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Physical improvement directions for goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in South Korea

Physical improvement directions for goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in South... JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING https://doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2022.2160213 ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING AND DESIGN Physical improvement directions for goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in South Korea a b a Odilia Renaningtyas Manifesty , Byunghak Min and Seiyong Kim a b Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Smart City, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 20 August 2022 Seeing the potential of goshiwons, Korea’s low-cost single occupancy accommodation, to be Accepted 15 December 2022 a livable and affordable micro-house, this study aims to offer suggestions for future improve- ments based on the emerging theory of micro-housing. A quantitative approach with structural KEYWORDS equation modeling (SEM) was first conducted to test six proposed hypotheses. The first three Goshiwons; Korean housing hypotheses are that there are positive correlations between the current livability of goshiwons studies; micro-housing; and (i) location, (ii) quality of the building and shared facilities, and (iii) room condition. The affordable housing; livable next three hypotheses emphasize that improving these three physical aspects will improve the house degree of livability. An interview qualitative approach to relevant respondents was also applied in which the result further explains the quantitative result. Room conditions that include limited access to natural light, poor air circulation, lack of storage, and poor soundproofing are the main issues for the poor living environment of goshiwon. For future improvements, the location of goshiwon should also be considered as an addition to room condition. This is because, while the location of goshiwons is beneficial in terms of proximity to various facilities, the respondents wished for goshiwons to be located in a quieter and safer environment, away from late-night entertainment establishments. 1. Introduction an option for low-cost housing in Korea needs to be Quoting The Korea Herald, one of the most prominent followed by strict and proper development of regulations English-language news companies in Korea, goshiwons about quality (Newsis 2021). are defined as “a form of privately owned, low-cost, Not only to increase the housing supplies, improve- cocoon-like accommodation, usually larger rooms ment of goshiwons as single occupancy housing can divided by thin walls and makeshift doors” (Kim 2017). also be beneficial to the general housing welfare in The layout of goshiwon establishments can look similar to Korea, since it’s expected to expand the housing indus- other single-occupancy housing types such as studios try (Lee 2021). While developing goshiwons can take (better known as “one-room” in Korea) and dormitories, various directions and scales, physical aspects of the but also different in several ways. As shown in Figure 1, living environment need immediate attention because tiny size with usually inadequate furniture, relatively they affect residents’ well-being the most (Yeung-kurn, cheap all-in monthly rent with little to no deposit, various Pan-jun, and Tae-soo 2007). Hence, this research shared facilities that can be used for free, and usually focuses on how to improve the physical aspects of strategic location are the main attributes of goshiwons. the living environment in goshiwon-type housing. Starting in the 1970s as an accommodation for students Previous studies have analyzed the satisfaction level taking the national exam to enter universities, demand for of goshiwon residents, typology of goshiwons, and goshiwons rose rapidly and transformed them into long- assessment of their quality based on Korea’s standard term accommodation for single occupancy (Jin and Choi of residential buildings. Hence, the purpose of this 2018). Due to their high demand, there have been many study is to assess Goshiwon in a perspective that has variations of goshiwon-type housing, such as goshitel, never been explored before. We used the concept of livingtel, and one-roomtel. All of these offer slightly differ - micro-housing as the new perspective to present the ent quality, and the total of these types of housing sur- possible direction for future development due to passed 6,000 units in Seoul and continues to increase (Ryu goshiwons’ physical attributes that are similar to the and Kim 2021; Ko, Lee, and An 2016). Previous studies concept of micro-housing. As of 2021, there is no have suggested that despite their relatively low spatial official and universal definition nor standard for micro- quality, demand for goshiwons is still growing (Lee and housing besides the etymology of a micro-house being Yoon 2010). Lee Jae Myung, governor of Gyeonggi “smaller than regular houses” and, although some Province, stated that maintaining goshiwons’ status as cases include multiple occupants, single occupancy is CONTACT Seiyong Kim kksy@Korea.ac.kr Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. Figure 1. The variety of how the interior of goshiwon looks like. Following the site location for this study, picture A was taken at a Goshiwon located in Mapo-gu, picture B was taken in Seongbuk-gu, and picture C was taken in Dongjak-gu area. the main target of its development (Batista and Farias it to goshiwon tenants to first assess the physical com- 2021). Cities around the world such as New York, ponents of the current livability of goshiwons, Boston, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and within and second, to determine which components are Korea itself have developed their own definitions and important to improve the livability. specifications of micro-housing. Since every city is Figure 2 shows the research framework for this unique in population distribution and sociocultural study. Three separate but interrelated stages were elements, it is important to find the best adaptation included. The first stage included defining the research of the micro-housing concept for Korea’s housing problems and objectives and reviewing literature and situation and goshiwons’ characteristics. This study cases around the world on the character of micro- synthesizes the essence of micro-housing concepts housing that is suitable to the context of goshiwons. from various examples around the world and presents In this stage, variables used in the study were decided Figure 2. Framework for this study. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 3 based on the review. In the next stage, the correlation also suggested to make the room feel more spacious. between the independent and dependent variables Regardless of the low quality of the living environ- was investigated twice, once for the current situation ment, many people still chose a goshiwon due to its and once for improvement suggestions, through quan- cheap rent, strategic location, and the availability of titative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative free services such as laundry machines and basic approach was conducted to gain general insight on meals. which physical elements affect the livability of goshi- Meanwhile, there are 184 studies on micro-housing wons, while the qualitative approach was used to gain research that focus on classifying and identifying a deeper understanding of the subject. The last stage micro-house typologies and challenges. Defying the included interpreting the data analysis, incorporating popular trend of big houses as the only acceptable the results to possible suggestions for future improve- option for a good home, micro-houses are starting to ments, acknowledging limitations of the current be considered for several reasons. First, they have research, and making suggestions for future research. arisen as one solution to the housing shortage that Although the research focuses on one specific housing many megacities face (Harris and Nowicki 2020). situation in South Korea, we believed that the results Housing shortages especially in city centers can lead can also contribute to the development of micro- to more serious problems such as urban sprawl. Urban housing in other countries as well, especially in other sprawl imposes a threat to the urban environment megacities that have similar issue as Seoul, such as because it can create transportation problems and Hongkong, Tokyo, and New York City (Fox and encourage inequality between citizens. Second is the Humphries 2021). We tried to incorporate the results increasing demand for minimalist living and how peo- in global context in the Discussion section and ple see micro-houses as one way to achieve it (Lee and included the desired impact of our research globally Lee, 2014). Various design concepts have also been in the Conclusion. suggested to make micro-housing livable, such as the focus on sharing resources and the usage of “bespoke design” that emphasizes unique design based on the 2. Literature review size of the space (Shearer and Burton, 2019) To further understand the planning standard for goshiwons, Research in Korea’s housing prices by Kim and Cho a review of related laws and regulations is presented (2010) shows that “achieving the stability of housing next. Design elements of livable micro-housing are prices in all sub-markets simultaneously is a virtually also presented to discern which elements can feasibly impossible policy goal”. It indicates that stability in be implemented in goshiwons. housing markets tends to focus on specific markets in which single occupancy households are rarely included, although its number keeps growing yearly. 