Determinants of residential satisfaction and its transition with residential environments : focused on housing renewal in Gwacheon city

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The modernization of Republic of Korea kept traces back with its remarkable economic development since the 1960s; however, rapid urbanization and industrialization triggered an acute shortage of housing, particularly due to rural-urban migration. To cope with this problem, since the 1970s successive governments of Korea have adopted policies of housing supply heavily concentrated on apartment apartments, which reached their end-of-life about two decades later in 1990s. In this context, reconstruction has been redirected with great efforts from low-storey low-density apartment buildings of the past toward effectively recovering metropolitan functions and efficiently remodeling most deteriorated houses. Looking back at the apartment complexes reconstructed to date on a project scale, which were mostly implemented by the private sector, it seems as though the main goal has been economic gain and maximized profits by project initiators and constructors, rather than development that is harmonized with the environment. This gave rise to high-rise, high densification in apartment buildings, provoking the criticism that little consideration had been given to urban functionality, environmental features and urban landscaping, worsening the residential environment. In the 10 years following 2012, it is estimated that up to 288,063 apartment buildings will have reached the age at which reconstruction is legally allowed. At this point, it is a priority to derive ways to maximize the favorable aspects and minimize the adverse aspects in the reconstruction projects that will soon commence. In the context, this study has the following objectives. In relation between residential satisfaction and changing residential (or housing) environment caused by reconstruction; The first is to derive determinants of user satisfaction in housing and environmental quality The second is to empirically assess the effect of the residential environment and socio-demographic causes on residential satisfaction. The third is to analyze the manner in which the physical changes arising from reconstruction have an effect on the change of residential satisfaction. To accomplish the aims of this study, a prior research and literature review is conducted in an attempt to outline existing concepts and notions as per reconstruction and residential satisfaction, and further set up a research model and hypotheses. The dataset used for proving this research model and hypotheses is derived from the "Survey on Perceptual Structure of Gwacheon Inhabitants (2012)" carried out by the City of Gwacheon. The results of the analysis are as follows; First, it was found that of the socio-demographic characteristics, the factors of gender, monthly average household income, tenure type, housing type, housing size and length of residency have a statistically significant effect on residential satisfaction, while the factor of age has no effect on residential satisfaction. Second, it was found that all six factors involving the residential environment have a positive (+) effect on residential satisfaction that has statistical significance, and can be ranked from most to least significant in the order of safety, community sense, economic viability, comfort, convenience and accessibility. Third, it was found that, based on the analysis on determinants of residential satisfaction as well as socio-demographic characteristics and residential environment, all six factors involving the residential environment and the variable gender among the socio-demographic characteristics have a statistically significant effect on residential satisfaction. Fourth, it was found that there is no difference in statistical significance between original inhabitants and immigrants with respect to residential satisfaction; in addition to residential satisfaction, no statistically significant difference exists between the two groups in terms of the five factors that constitute the residential environment. Fifth, it was found that in the comparison of the residential satisfaction of dwellers in reconstructed apartments and community residents in the surrounding area, the degree of satisfaction is higher in the former than the latter in terms of residential satisfaction as well as four (i.e., safety, comfort, convenience and accessibility) out of the five factors of the residential environment, with the exception of the sense of community. Sixth, it was found through an analysis on the determinants of residential satisfaction between reconstructed apartments and their neighboring communities that causes commonly influential to both are safety, community sense and comfort; moreover, housing size and tenure for the former, and accessibility, gender, length of residency, convenience and income level for the latter have an additional effect. Tasks that need to be facilitated or incorporated on a policy-making basis by taking into account the results of this study are; 1) considerations on the adjoining area must be taken, as much as focusing on improvement of residential environment at reconstruction sites from the planning phase in reconstruction projects; 2) infrastructure such as amenities must be planned in a broader and wider sense, not a short-sighted and narrow sense; 3) apartment buildings must be designed in a way that sufficiently dampens or addresses noises; 4) green lungs such as parks or forests near to the residence must be facilitated toward better satisfaction of green area accessibility; and, 5) interactions with residents via communication channels must be provided to improve the sense of community and enhance the rate of resettlement of residents.