Quality of life and semipublic spaces in High-Rise Mixed-Use Housing complexes in South Korea

Abstract

High-rise Mixed-Use Housing (HMUH) buildings have favorable urban location conditions, innovative technology, and diverse urban cultural functions to efficiently and compactly enhance urban dwellers' spatial accessibility. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life of urban dwellers with regard to the semipublic spaces of HMUH complexes in order to propose a planning direction for sustainable HMUH complexes. The research methodologies that were used involved examining relevant past studies to derive subjective quality of life indicators of urban dwellers, as well as studying the design drawings of HMUH buildings to conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses of the semipublic spaces therein. Moreover, urban dwellers' satisfaction with their quality of life was surveyed in order to analyze differences in levels of satisfaction according to various types of HMUH complexes. In conclusion, the physical quality of the semipublic spaces in HMUH complexes correlated with the quality of life of urban dwellers, created a general linear model between the semipublic spaces, and was varied according to the HMUH building types. In the case of HMUH complexes, the dwellers' preference for social interaction was found to be lower than their preference for other indicators, with a high preference for safety and security. Further, in the case of small housing units equipped with double loaded corridors, the semipublic spaces negatively influenced the quality of life of the dwellers, and the sporting amenities in the semipublic spaces were the most frequently used for health and leisure activities and social interaction.