International Journal of

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Despite negative perspectives on their consequences, gated communities continue to spread in cities due to structural reasons such as globalization and economic neo-liberalism. Hence, there is a need to seek for a way of achieving a balance and make these communities livable. Due to agreement with economic market perspectives, livability principles might offer a solution for mediating the social consequences of gated communities. This survey aimed to examine the physical factors influencing social livability of gated communities and identify the degree of their prominence. To collect the data, four gated communities in Tehran were selected through cluster sampling. An analysis of 258 questionnaires and our observation of the physical features of the gated communities indicated five physical features affecting social livability of gated communities. The results showed that mixed uses had the biggest effect on the social livability of gated communities followed by mixed housing, accessibility, walkability and sociability respectively. Although it might be impossible to put a halt to the expansion of gated communities in the short run, attempts can be made to attract different classes of people to these communities through mixing different uses and prevent from the fragmentation of gated communities. Well-connected and walkable streets help many daily activities occur within walking distance promoting the security of the neighborhood. Designing sociable public places where everyone is welcomed without any type of exclusion or limitation increases social bonds within gated communities which in turn promotes resident’s sense of community.

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Noise annoyance is a sensitive indicator of adverse noise effects and by itself means that noise affects people’s quality of life. In fact the acoustic environment has been neglected during the education of building engineers and architects relative to the thermal and lighting aspects addressed in education programs. This study aimed to investigate various non-acoustic factors on the annoyance caused by environmental noise in residential apartments. The surveys were conducted in Iran, city of Tabriz in October and November 2019. This research is descriptive-analytical and the type of research is correlational and causal. The statistical population of this study has formed the residents of different towers of Aseman-e Tabriz Residential Complex, which was selected as the sample size by using 373 Cochran's formula. The way of selecting sample people is randomly simple. The validity of the questionnaire has been confirmed by the professors and the reliability of the questionnaire has been obtained using Cronbach's special alpha formula for the variables in total equal to 0.857, and the variables of the situational section 0.902. Among all variables of the study, only four variables of fear with the 12.93% of variance changes, sensitivity to noise with the 11.85%, health issues of the residents with the 12.25%, satisfaction with the quality of construction and insulation with the 12.53% are the main factors influencing.