2.1. Gaps in laws and regulations related to That is one of many reasons why research on single goshiwons occupancy housings such as goshiwons is very much needed. From a database collected from Google To increase the housing supply, Korea’s Housing Act Scholar, 141 studies employing various methods were enacted a new housing type called semi-housing in published in the past 20 years about goshiwons and which non-dwelling facilities are considered to be mostly assessed the living conditions at the time. The housing facilities. Generally, semi-housing has four first method was to compare the laws and regulations major types: dormitories, elderly welfare facilities, offi - with the actual conditions. Results showed that a lot of cetel, and goshiwons (Lee and Yang 2013). Among goshiwons were operated as other residential types, these four types, goshiwons are well known to have which is against the law, and that the lack of ventila- the worst living environment. There are three main tions and public spaces were the main issues (Yoo, factors that have dragged the living environment of Yang, and Kim 2019). Second, through residents’ satis- goshiwons below the regular standard (Jin et al, 2018); faction surveys, some negative points were identified. Lee and Lee 2014): There are many cases where Goshiwons lack of public space where the residents could build some sense of As of 2021, there is no specific law that regulates community and have some social activities was high- the management, design, and minimum require- lighted (Cho et al. 2017). Surveys also proved that ments of goshiwons. The Semi-housing Act insufficient dining and storge space is also a big issue comes closest, and there are other related laws that needs to be addressed (Choi and Kim 2015). For such as the Enforcement Decree of the Building future development, some studies suggest that Act, specifically under the Multi-living Facility designing goshiwons differently for each specific user Building Standards, Special Act on Safety might help improve the occupancy experience (Kim Management of Multi-Use Businesses, and an and Yoo 2021; Lee and Lee 2016). Installation of adap- administrative rule called the Minimum Housing tive furniture that can fit the small size of a goshiwon is Standards (Jin and Choi 2018). This situation has 4 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. left many gaps in goshiwons’ regulation and has residential establishments, it is difficult to determine prevented standardization that would guarantee which existing regulation suits goshiwons the most the well-being of the residents. (Park et al. 2014). This has resulted in quality disparities ● Having started in the early 1970s, goshiwons were in many goshiwons, especially in Seoul. Some goshi- first introduced as study rooms to provide stu- wons with higher rental prices have a higher standard dents an enclosed environment to prepare for and have more features similar to studio apartments, national exams, such as the university entrance while the ones with lower rental prices tend to have exam and civil servant exam (Lee 2020). Since a lower standard. then, the popularity of goshiwons started to increase; slowly their function evolved, and they began to become a regular housing option with- 2.2. Micro-housing: providing a living experience out a proper adjustment in their spatial design. within a small space ● Compared to any other accommodations, goshi- As stated in the introduction, several countries, includ- wons offer the cheapest monthly rent, a very low ing Korea, have attempted to utilize micro-housing to to no deposit, and a relatively flexible contract create low-cost housing options or to prevent urban (some are available for a one- or three-month sprawl (Iglesias 2014). In Seattle, Toronto, and Tokyo, contract). Due to the low-cost rental, many physi- providing livable micro-housing has been one of the cal elements of goshiwons were compromised, city’s priorities. Studies in micro-housing vary from the and most of the establishments only followed limitations of the development and strategies to the minimum requirements from one of the develop it. The society has so far become both the related regulations (Lee and Lee, 2014). catalyst and inhibitor of the development of micro- houses. If the minimalist trend in communities is the To further understand the gap in laws and regula- catalyst of micro-housing growth, funding constraints tions related to goshiwons, a review of the current laws and oppositional tendency of not wanting micro- and regulations related to their physical characteristics houses near their properties are two of the main inhi- was conducted, and the summary is presented in bitors (Jackson et al. 2020). The key point in designing Table 1. The regulations displayed in Table 1 are lim- a micro-house is how to provide a proper and ade- ited to the specifications of the rooms and shared quate living space within a very limited space. Even facilities within the goshiwon premises. They exclude though there are some limitations of a micro-house to regulations of the relationship between goshiwons offering a full living experience compared to a bigger and other functions within the same buildings and regulations related to the location of goshiwons in house, some basic criteria can be met. A good house is general. Due to the confusing laws and regulations one that can accommodate the needs of its occupants. that sometimes overlap with each other, many goshi- A livable house focuses on its occupants and makes won owners and managers do not comply with them. them feel “at home.” While a good design is Furthermore, because there is no official definition of a subjective matter, there are some basic indicators a goshiwon nor an official classification of them as for a house to be classified as livable. Table 1. Summary of regulations and laws related to the specifications of goshiwons. Law Related regulations Minimum Housing Standards The minimum size is 14 m . (Enforced in 2011) Multi-living Facility Building Cooking facilities and bathtubs inside the room are not allowed. Standards Shower rooms and toilets are allowed inside the room. (Enforced in 2015) Rooms located in the basement are not allowed. Shared facilities are allowed to be in the basement. Each establishment must at least have laundry room, lounge, and cooking facility as the shared facilities. Minimum width of corridor is 120 cm for single-load type (rooms only on one side of the corridor) and 150 cm for double-load type. There must be sufficient room-to-room noise cancellation (normal conversation should not be audible in the next room). Crime Prevention Building In case of an establishment located in a building with other non-dwelling establishments, a dedicated entrance Standards apart from other establishments is mandatory. (Enforced in 2021) Main entrance must be equipped with access control facilities, so that outsider access can be minimized. Hierarchy of public and private space should be clearly recognized by the design or used material. Sufficient lighting facilities shall be planned for entrances and corridors. Installation of CCTV in public areas and entrances is highly recommended. Semi-housing Standard ● Facilities inside the room should only permit one person; guests should only be allowed in the lounge. (Enforced in 2010) ● The room should be provided with basic computer/laptop facilities. ● Bathroom facilities are recommended to be outside the room (shared). ● No eating (except snacks) should be allowed inside the room. Lounge or kitchen should accommodate this activity. ● Parking space should not be provided. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 5 When staying at a proper house, the occupant(s) is controversy surrounding the topic. This study differs more likely to want to spend time at their home rather from prior research in terms of background theory and than any other place (Streimikiene 2015). In the case of the complexity of the methodology. This paper pre- micro-housing, the most important indicator of livabil- sents the analysis on the current livability and possible ity is that it offers an environment that allows its future development of goshiwons in multi-scale, as has residents to perform daily activities without compro- been suggested by micro-housing principles. The long- mising their physical or psychological health (Kim and term goal of this study is to help decision makers and Yoo 2021). To accommodate the aims of this study, officials develop policies on how to sustain goshiwons cases of designing micro-house from around the world as an option for affordable single-occupancy housing have been studied. Some design features that are in South Korea. possible in goshiwons as single-occupancy housing are highlighted and presented in Table 2. While the 3. Methods current laws and regulations related to goshiwons only cover the condition of the rooms and the building, the To conduct a thorough investigation on the issue, this concept of micro-housing covers the micro, meso, and study adopted a mixed-method research design. An macro scales of the establishment. The micro scale exploratory approach with quantitative analysis of sub- concerns the condition of the room including its size, jective data from questionnaires was combined with the available furniture, its ambience, the air circulation, qualitative analysis of interview data. The main and the lighting system. The mesoscale deals with the research instruments were a questionnaire with a five- quality of the building, the relation with the other point Likert scale that generated quantitative data and tenants in the same building, and the facilities that structured interviews that generated qualitative data. goshiwon occupants must share with each other, Since the key point of mixed-methods study is to link such as the kitchen and laundry room. The macro data and reveal how to integrate the data to derive scale includes the location of the goshiwons and, a conclusion (Ivankova, Creswell, and Stick 2006), both most importantly, its proximity to other functions and forms of data were used to complement each other in urban facilities, such as parks, health facilities, and