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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Livability plays a vital role in the growth and development of cities and citizens' quality of life. Identifying and understanding the needs of citizens and making these settlements viable improves the quality of life in urban areas. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate residents' satisfaction with urban regeneration projects and its relationship with making these neighbourhoods viable. The goals formulated in the regeneration plan of the Kolapa neighbourhood of Hamadan have been extracted and used as criteria for evaluating the satisfaction of the project implementation. Livability criteria have also been divided according to the study of research background into four main classes: physical, environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and health criteria. This study has used descriptive-analytical methods and conducted a field survey through a questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha, with a coefficient of 0.863, confirmed the reliability of the questions. The statistical population is the whole population of the Kolapa neighbourhood, and the statistical sample size is 352, which is calculated by the Cochran formula, with a 5% error and 95% confidence level. We used stochastic sampling in this research. The compiled data were analyzed statistically using Correlation, Path analysis and Regression analysis in Spss and Amos24 environment. To what extent has the regeneration project brought the Kalpa neighborhood of Hamadan closer to the indicators of a livable city? According to the findings, among the satisfaction criteria for the project, sense of place, safety and security, participation and access to facilities and services have the highest level, respectively. According to the research findings, it is possible to benefit from people's participation in various stages of the implementation of the regeneration plan and turn neighborhoods into livable neighborhoods with better quality of life. The residents of the neighborhoods have gained a full understanding (such as strengths and weaknesses) of these types of places because they have lived in them for a long time. Therefore, the neighborhood can be regenerated based on the resident's knowledge and participation. Based on the results of path analysis it was found that regeneration projects mainly consider the physical dimension, and therefore other criteria (especially economic, health and socio-cultural criteria) are less considered.