Secessionary Heavens in an Urban Hell: Borders, Boundaries and the Retreat of Old and New Money from the Risks of City Life

This paper discusses the presence of extreme gated communities in Guadalajara, Mexico such as “El Cielo” (Heaven) or “Puerta de Hierro” (Iron Door). In this Mexican city, we still find some ‘old money’ but also new rich linked to diverse sources: everything from industry, tech, food production, to organised crime. Here, elites almost never cross key physical borders. This has its origins in the foundation of the city, in which the poor lived on the east side of the river and the rich on the west. The new borders are even more tangible now with gates, streets that are not pedestrian-friendly, and more privatised open spaces. The borders are tangible and visible. There are other borders defined by infrastructure that cross the city. For example, the presence of “La Bestia” (The Beast), the train that migrants use trying to reach the US, crosses right across the city; many migrants remain here and never reach the US. This has resulted in unease among both elites and the middle classes and a drive for neighbour associations to propose gating historically open neighbourhoods as a strategy to avoid homeless migrants using their parks or streets. This paper considers these new design strategies and the increasing presence and class functions of physical boundaries in the new urban Mexican context.