drawing conclusions. Since the quantitative and quali- entertainment centers. tative data were complementary to each other, there As of today, most existing studies on goshiwons are was no need to collect the data in a specific order, and related to the improvement directions and tenants’ hence both were done side by side. motivations in choosing goshiwons as their housing option. However, there is very limited research that 3.1. Sample and site location focuses on assessing goshiwons with a specific and relevant concept in housing study. Moreover, very lim- Since almost half of the goshiwons in South Korea are ited sources have quantitatively assessed the improve- located in Seoul (Bae 2019), the focus of this study was ments needed for goshiwons. As a new emerging the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Moreover, the character- concept, the current research on micro-housing istics of Seoul as a heavily populated and densely built focuses on the background, characteristics, and city makes it suitable and purposeful for research Table 2. Summary of spatial characteristics of micro-houses around the world. Category Feature Case Country Micro Scale: Foldable storage and desk Pods Apartment Japan Room Condition ● Minimalist, white-based interior ● Abundance of natural light ● No kitchen in the room, only bed and small bathroom installed ● Micro-Apartment Poland Storage spaces attached to almost the entire wall Loft model (bed in a mezzanine floor) ● Size: 14 m ● Micro-Flat New York City, Storage under the bed Maximizing the wall to be an opened closet USA Maximizing natural light Utilization of sofa bed Compact Apartment Paris, France Foldable chairs Meso Scale: Rooftop access as lounge for the residents to socialize Micro-Flat New York City, Building and Shared USA Facilities Availability of a delivery room to store arrived packages and mail on the Compact Apartment Paris, France first floor near the entrance ● Emphasis on sharing facilities and public area Co-Housing Korea ● Importance of lounge ● Micro Studios Seattle, USA Availability of a shared kitchen, lounge, and reading room Macro Scale: Located in downtown areas Micro-Apartment Poland Location Located in the busiest region of Paris Compact Apartment Paris, France ● Walking distance to a subway station and other important urban SEDU (Small Efficiency Seattle, USA amenities Dwelling Unit) 6 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. related to micro-housing. An earlier study stated that running the outer loading and average variance graduate students, office workers, and labor workers extracted (AVE) test on the relevant software, account for most goshiwon occupants (Chea 2021). explained on the next sub-section. Hence, the respondents for the questionnaire were For the interview process, out of the initial plan of limited to those three groups and either had to be 14 respondents, only 12 people from occupational currently living in goshiwons or at least to have lived backgrounds similar to the questionnaire were suc- in goshiwons in the past ten years. For each group, cessfully gathered to obtain detailed information on a specific area in Seoul was visited where the popula- the subjects. The initial plan for the assortment of tion of the intended respondents could be easily found respondents was six students and four each of office due to the zoning of the area (see Figure 3). Seongbuk and labor workers. However, due to the difficulties of and Mapo District, which are well known as educa- finding suitable laborer respondents, only three peo- tional and commercial areas, were chosen as the ple were considered. Out of the three, one respondent main sites to gather student and office worker respon- was a manager of a goshiwon establishment where dents. The industrial area of Dongjak District was cho- labor workers were the main occupants. The manager sen as the main site to look for labor worker was confirmed to be able to answer the questions with respondents. Figure 1 in Introduction section shows the same accuracy as the labor workers, and hence was a representation of Goshiwon for each district. considered a valid respondent. Two office worker Additionally, the occupants of the three Goshiwons respondents live in Goshiwon A shown in the mentioned on the Introduction section contributed Introduction section, three student respondents live to more than 40% of the total responses used in this in Goshiwon B, and all labor worker respondents live study. in Goshiwon C. The age range of the student respon- The three Goshiwons mentioned are considered as dents was 23–27 years old, 27–31 years old for the representative because they were located within the office worker respondents, and 38–53 years old for designated sites and the occupants of each Goshiwon the labor worker. Eight of the interviewees were living fit the intended respondents for this study. Out of 129 in a Goshiwon when the interview was conducted responses obtained from the online questionnaire, while the others lived in one up till 6 months before four responses were classified as “straightliners” the survey. Before the interviews were conducted, we because the same answers were selected for all of the made sure that all interviewees are capable to give questions, hence they were deemed invalid data. The information needed for this study. Due to the severity age of the respondents varied from 20 to 45 years old of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of data collec- with the highest number of respondents aged 26–30. tion, most of the interviews were not conducted face- Respondents at older ages of 35–45 belonged to the to-face. A set of structured questions was prepared labor workers. The number of student respondents beforehand to ensure the comprehensiveness of the was the highest at 58.4% of the total respondents, interview results and that each respondent received followed by office workers and labor workers, with the same questions. The questions for the interview 27.6% and 13%, respectively. The validity of the followed the same variables as the questionnaire and answers given by the respondents were checked by are explained in the next section. Furthermore, the Figure 3. Map of Seoul and the three main locations for this study. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 7 questions were checked and approved by senior Each of the independent variables had three to four researchers that are experts in housing studies to con- indicators, and the dependent variable consisted of firm its validity. two indicators, both based on the earlier review of micro-housing physical attributes. The model was used for four observations in total: current livability (quantitative), improvement suggestions (quantita- 3.2. The path model tive), current livability (qualitative), and improvement A path model was designed as the guideline for the suggestions (qualitative). The first two usages of the data collection, based on the literature review con- model were to measure the current situation, and ducted earlier. As seen in Figure 4, this study investi- the second two usages were to measure the possible gates the correlation between the living environment future improvements. Hence, both the questionnaire of goshiwons as the independent variables and the and interview had two parts, one of which focused on tenants’ perceived livability as the dependent vari- the current living situation of goshiwons, the other of ables. Although livability is such a complex matter to which focused on improvement suggestions based on measure, this study focuses on the physical aspects of the design principle in micro-housing. An example of it and after referring to micro-housing concept, we the questionnaire points for each part is as follows: categorized the important physical components of “X3A: Room sizeCurrent living environment of livability into three variables with total of ten indica- Goshiwons: The room size allows me to do basic daily tors. There are three independent variables in the activities comfortably. Improvement suggestion: The model: (i) the location of the goshiwons, (ii) the build- comfort of Gosiwons would be improved if there is ing condition and the quality of the shared areas, and a minimum standard of room size that allows me to do (iii) the room facilities and overall condition. Location basic daily activities comfortably (around 14 m2).” was measured by the proximity of the goshiwons to Questions for the interview were also derived from important places for the residents and by how safe the the path model and related to the variables. A total of residents felt about living in that area. The building two open-ended questions were asked to the respon- and shared areas were measured by how satisfied the dents. The first question was about the living environ- residents were with the areas other than their rooms, ment of goshiwons, and the other question was about including other establishments in the building. Lastly, suggestions for future improvements. With the first room condition was measured by all attributes that are question, the author tried to understand the reason related to the physical quality of the rooms. One why the respondents chose to stay in a goshiwon and dependent variable was proposed, the livability value, to learn the experience of living in a goshiwon, espe- and it was measured by the comfort level of the resi- cially the details related to the three scales of goshi- dents and their willingness to stay long term. wons’ physical environment. The second question Figure 4. Path model of the study. Figure 5. PLS algorithm and bootstrapping analysis result for the current livability of goshiwons. *p < 0.05 †0.05 < p < 1. 