Micro-segregation in Seoul, the capital city of the "Republic of Apartments"

Abstract

Seoul is a densely developed megacity of 10 million residents whose physical expansion was accompanied by the development of apartment complexes. Apartments have become an important source of housing in the city, with mass-produced, standardized homes accommodating not only Seoul's middle class but also the elites of society. Notably, socio-economic segregation does not usually take place within individual apartment buildings or apartment complexes but rather between different housing types (apartments vs. low-rise multifamily housing units). This chapter discusses various types of housing in Seoul, including low-rise multifamily units, apartments, and high-rise towers of mixed-use apartments, and analyzes how they produce spatial and micro-segregation. More specifically, it explains the vertical stratification found in old neighborhoods comprised of low-rise multifamily housing and why and how micro-segregation also occurs in high-rise apartments that are built as redevelopment projects under the government's social-mix policy.