Korean apartment complexes and social relationships of the residents

Korean apartment housing, where more than half of the population lives, has drawn attention with its spatial, historical, and cultural uniqueness. Among many questions on Korean apartments, this article explains how the socio-spatial characteristics of apartment housing have impacts on the social relationships among the residents. This article first analyses the historical, socio-cultural, and spatial characteristics of Korean apartments, and then synthesizes up-to-date empirical study results to examine how the diverse characteristics can be associated with the residents’ social relations. The empirical evidence clarifies the effects of Korean apartments’ characteristics on residents’ social relations—the exclusive complex design, spatial configurations, shared spaces including community facilities, heights of the units, public/private housing types, social homogeneity, and community programs are all associated with social relations of the residents. Key methodological problems in current studies as well as implications for future apartment planning are highlighted.