8 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. aimed to gather detailed suggestions from the respon- dependent variables. Next, through the bootstrapping dents to improve goshiwons’ livability. Furthermore, process, the t statistic was also measured to ascertain respondents’ tendency and willingness to stay in an the significance of each correlation. The universal stan- improved goshiwon was also investigated through the dard of 1.96 was used to determine whether an inde- interview process. pendent variable significantly affected the dependent variable. Last, the predictive relevance through run- ning the blindfolding method was measured to predict 3.3. Data analysis the validity of the entire model. From the predictive relevance, the appropriateness of the independent The questionnaires consisted of 24 indicators, and the variables in predicting the dependent variable can be respondents answered the questionnaire with agree- observed. ment or disagreement in a five-point Likert scale (from For the interview data analysis, thematic analysis “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”). The first 12 was used. In thematic analysis, the answers are points were related to the current living environment grouped to find patterns or themes that are useful to while the next 12 points were related to suggestions answer the research question (Braun and Clarke 2006). for improving goshiwons. Each set of the 12 points is Three main phases of thematic analysis were con- distributed to three independent variables and one ducted to find a pattern in the interview data before dependent variable. Independent variables include finally matching it up with the questionnaire results. Goshiwon’s physical attributes that are divided into The first phase was organizing the interview data. In various scales as has been explained in previous sec- this step, all oral interviews were written and relevant tion: (i) location as the macro scale, (ii) building and information was highlighted. The second phase was shared facilities condition as the messo scale, and (iii) searching and reviewing themes. Information related room condition as micro scale. Degree of livability is to the four variables shown in the path model (loca- the only dependent variable in this study. All 24 points tion, building and shared areas, room condition, and were designed to be reflective indicators because livability value) was sought and reviewed. The last manipulation towards the variable will also be phase included the definition of each theme and utiliz- reflected on the indicators (Dijkstra and Henseler ing information to help construct the conclusion. 2015). The data from the questionnaire was then ana- lyzed with SmartPLS software, which is well known to be reliable in analyzing the path model similar to the 4. Results one used for this study. SEM was chosen for this study Following the aim of this study, the results were rather than the conventional multiple regression because SEM can present more significant statistical divided into two main parts: the physical aspects that affect the current livability of goshiwons and sugges- relationships between the independent and depen- tions for future improvements. For both parts, the dent variables (Nusair and Hua 2010). Additionally, the model used in this study involves latent and questionnaire results are presented first to convey general information about the research subjects, fol- observed variables that are more efficient to be ana- lowed by the interview results to provide more detail. lyzed by the SEM method. Following the path model in Figure 3, the obtained data were inputted into the smartPLS 3.0 for path modelling in two main steps. 4.1. Current living environment The first step included checking the validity and reliability of the indicators in measuring the variables. While checking the validity and reliability, variable X1B: After constructing Figure 4 model in the software, each “Proximity to amenities” was invalid and unreliable in indicator’s value of the outer loading and average predicting its latent variables after the first data was variance extracted (AVE) were calculated to measure inputted. After these indicators were eliminated, the the validity. Next, the reliability test was conducted by values were once again inputted into the software, and calculating Cronbach’s alpha. The threshold of the confirmatory factor analysis was conducted again. The outer loading, AVE, and Cronbach’s alpha to be con- new result shows all indicators were valid and reliable sidered valid and reliable are 0.5, 0.5, and 0.6, respec- to measure the correlation between the variables. tively (Hair, Ringle, and Sarstedt 2011). This process Table 3 shows the complete validity and reliability was done by running the PLS algorithm on the soft- measurement of the indicators. ware. After the relationship of the independent vari- After the evaluation of the indicators was complete, ables and their indicators proved to be valid and the next step was to evaluate the correlation between reliable, the correlation evaluation between the inde- the independent and dependent variables. Before pendent variables and the dependent variable was evaluating the correlations, the Stone-Geisser’s Q conducted. In this step, the path coefficients of the value, also known as the predictive relevance evalua- model were measured to find out the positive or nega- tion, was calculated to check the model suitability tive correlation between the independent and (Geisser, 1974). The Q value can be obtained by JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 9 Table 3. Validity and reliability measures for the current living environment evaluation. Outer Cronbach’s Indicators loading AVE alpha X1A: Proximity to school or workplace 0.642 0.760 0.618 The goshiwon is located near my school/office. X1C: (Perceived) Safety 0.909 The goshiwon is located in a crime-safe area. X2A: Shared Facilities 0.726 0.585 0.645 The shared facilities such as the kitchen and laundry machine of the goshiwon are clean and have enough capacity for all the tenants. X2B: Other facilities in the building 0.800 The other facilities in the building do not disturb daily life in my goshiwon. X2C: Resident Type 0.767 The other residents do not disturb daily life in my goshiwon. X3A: Room Size 0.812 0.773 0.901 The room is in an appropriate size that allows me to perform daily activities comfortably. X3B: Window 0.874 The room has a window with an appropriate size that can be opened. X3C: Storage 0.909 The room has enough storage to keep all my belongings. X3D: Furniture 0.917 The furniture in the room allows me to perform basic daily activities. Y1: Comfort 0.933 0.869 0.849 The goshiwon offers appropriate living facilities for me to live comfortably. Y2: Long-term stay 0.930 I can tolerate long-term occupancy (more than a year) with the current condition of my goshiwon. Table 4. Tenants’ perceptions of the current living environment of the goshiwons. Occupation Content Students The location of goshiwons is their main advantage because of their close proximity to the school. The size of the shared facilities is not proportional to the number of tenants. Tenants often have to wait to use the facilities, such as the laundry machine. Main reason to choose goshiwons is to save money for other entertainment purposes, such as travelling and hanging out with friends in expensive cafes. Second main advantage of goshiwons is the free rice, instant noodles, and kimchi that are often provided in goshiwons. Many goshiwons are located in a mixed-use building where other facilities such as restaurants and bars exist. Some respondents complained about some disturbance from those facilities. Office workers The location of goshiwons is the main advantage of goshiwons because of its close proximity to the workplace. The soundproofing of the room is really bad. Not enough natural light, which can cause depression. Main reason to choose goshiwons is to save money to move to a bigger place (apartment or one-room) of better quality. The biggest advantage of goshiwons is that the tenants do not have to pay for utility bills. Restaurant is the most disturbing facility to have in the same building as goshiwons. Besides the noise, the smell of the food from the kitchen is really disturbing the tenants. Labor workers and the goshiwon The main advantage of a goshiwon is that it is cheap, and no key money or deposit is required. manager There is a tendency to maximize all benefits of goshiwons, such as bringing the free meals to the workplace. Loneliness is the main issue due to the lack of meaningful interaction with other tenants. The room can be really depressing due to its small size and lack of natural light. Goshiwons with labor workers as their tenants usually are less attractive compared to those with only students or office workers as the tenants. running the blindfolding process in the SmartPLS soft- model is 0.827, which means that 82.7% of the current ware, and the suggested value for the model to be livability value of goshiwons is indeed determined by considered well structured is greater than 0. The pro- the location, building, shared facilities, and the room posed model has a Q value of 0.689, which indicates condition. that the model is well constructed. The evaluation for For the interview results, Table 4shows the core correlation between independent and dependent vari- statements of each group of goshiwon tenants. ables was conducted through the path coefficient test Although all respondents agreed that location was as well as the t-statistic test to determine the signifi - the biggest advantage of choosing goshiwons as cance. Figure 5 shows the result of the path coeffi - their residential place, almost all respondents also cients and t statistics for each variable, written in agreed that the only beneficial aspect about the loca- black and blue, respectively. The result shows that tion was the close proximity to their school or working location has a negative correlation with the livability places. For students and labor workers, the free meals value, while the other two variables have a positive were really appreciated, while the office workers correlation. However, only the room condition shows seemed to more greatly appreciate having no deposit significant