1 Mediterranean Style Gated Communities Around the World: Architecture, 1 Globalization, and Transnational Elites 2 By Albert S. Fu 3 Kutztown University 4 5 Please cite as: Fu, A. S. (2020). Mediterranean Style Gated Communities Around the World: 6 Architecture, Globalization, and Transnational Elites. City & Community, 19(2), 421-442. 7 https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12447 8 9 Introduction 10 In recent years, urban scholars have produced a great deal of work on gated 11 communities. However, underexamined is the ubiquitous use of Mediterranean 12 architecture in these enclaves. This article bridges the work on gated communities and 13 global culture by looking at the aesthetics of the Toskana Vadisi, or the Tuscan Valley in 14 Istanbul, Turkey. Examining the aesthetics of the built environment allows us to 15 understand how lifestyle is packaged and sold to cities and elites aspiring to ‘world-class’ 16 status. The built environment, after all, is not just a reflection of social relations. Buildings 17 are a tangible manifestation of social processes and cultural practices, as they physically 18 structure everyday life and institutions (Gieryn 2002). As such, I argue the aesthetics of 19 Mediterranean-style gated communities are bound to global processes and a 20 transnational elite class culture situated in corporate place-making. 21