A private community is a
residential community
A residential community is a community, usually a small town or city, that is composed mostly of residents, as opposed to commercial businesses and/or industrial facilities, all three of which are considered to be the three main types o ...
that can be an
association or a
proprietary organization. Associations can include
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...
s,
homeowner association
A homeowner association (or homeowners' association OA sometimes referred to as a property owners' association OA common interest development ID or homeowner community) is a private, Incorporation (business), legally-incorporated orga ...
s or
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
s.
Whereas governmental communities are financed with
taxation, where taxes typically have little connection with benefits, private communities' benefits are financed by payments from its members. In a hotel, for example, the public goods such as
elevators and
security are paid for from room charges.
One early American example was Lucas Place, created in 1851 in
St. Louis, Missouri, the first of about 50 such
private places unique to the city. Today, there are 60 million people who now live in roughly 300,000 private communitiesgr in the United States.
A noteworthy Canadian example,
Arbutus Ridge Seaside Community for Active Adults in the
Cowichan Valley on
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
was the first comprehensive
retirement community built in Canada. It subsequently became the template and proving ground for the now accepted and commonplace
age-restricted community.
See also
*
Voluntary community
*
Proprietary community
*
Gated community
*
Planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
*
Community settlement (Israel)
*
Spencer Heath, whose goal was to have cities and large land areas owned by single private owners, which would rent out the land and housing and provide all conceivable public services
*
Spencer H. MacCallum
References
{{Developments
Social groups
Types of communities
Planned residential developments