Spatially neighborhood and socially non-neighborhood: illustrating social capital perception of neighbors around the apartment complex

Abstract

This study is to verify that apartment complexes influence social capital in Seoul. We collected the proportion of apartment complexes in autonomous districts and social capital variables such as cooperation with neighbors, community trust, and altruism of vulnerable people through the Seoul survey data for five years. The main results are as follows. First, as the ratio of apartment complexes increased, the level of social capital of community residents around the apartment decreased. In other words, the higher the proportion of area occupied by apartment complexes, which are gated communities in South Korea, the lower the level of social capital of the local community. Second, as the ratio of apartment complexes increased, the level of social capital of apartment complex residents increased. That is, as the area ratio of apartment complexes increased, the social capital level of the community residents decreased, while the social capital level of apartment complex residents generally increased. Third, as the size of the apartment complex grew, the negative impact on the social capital of residents in the community increased. It means that as the size of the apartment complex increased to 500 and 1000 households, the extent of the decline in social capital increased.