Drawbridge mentality describes the attitude of those people who migrate to more exclusive or more "unspoiled" communities and thereafter campaign to preserve the tranquility of that community by opposing further inward migration by people or businesses and, possibly, any development or refurbishment, including plans put forward by those already located there.

The term can imply a selfish attitude and can be taken as an insult by people who have strong affection for their home locality and wish to protect it from any changes. It is closely related to the NIMBY

NIMBY

NIMBY or Nimby is an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard". The term is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies...

 attitude.

A drawbridge

Drawbridge

A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...

 was historically the hinge

Hinge

A hinge is a type of bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation. Hinges may be made of flexible material or of moving components...

d bridge at a castle's

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 gates providing entry across a defensive moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

 for those occupying the castle. Raising the drawbridge to a vertical position was therefore one means by which intruders could be shut out of the castle.

See also

• Campaign to Protect Rural England
• BANANA
• Lifeboat ethics
  Lifeboat ethics
  Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1974.Hardin's metaphor describes a lifeboat bearing 50 people, with room for ten more. The lifeboat is in an ocean surrounded by a hundred swimmers...
  
  
• Tragedy of the commons
  Tragedy of the commons
  The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this...