Relationship between Physical Environment Satisfaction, Neighborhood Satisfaction, and Quality of Life in Gyeonggi, Korea

Kyung-Young Lee

doi:10.3390/land10070663

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between physical environment satisfaction, neighborhood satisfaction, and quality of life (QoL) in Gyeonggi, Korea. As previous QoL studies have rarely dealt with residential environments or examined the interactions between the physical and social factors in residential environments, to close these knowledge gaps, this study took physical and social environment satisfaction factors as relevant influences on QoL. This study also verified the moderating effect of neighborhood satisfaction on QoL through physical environment satisfaction. This study analyzed a Quality of Life Survey that was conducted in Gyeonggi, Korea. The total number of samples in the survey was 20,000, covering all 31 districts in Gyeonggi Province. In addition, multistage stratified sampling based on the number of household members and housing types was applied to the sample design. This increases the representation of the data. As a result, it was found that higher satisfaction with the physical and neighborhood factors positively affected QoL, with satisfaction with the facilities having the most obvious effect. Neighborhood satisfaction was found to have a moderating effect between safety satisfaction and QoL. Many developing countries have tended to pursue quantitative growth with a focus on economic aspects, which has undermined overall urban sustainability. However, recent urban management has also emphasized qualitative growth, such as resident QoL, as being just as important for urban sustainability. Therefore, this study’s results have important policy implications for qualitative urban growth.

Highlights

Urban development is understood to encompass both quantity and quality, with an increase in population or economic size referring to the former, and an increase in quality of life (QoL) and the local environment referring to the latter
In order to clarify this association in an urban Korean context, this study focused on two main research questions: How do residential environments affect quality of life, and do the social factors in residential environments moderate the relationship between the physical factors and quality of life?
This study presents the satisfaction level with factors depending on the residential area (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Urban development is understood to encompass both quantity and quality, with an increase in population or economic size referring to the former, and an increase in quality of life (QoL) and the local environment referring to the latter. A desirable city or urban environment is created when both quality and quantity are balanced. As urban management in the industrialization era has tended to prioritize quantitative growth over qualitative growth [1,2], many cities today have had remarkable quantity results compared to the past but are facing several qualitative issues, such as a decreasing. Co-operation and Development (OECD), which ranked Korea at 29th out of 35 countries. Australia had the highest score of 8.4 points (10-point scale), and the OECD average was 6.02.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion