The first decades of the 21st century have confirmed some of the biggest fears of dystopian futuristic literature and movies. More than half of the world's population is concentrated in cities, and instead of fostering collective life, there is a growing number of groups enabling and craving isolated, protected urban spaces. Technological advances have brought remarkable changes that facilitate everyday lives; however, they have also contributed to increased social inequalities in which they serve as a medium to produce more complex barriers instead of bridges to mitigate the already existing tensions between social groups. Planning professionals worldwide, therefore, face an enormous challenge trying to make cities more liveable because even if global initiatives like the New Urban Agenda or the Sustainable Development Goals supposedly aim for more equitable, sustainable, diverse, and inclusive cities, the current trend to differentiate and isolate makes it much harder to accomplish, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rise of the gated city in Latin America, as portrayed through the Mexican case described in previous chapters, is a symptom of a much deeper societal problem. Gated communities are the physical reflection of the region's inequalities, fears, distrust in institutions, and fragmented social interactions. Urban fragmentation is the consequence of the concentration of pockets of privileged groups with differentiated access to exclusive residential and commercial spaces, as well as privatised options of services, urban mobility, leisure, sports, health, and education facilities.