This paper proposes a relational spatial lens and methods to investigate the drivers underlying the production and reconfiguration of the gating space and the meaning of gatedness in an enclosed residential compound in the Chinese urban context, which is commonly referred to as a Gated Community. The conceptual lens helps reveal the fluid character of the materialized gating spaces and their polyvalent meaning. This is accomplished by systematically employing a relational conceptualization of space, as well as the concepts of refiguration and translocalization. Empirically, we focus on a perennial and dynamic case in Guangzhou city, an enclosed residential compound called ‘East Lake New Village.’ We examine the distinct phases through which its physical ‘gating spaces’ and perceived ‘gatedness’ have grown and transformed over time. We address the causal relations between translocal spatial knowledges, contextualized practices, various material figurations of gating spaces and the multivalent meaning of ‘gatedness.’ We argue that the formation of gating spaces needs to be examined relationally, addressing the ways in which local and translocal objects are welded together in a place, which in turn either blurs or sharpens the rooted perception of gatedness in a local context.