As modern society experiences rapid urbanization and population concentration, urban multi-family housing has become the dominant residential style, particularly in the Seoul metropolitan area. This type of housing is more than just a physical space; ...
As modern society experiences rapid urbanization and population concentration, urban multi-family housing has become the dominant residential style, particularly in the Seoul metropolitan area. This type of housing is more than just a physical space; its importance is growing as a complex living environment that determines the residents' quality of life and housing satisfaction. Specifically, the role of educational content and community spaces in fostering a sense of community, supporting residents' self-development, and facilitating social integration has become prominent. Given the nature of multi-family housing, which encompasses diverse age groups and various family structures, the creation of customized programs that meet residents' educational needs and the establishment of resident-participatory communities are essential for forming a sustainable residential community. Existing related studies have mainly focused on physical space design or fragmented case analyses. There is a lack of scientific, empirical analysis to develop real, life-integrated content based on the actual educational demands of individual residents. This study aims to quantitatively analyze the educational needs of parents residing in urban multi-family housing, using statistical techniques. Based on the findings, the research seeks to specifically present site-evidence-based directions for developing customized educational content to aid in the formation and development of sustainable urban multi-family housing through an integrated approach to education and spatial planning within the residential environment. For this research, an online and offline survey was conducted targeting 89 parents residing in urban multi-family housing in the Seoul metropolitan area. The collected data was analyzed using the statistical software SPSS 28.0. Specifically, the study sought to understand the parents' general perception of the importance of education and their attitudes toward public and private education. Furthermore, it statistically verified how demographic characteristics—such as the parents' age, occupation, and residence—are significantly related to their perception of what is most important in education. Independent variables were set as general characteristics (e.g., age), and dependent variables were set as the importance of education and attitudes toward public· private education. Statistical significance was primarily confirmed through cross-tabulation and Chi-square tests. The empirical analysis confirmed that 'age' was the sole statistically significant variable (χ2=22.248, p=.008) in determining the perception of educational importance among parents in urban multi-family housing. This result contrasts with previous studies, where socioeconomic variables like occupation or residence were heavily weighted but showed no significant differences in educational importance perception. This suggests that within a homogeneous residential environment, age, a life-cycle factor directly linked to a child's developmental stage, is the most critical factor in shaping educational values. The educational demands, based on age, clearly bifurcate into two axes: 'Curriculum-Centric Demand': This was primarily observed among parents in their 40s and 50s. As this is the period with the highest realistic demands related to their children's academic achievement and university entrance exams, 68.5% responded that they use private education to supplement the deficiencies of public education, showing a demand for a high level of expertise and advanced learning content. 'Environment and Socialization-Centric Demand': This was prominent among parents aged 30 and under and those 60 and over. They focus on safety and character development during the children's early stages (30 and under) or the grandchildren's community life (60 and over). 83.9% agreed on the necessity of 'education to develop social skills' among non-academic activities, indicating a high demand for non-academic and communal values. Based on these empirical findings, this study proposes a 'Two-Track Customized Educational Content Development Strategy' as the optimal solution for developing educational content in urban multi-family housing. This strategy is intended to overcome the limitations of developing uniform content and efficiently satisfy the residents' complex and diverse educational needs. The 'Academic Deepening and Public Education Supplement Track' should focus on high-quality, in-depth learning content that contributes significantly to academic entrance exams and intensive education by professional instructors to meet the needs of those primarily in their 40s and 50s.The 'Community and Environment-Centric Track' should reflect the needs of those aged 30 and under and 60 and over. It should focus on implementing communal values that private education cannot easily provide, such as character education utilizing the complex's environment, experiential learning to foster cooperation, and inter-generational exchange programs. Ultimately, this research suggests, from a policy and practical perspective, the functional diversification of community spaces in urban multi-family housing by recognizing them as 'educational facilities,' not just welfare amenities. To this end, relevant laws and design standards should be revised to include provisions for multi-purpose classrooms and digital educational equipment from the housing design stage, and investment in facilities should be expanded. Furthermore, an operating model must be established that ensures the quality control of content and the supply of professional instructors through cooperation with external specialized institutions (e.g., local governments, regional education offices, universities) for the sustainable operation of age-specific customized programs. This study holds significant academic value by statistically proving the importance of the age variable in the study of parents' educational perceptions. In a practical sense, it offers tangible criteria for developing user-centric, customized content. The Two-Track Strategy is expected to significantly contribute to urban multi-family housing becoming a new residential culture model that creates educational value and builds sustainable educational communities.