I recently went out on a tangent when I wrote “I Was Daydreaming About Residential Gated Communities“. I also read an interesting article (published last month) on the Carmel Monthly web site which takes this one step further.
The subject was a new residential gated community and the article’s title was “Aberdeen: An Upscale Gated Community with Wellness Lifestyle Amenities”. The ‘wellness lifestyle community’ phrase piqued my interest and I was eager to learn more.
This upscale residential gated community is attempting to overcome the sense of isolationism common to most suburban living with its limited neighborly interactions. The premise is that these conditions lead to an unhealthy sense of being and can lead to depression as well as negative general health.
On the other hand, they champion the idea that a residential community can promote wellness if it is designed properly. The design must encompass living space, amenities, services, etc., to facilitate and encourage social connections.
‘Agrihoods’ are also briefly mentioned in the article. These are residential communities built around working farms. Aberdeen is also an agrihood and will feature hands-on farmin and limited farm to table amenities.
The residential gated community is located in Bargersville, IN 20 miles south of Indianapolis. Its homes are definitely upscale.
The article also led me to another site, the The Global Wellness Institute™ (GWI), the principles of which are the basis for the Aberdeen community. GWI is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Miami Florida. Its mission is to “empower wellness worldwide by educating public and private sectors about preventative health and wellness.”
The institute defines wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” It defines the ‘wellness economy” and “wellness tourism” among other definitions.
These are different concepts for suburban residential gated communities as well as suburbia in general. I don’t know if I buy into them or if you will. But it is worth learning more about their ideas as well as the results and discussing them.
Please tell me what you think about them.
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