From the perspective of urban design control, the study investigates the possibilities and approaches to reduce negative infl uences of gated communities, directly or indirectly, through effective planning policies or design strategies during the construction process. Based on empirical research of embedded-single case studies, it centers on three factors: enclosure scale, border effect, and shared facilities of gated communities, and discusses the necessity and feasibility to apply design control in gated communities as seen from different interest groups, i.e., developers, managers, users, and maintainers. Accordingly, it proposes several key design factors and implementation approaches to promote the integration of gated communities and "private-owned public space" into an urban social and spatial network.
