Historically in the United States people have sought perfection in society. In the 1700 and 1800s America's immigrants attempted to create utopian communities. In the 1960s and 1970s people formed cults in which, like this country's first Utopian communities, they have been unable to isolate themselves from reality and create a society without problems.During the 1980s and 1990s emerging militias signaled a dissatisfaction with the political and moral structure of the country. At the same time a second group of people began to escape to gated communities. Gated communities are often promoted as a means of escaping from the problems plaguing many communities today, especially crime.The results of the gated community escape movement are that America has a large portion of its population removing itself from taking any responsibility for America's social ills. This isolation is going to affect not only the "gated escapists", but local governments and society overall. If municipalities address the reasons driving people to live behind walls the walls will no longer be needed. / Department of Urban Planning