Characteristics of Residential Space in Response to Changed Lifestyles: Focusing on the Characteristics of Residents and the Relationship between Individual and Family

Hyun-ah Kwon and Soomi Kim
Additional contact information
Hyun-ah Kwon: Department of Architecture, Mokpo National University, Jeollanam-do 58554, Korea
Soomi Kim: School of Architecture, Soongsil University, Seoul 156743, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: The housing type of apartments, which has been spreading widely in South Korea, has penetrated deep into the domestic housing culture, thanks to the advantage of “convenience” resulting from the mass production of industrial capitalism that prioritizes functionality and efficiency. However, as capitalist social structures undergo transformation, in the 21st century, under a paradigm emphasizing creativity over functionality and efficiency, the characteristics of everyday life are also changing. Therefore, this study focuses on newly emerging lifestyles resulting from this transition of social structures. It analyzes the characteristics of residential space that reflect this trend, centering on “the characteristics of residents” and “the relationship between individual and family”. To this end, we compared lifestyle magazines aimed at the general public and architectural magazines aimed at architectural experts. Section 3 explores the changed lifestyles of residents by analyzing the articles containing interviews with residents in lifestyle magazines, while Section 4 focuses on the characteristics of residential spaces in reflecting these changes by analyzing houses and articles of architects and critics in architectural magazines. This analysis consistently brought forth the question of the limit of existing spaces of apartments and the desire to overcome them. A correspondence between residential spaces and the needs of everyday lives and lifestyles is a basic requirement for sustainable housing. Thus, the design of residential spaces will have to begin with a clear understanding of residents and their lifestyles, which can then be mapped onto the characteristics of residential spaces that can support them.

Keywords: urban housing; lifestyle; everyday life; social structure; creative class; lifestyle magazine; architectural magazine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2006/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2006/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2006-:d:219965

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().