The relationship between resident satisfaction and apartment forms: a case study in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea

Abstract

The major objective of this research is to study the relationship between apartment forms and resident satisfaction in the Seoul metropolitan area. To achieve this objective, the study has followed three steps. The first is to investigate typo-morphological characteristics of apartment forms in the Seoul metropolitan area; the second, to survey resident satisfaction with different apartment forms; the third step, to discover the important factors affecting resident satisfaction with apartment forms by using statistical analyses.This study found that most personal and physical variables studied are not significantly related to the level of satisfaction with apartment forms. Among those variables, dwelling unit type, building siting, and income are significantly related to satisfaction. However, these objective variables are somewhat weaker predictors of satisfaction compared to other significant subjective evaluation variables. Dwelling unit type appears to be related only to satisfaction with the medium unit.As regards satisfaction with the dwelling unit, the evaluation of Anbang, bathroom and utility room size was found to have a very important influence on satisfaction in the small unit; the evaluation of living room and dining space size together with dwelling unit type in a medium unit; the evaluation of the living room location, dining space size, and utility room size in the large unit.The evaluation of visual privacy, building siting, and auditory privacy have proved important variables in accounting for satisfaction with the apartment building, while the evaluation of open space, parking lot and playground size were major predictors of satisfaction with the space around or between buildings.