes and enforces rules related to property appearance and resident behavior.

Example Citation:

"Privatopias" of subdivisions around cul-de-sacs sans sidewalks, look-alike homes, and three-car garages may appeal to some, but others consider them charmless clusters.

— Jeff Glasser, "Boomtown, U.S.A.," U.S. News & World Report, June 25, 2001

Earliest Citation:

Even the traditionally private urban counterparts to these faux public spaces — residential neighborhoods, which so much of planning theory has viewed as the epitome of community — are today packaged in condominium and cooperative developments that establish private governments within public governments, in a reified, exclusionary "privatopia".

— Donald A. Krueckeberg, "The difficult character of property," Journal of the American Planning Association, June 22, 1995

Notes:

This blend of private and utopia was coined by political scientist Evan McKenzie, who published an article titled "Morning in Privatopia" in the Spring, 1989 issue of Dissent. He also wrote a book called Privatopia, which was published in 1994.

Related Words:

big hair house

bowling alone

condo commando

conservation subdivision

cyberbalkanization

fly-in community

gater

golden ghetto

mansionization

shelter porn

studentification

third place

walled garden

yuppie slum

Categories:

Housing and Architecture

Lifestyles