A Study on the Impact of the Built Environment of the Neighborhood on the Creation of Residents' Sense of Community and Satisfaction for Walkability

Abstract

The concept of ‘Sense of Community’ in a residential area is a created consciousness that also represents the residents’ attachment to their neighborhood. Generally, within a community, “people feel a sense of membership, being a part of the group where they believe that their needs are fulfilled through commitment and loyalty towards each other.” (Lee, 2009). For Korean people, the terms ‘Dongnae’ or ‘Maeul’ , which are used when a sense of community is present among the neighbors, started from their traditional farm villages, which are currently an unpopular type of neighborhood. In previous studies about the community, there is ample evidence that the built environments of the neighborhoods’ urban planning and architecture are essential in the people’s perception of community. However, this evidence is based on apartments or housings bound together, like a complex, built to contain groups of people living in similar conditions and sharing the same built environment. Despite the recent concerns about the present Korean movement regarding issues about the lack of attention to these single houses and multiple dwellings, studies are still weak and lacking. In response to this, there have been some measures, such as the recent initiative like the ‘Creation of Maeul’, that attempt to implement the traditional and communal environment among people living in these territories, but they lack background studies for these measures. This research emphasizes the role of the built environment in neighborhood community and livelihood, and attempts to disclose the general tendencies within a neighborhood composed of low-rise single and dwelling houses, which Korean people tend to consider as ideal in promoting a sense of community within a neighborhood. Moreover, the importance of the walking environment in the neighborhood has also been stated in previous reports, which implies that the perception of the sense of community exists more in outdoors than in indoors. Therefore, both sense of community and satisfaction for the walking environment will be essential in the overall findings. In order to conduct a controlled setting of these environments, the research focuses on planned unit development areas (a.k.a. PUD or Unit Plan District) that strictly control the built environment for each land uses. Among the PUD areas, the research focused two types: one that only has single detached houses, and another that has only multiple dwelling houses with commercial facilities on the ground floor. As dependent variables, the research will be using the previous findings as a guideline where built environment such as land use, community space, pavement, road, landscape and sidewalks were considered important on the sense of community. 73 residents from the two types of PUDs (four different areas in the same region) were surveyed based on the SCI-2 (Sense of Community Index 2) developed by Mc Millan & Chavis (1986), and the satisfaction questionnaire used in the previous literature. Results were combined with the built environment data that were extracted from their respective areas. With the statistical analysis, the correlation between the built environment and both Sense of Community and Satisfaction were analyzed using simple linear regressions and two way-ANOVA tests. As a result, the built environment had different associations in the sense of community and satisfaction. Overall, a sense of community was stronger in single family households than in multiple-dwelling houses with commercial facilities. Moreover, the built environment that had strong association with the walking environment was the riverside view, a landscape variable. The research was conducted in a strictly developed area, which gave limitations to many other possible variables. Still, the site was a representative condition of the neighborhood livelihood, as well as a representative sample of the development trend nowadays. Therefore, these studies disclosed the fact that for each PUD, the built environment must be controlled differently. |공동체의식은 특정 거주지에서 거주자들 사이에 형성된 집단의식이다. 또한 그것은 그들의 지역에 대한 애착심을 의미하는 감정이기도 하다. 일반적으로 “공동체의식이란 구성원이 소속감을 가지며, 구성원이 타인이나 집단의 일부라는 느낌, 그리고 구성원의 요구는 함께이기 위한 그들의 헌신을 통해 충족될 것이라는 공유된 믿음”이라 정의된다 (이라영, 2010). 공동체를 바탕으로 하는 한국인의 정서에는 예부터 농촌마을에서 시작된 ‘마을’ 혹은 ‘우리동네’라는 영역이 자리잡고 있다. 공동체의식을 느끼게 하는 필수적인 요소로서 마을을 구성하는 건축물이나 도시계획의 물리적 조건들이 요구된다는 것을 증명한 선행연구들은 쉽게 찾아볼 수 있지만, 이는 공동주거나 아파트 단지들을 중심으로 연구 되었다. 그러한 탓에 단독주택과 다가구주택의 공동체에 관한 연구는 소홀한 상태이며, ‘마을 만들기’와 같은 저층 주거지역을 중심으로 한 대책을 고려하고 있지만 개선방향에 대한 연구가 미비한 실정이다. 과거의 ‘마을’이라는 것을 현실적으로 실현할 수 있는 가장 이상적인 공간이 단독주택과 다가구주택이라고 판단하여 본 연구는 국내에 있는 단독주택 지역과 다가구주택 지역의 공동체 의식과 이에 영향을 주는 물리적 요인들을 찾는데 의의가 있다. 선행연구에 따르면, 공동체 의식이 발생하는 요인에 있어서 보행환경이 가장 빈번하게 언급되는데, 이는 공동체에 대한 인식이 주거 내부가 아니라 근린생활권의 외부공간에서 나타나기 때문이다. 