The effects of socioeconomic factors on urban expansion in Seoul Metropolitan Area, 2000-2010

Abstract

Measuring and understanding the nature of urban spatial expansion is one of the important subjects in the field of urban planning, geography, transportation, and environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of socioeconomic factors on urban spatial expansion in Seoul Metropolitan Area with a micro-level perspective. In order to explain urban expansion, we described the Mills-Muth urban model, and then suggested a direction of this research. Using binary logit model with 2000 and 2010 micro census including population, household, housing and employment data, we estimated the effects of various socioeconomic factors affecting urban expansion. Our findings revealed that changes in cost of family support, total jobs, and manufacturing jobs are important factors in explaining urban expansion. We also found that employment suburbanization is not associated with urban expansion.