Minority neighbourhoods and availability of green amenities: empirical findings from Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

Availability of green amenities in cities often raises environmental justice issues. This study empirically examines Seoul, South Korea, where minority populations, such as foreigners, the poor, the old, the young, and the disabled, are generally increasing but the land area of parks and green spaces is gradually decreasing. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalised least squares (GLS) regression models, this study finds that foreign population is mostly negatively associated with green amenities. The old and the young are positively associated with the green amenities in general but negatively with small and children's parks. Neighbourhood parks do not seem to be associated with concentrations of any minority populations. Findings of this study argue for securing more lands for green amenities in cities and provide lessons to local planning practice.