correlation with the livability value. Also or extra utility bills. During interviews, students and shown in Figure 5 is that the R-squared value of the office workers complained about goshiwons being in 10 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. Table 5. Validity and reliability measures for evaluation of future improvements. Outer Cronbach’s Indicators loading AVE alpha X1A: Proximity to school or workplace 0.902 0.797 0.873 The convenience of goshiwon would be improved if it were located closer to my school/workplace. X1B: Proximity to urban amenities 0.906 The convenience of goshiwon would be improved if it was located closer to various urban amenities. X1C: (Perceived) Safety 0.870 Safer environment will make goshiwon better as a living space X2A: Shared Facilities 0.708 0.557 0.606 The comfort of goshiwon would be improved if the shared facilities were cleaner and sufficient for all tenants. X2B: Other facilities in the building 0.878 Other facilities in the building should never disturb the life of the goshiwon residents. X2C: Resident Type 0.631 It would be nicer if the tenants of the goshiwons were from the same background. X3A: Room Size 0.722 0.548 0.685 Goshiwons should have a minimum size that allows the tenants to perform daily activities comfortably. X3B: Window 0.686 The room should have an appropriate and functional window. X3C: Storage 0.808 The comfort of goshiwons would be improved if there were enough storage and if the storage were designed to create more space for the room (e.g., installing wall storage, putting storage under the bed, etc.). Y1: Comfort 0.813 0.607 0.654 With all the improvements mentioned above, goshiwons would be more comfortable to live in. Y2: Long-term stay 0.744 With all the improvements mentioned before, I am interested in staying in a goshiwon long term (more than a year). the same building as other facilities. The labor workers, and t statistic tests were performed; the results are who were notably older than the other tenants, projected in Figure 6, and it shows that all indepen- expressed that living in goshiwons caused loneliness dent variables positively correlate with an increase in that could lead to depression. Lastly, all respondents livability value. Improvements in the location and agreed that there should be a minimum standard to room condition affect the perceived livability of goshi- ensure the appropriateness of goshiwons as a living wons significantly, while the improvements in building environment. and shared areas are proven not to be significant. This indicates that if there were improvements in the loca- tion and room quality, tenants would see goshiwons as 4.2. Suggestions for future development a more livable housing option. However, the R-squared value of the first model is only 0.273, meaning that the For analyzing the future development of goshiwons, observed independent variables have a little contribu- similar to the current livability analysis, validity and tion in predicting the livability value and that there are reliability measures were first presented. After the eva- other factors that should be considered in improving luation was done, indicator X3D was proven to be the livability value of goshiwons. invalid and hence had to be eliminated from the ana- Based on the interview data presented in Table 6, lysis. Table 5 shows the complete validity and reliability even though most of the respondents agreed that measurements after the invalid indicator was removed. goshiwons have strategic locations near schools or Similar to the evaluation of the current living envir- workplaces, inconveniences often arise from some onment, the predictive relevance value was first mea- types of neighboring facilities and businesses. Due to sured. For analyzing the possible future improvements close proximity to universities and offices, the areas for goshiwons, the model only has predictive relevance where goshiwons are located often attract late-night of 0.122. The value is still considered relevant, but not entertainment establishments as well. Students as relevant as when the model was used to analyze the expressed that the safety could be compromised if current livability of goshiwons. The path coefficient Figure 6. PLS algorithm and bootstrapping analysis result for the future improvements. *p < 0.05 †0.05 < p < 1. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 11 Table 6. Tenants’ suggestions for the future development of goshiwons. Occupation Content Students Suggested future Location should not be in close proximity to nightclubs, pubs, or any other drinking development establishments for safety reasons. Even if it is small, a window is a must. There should be a shared reading room or study room. Occupancy Improvements may increase interest in staying in goshiwons, but not significantly. Office workers Suggested future Air circulation needs to be fixed by installing a window of proper size. development There should be a minimum standard of goshiwons. The entrance of goshiwons needs to be secure (installing CCTV, passcode, etc.). More storage space in the room is needed. Location should not be around businesses that produce excess noise, such as bars or pubs. Occupancy Okay for now, but once money is not a problem, staying in goshiwons is not preferable even with the improvements. Labor worker and the goshiwon Suggested Future Offer standardized rooms that will ensure the health and hygiene of the room. manager development Limit the number of rooms to prevent fire accidents. Provide a shared living room as a place for the tenants to interact. Private toilets are believed to improve hygiene and help prevent infectious disease. Occupancy Money is the biggest issue in moving out from goshiwons. It is even difficult to move to public housing because of the money. Even with the improvements, goshiwons are still not preferred if money is not the problem. a goshiwon were located near such establishments as between the current regulations. Due to similarities in nightclubs and bars. Similarly, the office workers also many aspects, this paper used the core concepts of expressed their concern about the entertainment facil- micro-housing to find crucial areas for improvement to ities and that those facilities can get too noisy and transform goshiwons into a more livable space. Based disturb the tenants. Regarding room improvements, on cases around the world, micro-housing concepts students emphasized the need for a comfortable are implemented on three different scales: room, studying environment, such as the provision of building, and neighborhood. Hence, this study used a shared reading room or the improvement of the those three scales to investigate the current living desk and chair in the room. For the office workers, environment and the pivotal aspects that need to be good soundproofing seems to be the demand to changed to improve the livability of goshiwon. Many enhance their sleep quality at night. Meanwhile, the previous studies have been conducted about users’ labor workers were more concerned about fire safety satisfaction in goshiwons and directions for goshi- due to the large number of rooms on one floor. One wons’ improvement separately (Ryu and Kim 2021; respondent recalled an incident that happened in 2018 Lee and Yoon 2010). However, this study argues that in Seoul where a goshiwon establishment caught fire it is important to study both aspects simultaneously to and killed seven of its occupants. In some goshiwons, get results that are applicable to policy developments. the high number of rooms had created multiple dou- Focusing only on the current situation would not be ble-loaded corridors that would make it more confus- beneficial without knowing which elements to ing to find the emergency exit in case of fire. Except improve, and without investigating the current situa- students, there was a tendency for all respondents to tion, suggestions for future improvement would not maintain low interest in staying in goshiwons even be valid. with the improvements. Office workers would only Three aspects from different scales were observed live in goshiwons as a method of saving money to in this study. The first variable concerns the location, move to a better apartment. The labor workers stated which represents the macro scale aspect of a micro- that, even with the improvements, goshiwons already house. In contrast to some of the previous studies (Kim had a bad reputation as a living environment, and that 2014; Ko, Lee, and An 2016; Cho et al. 2017; Lee and if they had enough money they would opt to live in Kim 2017), location was found to negatively affect the public housing. current livability of a goshiwon, and improving loca- tion positively affects the future livability of a goshiwon. However, location was not proven to sig- 5. Discussion nificantly affect the users’ perception of the current Although a goshiwon’s living environment is lacking in livability, but improvements of it, significantly affects many aspects and it is far from the ideal residential the future livability. This finding is valuable because, by space, many believe that it plays a crucial role in sup- default, location is believed to be the biggest value of plying low-cost housing options in Korea (Lee and goshiwons. From the interview results, it was under- Yoon 2010; Ryu and Kim 2021; Ko, Lee, and An 2016). stood that, although respondents appreciated the Preliminary study on related laws and regulations led short distance from their goshiwon to their school or to an assumption that one of the main reasons for the workplace, they found other facilities around it quite deterioration of goshiwons is the absence of a law disturbing. This finding follows a previous study that specifically tailored to them and that there are gaps stated goshiwons are often agglomerated around 12 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. entertainment facilities such as arcades, pubs, and kar- even after the improvements, previous studies stated aoke