Abstract
Although many researchers and policy makers have argued that social mixing could contribute to sustainable communities, most people still prefer to live in a homogeneous rather than a diverse community. Considering the large gap between the political need for social mixing and people's preference, it is essential to understand residents' perceptions and preferences regarding socially-mixed neighborhoods in order to promote sustainable community development. This study explorers residents' willingness to accept living in mixed-income communities in Korea, with attention to various levels of income mix. This study conducted an online survey of 2,000 respondents living in seven metropolitan cities in Korea, including Seoul. The study aimed to investigate residents' comfortability and willingness to move into different mixed-income communities. The results showed that residents with higher openness to diversity are more likely to accept mixed-income communities, but frequent interaction with low-income people reduces higher-income people's willingness to accept mixed-income communities. As both personal attitudes and experience are important determinants of individuals' social mix preference, a more systematic community development strategy is required to achieve successful social mixing.
Highlights
Social mix has been considered an important and promising policy agenda in many countries to ensure sustainable, inclusive, and equitable communities [1]
This figure illustrates a downward trend in both participant comfortability with and willingness to move (WTM) into mixed-income neighborhoods along with the progression from homogeneous to extremely mixed communities
This trend reveals that low-income people are more likely to accept mixed-income communities than higher-income individuals
Summary
Social mix has been considered an important and promising policy agenda in many countries to ensure sustainable, inclusive, and equitable communities [1]. Mixed-income development has been more prevalent in the United States and other Western countries as a means to tackle poverty concentration and social segregation caused by the historical practice of high-density public housing [2,3,4]. Social mix policy and planning aim to provide lowincome residents with more occupational access in order to reduce income segregation and discrimination in a move toward social equity and universal well-being [5,6,7,8]. The strategy fundamentally targets declining and deprived neighborhoods with the goal of transforming them into more vibrant, accessible, and safer communities through “positive gentrification,”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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