따라서, 주민들의 보행만족도 조사가 공동체의식을 알아보는데 핵심적인 역할을 한다고 판단하였다. 그리하여, 본 연구에서는 공동체 의식을 측정하고자 선행 연구자들이 제안한 설문 방법인 SCI (공동체 의식 측정 도구, Sense of Community Index)와 보행환경 만족도 측정 설문도구를 사용하여 공동체 의식, 물리적 요인들 그리고 보행환경에 대한 만족도 사이의 차이와 상관성을 정량적으로 분석하고자 한다. 대상 근린생활권 구역은 단독주택과 다가구주택의 배치가 도시계획에 의해 엄격하게 나뉘어져 있으며 단독 주택으로만 구성된 제1종 전용주거 지역과 1층에 상가를 둔 다가구주택으로 구성된 제1종 일반주거 지역이 있다. 두 지역을 비교하는 요소로서 선행연구에서 고려되었던 물리적 조건들 가운데 건물 용도 (land use), 공용공간, 보도, 도로, 보도와 주택의 접근성, 건물의 정면성과 조경요소를 본 연구에 포함시켰다. 설문에는 총 73명의 거주민들이 참여하였으며, 각1가구에 1인 대상으로 설문을 하였다. 설문조사로부터 파악하고자 한 내용은 다음과 같다: 첫째, 공동체의식의 총합을 해당 거주자의 지구단위계획의 물리적 요인들과의 상관성을 측정하였다. 둘째, 보행환경에 대한 만족도를 종속변인으로 설정하여 물리적 환경과의 상관성을 측정하였다. 셋째, 지구단위계획에 따라 공동체의식과 보행환경만족도 사이에 어떠한 차이가 있는지 분석하였다. 본 연구를 통해 신시가지 계획에서는 공동체 의식을 형성하기 위해서 단독주택지역과 다가구주택지역의 계획을 달리해야 할 필요성을 검증하였다. 또한, 근린생활권내에서 공동체의식을 높일 수 있는 보행환경 개선에 대한 방향을 제시했다는 것에 본 연구의 의의가 있다.; The concept of ‘Sense of Community’ in a residential area is a created consciousness that also represents the residents’ attachment to their neighborhood. Generally, within a community, “people feel a sense of membership, being a part of the group where they believe that their needs are fulfilled through commitment and loyalty towards each other.” (Lee, 2009). For Korean people, the terms ‘Dongnae’ or ‘Maeul’ , which are used when a sense of community is present among the neighbors, started from their traditional farm villages, which are currently an unpopular type of neighborhood. In previous studies about the community, there is ample evidence that the built environments of the neighborhoods’ urban planning and architecture are essential in the people’s perception of community. However, this evidence is based on apartments or housings bound together, like a complex, built to contain groups of people living in similar conditions and sharing the same built environment. Despite the recent concerns about the present Korean movement regarding issues about the lack of attention to these single houses and multiple dwellings, studies are still weak and lacking. In response to this, there have been some measures, such as the recent initiative like the ‘Creation of Maeul’, that attempt to implement the traditional and communal environment among people living in these territories, but they lack background studies for these measures. This research emphasizes the role of the built environment in neighborhood community and livelihood, and attempts to disclose the general tendencies within a neighborhood composed of low-rise single and dwelling houses, which Korean people tend to consider as ideal in promoting a sense of community within a neighborhood. Moreover, the importance of the walking environment in the neighborhood has also been stated in previous reports, which implies that the perception of the sense of community exists more in outdoors than in indoors. Therefore, both sense of community and satisfaction for the walking environment will be essential in the overall findings. In order to conduct a controlled setting of these environments, the research focuses on planned unit development areas (a.k.a. PUD or Unit Plan District) that strictly control the built environment for each land uses. Among the PUD areas, the research focused two types: one that only has single detached houses, and another that has only multiple dwelling houses with commercial facilities on the ground floor. As dependent variables, the research will be using the previous findings as a guideline where built environment such as land use, community space, pavement, road, landscape and sidewalks were considered important on the sense of community. 73 residents from the two types of PUDs (four different areas in the same region) were surveyed based on the SCI-2 (Sense of Community Index 2) developed by Mc Millan & Chavis (1986), and the satisfaction questionnaire used in the previous literature. Results were combined with the built environment data that were extracted from their respective areas. With the statistical analysis, the correlation between the built environment and both Sense of Community and Satisfaction were analyzed using simple linear regressions and two way-ANOVA tests. As a result, the built environment had different associations in the sense of community and satisfaction. Overall, a sense of community was stronger in single family households than in multiple-dwelling houses with commercial facilities. Moreover, the built environment that had strong association with the walking environment was the riverside view, a landscape variable. The research was conducted in a strictly developed area, which gave limitations to many other possible variables. Still, the site was a representative condition of the neighborhood livelihood, as well as a representative sample of the development trend nowadays. Therefore, these studies disclosed the fact that for each PUD, the built environment must be controlled differently.