places (Koo 2019). This result indicates that that micro-housing is not only about providing low- although location is the main attraction of micro- cost housing but also introducing and accommodating housing, it needs to be understood more deeply and a new city lifestyle that are acceptable especially by the comprehensively. Close proximity to the school or current generation (Soub and Memikoglu 2020; workplace should not neglect the comfort and safety Karatseyeva and Akhmedova 2022). aspects of location. Another study in New York City suggests that proximity to open spaces is also impor- 6. Conclusion tant in aiming for low perceived density (Fisher- Gewirtzman 2017). Low perceived density helps to Due to the deterioration of the living environment of ease the crowded and stuffy feelings that often arise goshiwons, despite their popularity as an option for in high-density city center. The second variable con- affordable housing for single occupancy, specific laws cerns the shared facilities and other non-goshiwon and regulations are urgently needed to maintain the facilities within the same building. Although it was sustainability of goshiwons. In order to contribute to not proven to significantly affect the current or future the study of required regulations, this study aims to livability of a goshiwon, interview respondents men- investigate the current living situation of goshiwons tioned that there were specific facilities they wished and to recommend a set of possible directions for were not in the same buildings as the goshiwon, such future development that can enhance their livability. as restaurants and pubs. A study by Byun and Choi Several attempts were made to distinguish this study (2016) states that the living room is the center in from previous research. The first was the adaptation of traditional Korean houses and although younger the micro-housing concept to construct the path respondents do not share the same value, older resi- model, resulting in multi-scale variables to be studied. dents wished goshiwon could provide a centralized The second attempt was the usage of a combination of communal space. quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a more The last variable focuses on the room condition of comprehensive result. This study observed goshiwon the goshiwon. As the most significant variable that livability through three physical scales: room, building, positively affects the user’s perception of livability, and neighborhood or location. The result of this study room condition holds the critical value to transform indicates that the relatively poor condition of goshi- a goshiwon into a livable micro-house. This is further wons is the significant cause of their low livability. The supported by the interview result showing that main reasons why goshiwons’ rooms are considered respondents’ negative perception of a goshiwon’s liv- poor include (i) poor soundproofing quality, (ii) insuffi - ing situation is mostly due to the poor room environ- cient natural light and poor air circulation due to the ment. Unlike the other variables in which the small size or absence of windows, and (iii) the large respondents had limited suggestions for improve- number of rooms per floor that is perceived as a fire ment, more answers were given in terms of room hazard. Although it is palpable that improving the improvement, showing how impactful the room con- room condition of goshiwons would lead to higher dition was to the respondents. This result is in line with livability, this study proceeded with another set of a previous study by Jin and Choi 2018 that says that observations that focused on how to improve the the possibility of choosing a room that matches one’s livability. Based on the results of the observations, we needs elevates the resident’s satisfaction. Another presented some important points that can be useful in study in Almaty proved that design in the smallest determining directions for physical improvement of details could help improve the room quality in goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in a micro house (Karatseyeva and Akhmedova 2022). South Korea and other megacities with similar urban The interview result also shows that each group of fabric and society issues, such as Hongkong and goshiwon residents has different needs that necessi- Tokyo . tate diversifying goshiwon facilities depending on the First, for goshiwons to be considered a livable form residents, as also shown in research by Yoo, Yang, and of micro-housing, the statistical analysis suggests that Kim (2019). The last interview points show that, while room condition should be significantly improved by graduate students had a higher tendency to live in having a sufficient minimum room size and a window goshiwons if the improvements were made, office to allow natural light and air circulation. Those are the and labor workers implied that if money were not an two basic requirements for a room to function prop- issue they would never choose goshiwons, even with erly. Next, the installation of proper soundproofing and improvements. This indicates that, although there are a clear evacuation system are highly recommended to indeed several avenues for improving goshiwons’ liva- boost the comfort of the occupants. Second, although bility, there is low trust from most of the residents for location is often believed to be the biggest benefit of goshiwons to be a model of livable micro-house. living in a goshiwon, there should be regulations on Regarding the low interest in staying in Goshiwon how to ensure it is safe from crime and other JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 13 disturbances. Interview results show that although all References respondents most valued the strategic location of their Bae, J.-H. 2019, March 12. ““Lonely Island Gosiwon” 12,000 goshiwon, tenants also wished for a safer and quieter Places Nationwide, “Lonely Life” . . . Half of Them Focus on area. 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Building Engineering 18 (5): 392–403. doi:10.1080/ 2017.17.4.005. 13467581.2019.1661254. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering Taylor & Francis

Physical improvement directions for goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in South Korea

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JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING https://doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2022.2160213 ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING AND DESIGN Physical improvement directions for goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in South Korea a b a Odilia Renaningtyas Manifesty , Byunghak Min and Seiyong Kim a b Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Smart City, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 20 August 2022 Seeing the potential of goshiwons, Korea’s low-cost single occupancy accommodation, to be Accepted 15 December 2022 a livable and affordable micro-house, this study aims to offer suggestions for future improve- ments based on the emerging theory of micro-housing. A quantitative approach with structural KEYWORDS equation modeling (SEM) was first conducted to test six proposed hypotheses. The first three Goshiwons; Korean housing hypotheses are that there are positive correlations between the current livability of goshiwons studies; micro-housing; and (i) location, (ii) quality of the building and shared facilities, and (iii) room condition. The affordable housing; livable next three hypotheses emphasize that improving these three physical aspects will improve the house degree of livability. An interview qualitative approach to relevant respondents was also applied in which the result further explains the quantitative result. Room conditions that include limited access to natural light, poor air circulation, lack of storage, and poor soundproofing are the main issues for the poor living environment of goshiwon. For future improvements, the location of goshiwon should also be considered as an addition to room condition. This is because, while the location of goshiwons is beneficial in terms of proximity to various facilities, the respondents wished for goshiwons to be located in a quieter and safer environment, away from late-night entertainment establishments. 1. Introduction an option for low-cost housing in Korea needs to be Quoting The Korea Herald, one of the most prominent followed by strict and proper development of regulations English-language news companies in Korea, goshiwons about quality (Newsis 2021). are defined as “a form of privately owned, low-cost, Not only to increase the housing supplies, improve- cocoon-like accommodation, usually larger rooms ment of goshiwons as single occupancy housing can divided by thin walls and makeshift doors” (Kim 2017). also be beneficial to the general housing welfare in The layout of goshiwon establishments can look similar to Korea, since it’s expected to expand the housing indus- other single-occupancy housing types such as studios try (Lee 2021). While developing goshiwons can take (better known as “one-room” in Korea) and dormitories, various directions and scales, physical aspects of the but also different in several ways. As shown in Figure 1, living environment need immediate attention because tiny size with usually inadequate furniture, relatively they affect residents’ well-being the most (Yeung-kurn, cheap all-in monthly rent with little to no deposit, various Pan-jun, and Tae-soo 2007). Hence, this research shared facilities that can be used for free, and usually focuses on how to improve the physical aspects of strategic location are the main attributes of goshiwons. the living environment in goshiwon-type housing. Starting in the 1970s as an accommodation for students Previous studies have analyzed the satisfaction level taking the national exam to enter universities, demand for of goshiwon residents, typology of goshiwons, and goshiwons rose rapidly and transformed them into long- assessment