Reminds me of Arizona. I didn't live in a gated community, but the 6 foot block walls created artificial boundaries between neighbors. One year, when I took my older son trick or treating, we rang the bell of the people who lived behind us. It was a newer house than ours and after 4 years, I finally saw who lived inside.
Here I can choose to engage with my neighbors or not. We have 2 acre lots, far back from the street, but most of the houses are on shared driveways, so there has to be some communication, about snow removal, at least. We are very lucky; we are actually friends with our driveway neighbors, who are very much like us, i.e. not people who have lived in Concord forever. The others, not so much. Pat (my neighbor) peer pressured me into attending the neighborhood "holiday tea" for women this Friday. Since neither of us can stand these people, we decided to have a glass of wine before we walk down the street.