of their quality based on Korea’s standard term accommodation for single occupancy (Jin and Choi of residential buildings. Hence, the purpose of this 2018). Due to their high demand, there have been many study is to assess Goshiwon in a perspective that has variations of goshiwon-type housing, such as goshitel, never been explored before. We used the concept of livingtel, and one-roomtel. All of these offer slightly differ - micro-housing as the new perspective to present the ent quality, and the total of these types of housing sur- possible direction for future development due to passed 6,000 units in Seoul and continues to increase (Ryu goshiwons’ physical attributes that are similar to the and Kim 2021; Ko, Lee, and An 2016). Previous studies concept of micro-housing. As of 2021, there is no have suggested that despite their relatively low spatial official and universal definition nor standard for micro- quality, demand for goshiwons is still growing (Lee and housing besides the etymology of a micro-house being Yoon 2010). Lee Jae Myung, governor of Gyeonggi “smaller than regular houses” and, although some Province, stated that maintaining goshiwons’ status as cases include multiple occupants, single occupancy is CONTACT Seiyong Kim kksy@Korea.ac.kr Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. Figure 1. The variety of how the interior of goshiwon looks like. Following the site location for this study, picture A was taken at a Goshiwon located in Mapo-gu, picture B was taken in Seongbuk-gu, and picture C was taken in Dongjak-gu area. the main target of its development (Batista and Farias it to goshiwon tenants to first assess the physical com- 2021). Cities around the world such as New York, ponents of the current livability of goshiwons, Boston, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and within and second, to determine which components are Korea itself have developed their own definitions and important to improve the livability. specifications of micro-housing. Since every city is Figure 2 shows the research framework for this unique in population distribution and sociocultural study. Three separate but interrelated stages were elements, it is important to find the best adaptation included. The first stage included defining the research of the micro-housing concept for Korea’s housing problems and objectives and reviewing literature and situation and goshiwons’ characteristics. This study cases around the world on the character of micro- synthesizes the essence of micro-housing concepts housing that is suitable to the context of goshiwons. from various examples around the world and presents In this stage, variables used in the study were decided Figure 2. Framework for this study. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 3 based on the review. In the next stage, the correlation also suggested to make the room feel more spacious. between the independent and dependent variables Regardless of the low quality of the living environ- was investigated twice, once for the current situation ment, many people still chose a goshiwon due to its and once for improvement suggestions, through quan- cheap rent, strategic location, and the availability of titative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative free services such as laundry machines and basic approach was conducted to gain general insight on meals. which physical elements affect the livability of goshi- Meanwhile, there are 184 studies on micro-housing wons, while the qualitative approach was used to gain research that focus on classifying and identifying a deeper understanding of the subject. The last stage micro-house typologies and challenges. Defying the included interpreting the data analysis, incorporating popular trend of big houses as the only acceptable the results to possible suggestions for future improve- option for a good home, micro-houses are starting to ments, acknowledging limitations of the current be considered for several reasons. First, they have research, and making suggestions for future research. arisen as one solution to the housing shortage that Although the research focuses on one specific housing many megacities face (Harris and Nowicki 2020). situation in South Korea, we believed that the results Housing shortages especially in city centers can lead can also contribute to the development of micro- to more serious problems such as urban sprawl. Urban housing in other countries as well, especially in other sprawl imposes a threat to the urban environment megacities that have similar issue as Seoul, such as because it can create transportation problems and Hongkong, Tokyo, and New York City (Fox and encourage inequality between citizens. Second is the Humphries 2021). We tried to incorporate the results increasing demand for minimalist living and how peo- in global context in the Discussion section and ple see micro-houses as one way to achieve it (Lee and included the desired impact of our research globally Lee, 2014). Various design concepts have also been in the Conclusion. suggested to make micro-housing livable, such as the focus on sharing resources and the usage of “bespoke design” that emphasizes unique design based on the 2. Literature review size of the space (Shearer and Burton, 2019) To further understand the planning standard for goshiwons, Research in Korea’s housing prices by Kim and Cho a review of related laws and regulations is presented (2010) shows that “achieving the stability of housing next. Design elements of livable micro-housing are prices in all sub-markets simultaneously is a virtually also presented to discern which elements can feasibly impossible policy goal”. It indicates that stability in be implemented in goshiwons. housing markets tends to focus on specific markets in which single occupancy households are rarely included, although its number keeps growing yearly. 2.1. Gaps in laws and regulations related to That is one of many reasons why research on single goshiwons occupancy housings such as goshiwons is very much needed. From a database collected from Google To increase the housing supply, Korea’s Housing Act Scholar, 141 studies employing various methods were enacted a new housing type called semi-housing in published in the past 20 years about goshiwons and which non-dwelling facilities are considered to be mostly assessed the living conditions at the time. The housing facilities. Generally, semi-housing has four first method was to compare the laws and regulations major types: dormitories, elderly welfare facilities, offi - with the actual conditions. Results showed that a lot of cetel, and goshiwons (Lee and Yang 2013). Among goshiwons were operated as other residential types, these four types, goshiwons are well known to have which is against the law, and that the lack of ventila- the worst living environment. There are three main tions and public spaces were the main issues (Yoo, factors that have dragged the living environment of Yang, and Kim 2019). Second, through residents’ satis- goshiwons below the regular standard (Jin et al, 2018); faction surveys, some negative points were identified. Lee and Lee 2014): There are many cases where Goshiwons lack of public space where the residents could build some sense of As of 2021, there is no specific law that regulates community and have some social activities was high- the management, design, and minimum require- lighted (Cho et al. 2017). Surveys also proved that ments of goshiwons. The Semi-housing Act insufficient dining and storge space is also a big issue comes closest, and there are other related laws that needs to be addressed (Choi and Kim 2015). For such as the Enforcement Decree of the Building future development, some studies suggest that Act, specifically under the Multi-living Facility designing goshiwons differently for each specific user Building Standards, Special Act on Safety might help improve the occupancy experience (Kim Management of Multi-Use Businesses, and an and Yoo 2021; Lee and Lee 2016). Installation of adap- administrative rule called the Minimum Housing tive furniture that can fit the small size of a goshiwon is Standards (Jin and Choi 2018). This situation has 4 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. left many gaps in goshiwons’ regulation and has residential establishments, it is difficult to determine prevented standardization that would guarantee which existing regulation suits goshiwons the most the well-being of the residents. (Park et al. 2014). This has resulted in quality disparities ● Having started in the early 1970s, goshiwons were in many goshiwons, especially in Seoul. Some goshi- first introduced as study rooms to provide stu- wons with higher rental prices have a higher standard dents an enclosed environment to prepare for and have more features similar to studio apartments, national exams, such as the university entrance while the ones with lower rental prices tend to have exam and civil servant exam (Lee 2020). Since a lower standard. then, the popularity of goshiwons started to increase; slowly their function evolved, and they began to become a regular housing option with- 2.2. Micro-housing: providing a living experience out a proper adjustment in their spatial design. within a small space ● Compared to any other accommodations, goshi- As stated in the introduction, several countries, includ- wons offer the cheapest monthly rent, a very low ing Korea, have attempted to utilize micro-housing to to no deposit, and a relatively flexible contract create low-cost housing options or to prevent urban (some are available for a one- or three-month sprawl (Iglesias 2014). In Seattle, Toronto, and Tokyo, contract). Due to the low-cost rental, many physi- providing livable micro-housing has been one of the cal elements of goshiwons were compromised, city’s priorities. Studies in micro-housing vary from the and most of the establishments only followed limitations of the development and strategies to the minimum requirements from one of the develop it. The society has so far become both the related regulations (Lee and Lee, 2014). catalyst and inhibitor of the development of micro- houses. If the minimalist trend in communities is the To further understand the gap in laws and regula- catalyst of micro-housing growth, funding constraints tions related to goshiwons, a review of the current laws and oppositional tendency of not wanting micro- and regulations related to their physical characteristics houses near their properties are two of the main inhi- was conducted, and the summary is presented in bitors (Jackson et al. 2020). The key point in designing Table 1. The regulations displayed in Table 1 are lim- a micro-house is how to provide a proper and ade- ited to the specifications of the rooms and shared quate living space within a very limited space. Even facilities within the goshiwon premises. They exclude though there are some limitations of a micro-house to regulations of the relationship between goshiwons offering a full living experience compared to a bigger and other functions within the same buildings and regulations related to the location of goshiwons in house, some basic criteria can be met. A good house is general. Due to the confusing laws and regulations one that can accommodate the needs of its occupants. that sometimes overlap with each other, many goshi- A livable house focuses on its occupants and makes won owners and managers do not comply with them. them feel “at home.” While a good design is Furthermore, because there is no official definition of a subjective matter, there are some basic indicators a goshiwon nor an official classification of them as for a house to be classified as livable. Table 1. Summary of regulations and laws related to the specifications of goshiwons. Law Related regulations Minimum Housing Standards The minimum size is 14 m . (Enforced in 2011) Multi-living Facility Building Cooking facilities and bathtubs inside the room are not allowed. Standards Shower rooms and toilets are allowed inside the room. (Enforced in 2015) Rooms located in the basement are not allowed. Shared facilities are allowed to be in the basement. Each establishment must at least have laundry room, lounge, and cooking facility as the shared facilities. Minimum width of corridor is 120 cm for single-load type (rooms only on one side of the corridor) and 150 cm for double-load type. There must be sufficient room-to-room noise cancellation (normal conversation should not be audible in the next room). Crime Prevention Building In case of an establishment located in a building with other non-dwelling establishments, a dedicated entrance Standards apart from other establishments is mandatory. (Enforced in 2021) Main entrance must be equipped with access control facilities, so that outsider access can be minimized. Hierarchy of public and private space should be clearly recognized by the design or used material. Sufficient lighting facilities shall be planned for entrances and corridors. Installation of CCTV in public areas and entrances is highly recommended. Semi-housing Standard ● Facilities inside the room should only permit one person; guests should only be allowed in the lounge. (Enforced in 2010) ● The room should be provided with basic computer/laptop facilities. ● Bathroom facilities are recommended to be outside the room (shared). ● No eating (except snacks) should be allowed inside the room. Lounge or kitchen should accommodate this activity. ● Parking space should not be provided. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 5 When staying at a proper house, the occupant(s) is controversy surrounding the topic. This study differs more likely to want to spend time at their home rather from prior research in terms of background theory and than any other place (Streimikiene 2015). In the case of the complexity of the methodology. This paper pre- micro-housing, the most important indicator of livabil- sents the analysis on the current livability and possible ity is that it offers an environment that allows its future development of goshiwons in multi-scale, as has residents to perform daily activities without compro- been suggested by micro-housing principles. The long- mising their physical or psychological health (Kim and term goal of this study is to help decision makers and Yoo 2021). To accommodate the aims of this study, officials develop policies on how to sustain goshiwons cases of designing micro-house from around the world as an option for affordable single-occupancy housing have been studied. Some design features that are in South Korea. possible in goshiwons as single-occupancy housing are highlighted and presented in Table 2. While the 3. Methods current laws and regulations related to goshiwons only cover the condition of the rooms and the building, the To conduct a thorough investigation on the issue, this concept of micro-housing covers the micro, meso, and study adopted a mixed-method research design. An macro scales of the establishment. The micro scale exploratory approach with quantitative analysis of sub- concerns the condition of the room including its size, jective data from questionnaires was combined with the available furniture, its ambience, the air circulation, qualitative analysis of interview data. The main and the lighting system. The mesoscale deals with the research instruments were a questionnaire with a five- quality of the building, the relation with the other point Likert scale that generated quantitative data and tenants in the same building, and the facilities that structured interviews that generated qualitative data. goshiwon occupants must share with each other, Since the key point of mixed-methods study is to link such as the kitchen and laundry room. The macro data and reveal how to integrate the data to derive scale includes the location of the goshiwons and, a conclusion (Ivankova, Creswell, and Stick 2006), both most importantly, its proximity to other functions and forms of data were used to complement each other in urban facilities, such as parks, health facilities, and drawing conclusions. Since the quantitative and quali- entertainment centers. tative data were complementary to each other, there As of today, most existing studies on goshiwons are was no need to collect the data in a specific order, and related to the improvement directions and tenants’ hence both were done side by side. motivations in choosing goshiwons as their housing option. However, there is very limited research that 3.1. Sample and site location focuses on assessing goshiwons with a specific and relevant concept in housing study. Moreover, very lim- Since almost half of the goshiwons in South Korea are ited sources have quantitatively assessed the improve- located in Seoul (Bae 2019), the focus of this study was ments needed for goshiwons. As a new emerging the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Moreover, the character- concept, the current research on micro-housing istics of Seoul as a heavily populated and densely built focuses on the background, characteristics, and city makes it suitable and purposeful for research Table 2. Summary of spatial characteristics of micro-houses around the world. Category Feature Case Country Micro Scale: Foldable storage and desk Pods Apartment Japan Room Condition ● Minimalist, white-based interior ● Abundance of natural light ● No kitchen in the room, only bed and small bathroom installed ● Micro-Apartment Poland Storage spaces attached to almost the entire wall Loft model (bed in a mezzanine floor) ● Size: 14 m ● Micro-Flat New York City, Storage under the bed Maximizing the wall to be an opened closet USA Maximizing natural light Utilization of sofa bed Compact Apartment Paris, France Foldable chairs Meso Scale: Rooftop access as lounge for the residents to socialize Micro-Flat New York City, Building and Shared USA Facilities Availability of a delivery room to store arrived packages and mail on the Compact Apartment Paris, France first floor near the entrance ● Emphasis on sharing facilities and public area Co-Housing Korea ● Importance of lounge ● Micro Studios Seattle, USA Availability of a shared kitchen, lounge, and reading room Macro Scale: Located in downtown areas Micro-Apartment Poland Location Located in the busiest region of Paris Compact Apartment Paris, France ● Walking distance to a subway station and other important urban SEDU (Small Efficiency Seattle, USA amenities Dwelling Unit) 6 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. related to micro-housing. An earlier study stated that running the outer loading and average variance graduate students, office workers, and labor workers extracted (AVE) test on the relevant software, account for most goshiwon occupants (Chea 2021). explained on the next sub-section. Hence, the respondents for the questionnaire were For the interview process, out of the initial plan of limited to those three groups and either had to be 14 respondents, only 12 people from occupational currently living in goshiwons or at least to have lived backgrounds similar to the questionnaire were suc- in goshiwons in the past ten years. For each group, cessfully gathered to obtain detailed information on a specific area in Seoul was visited where the popula- the subjects. The initial plan for the assortment of tion of the intended respondents could be easily found respondents was six students and four each of office due to the zoning of the area (see Figure 3). Seongbuk and labor workers. However, due to the difficulties of and Mapo District, which are well known as educa- finding suitable laborer respondents, only three peo- tional and commercial areas, were chosen as the ple were considered. Out of the three, one respondent main sites to gather student and office worker respon- was a manager of a goshiwon establishment where dents. The industrial area of Dongjak District was cho- labor workers were the main occupants. The manager sen as the main site to look for labor worker was confirmed to be able to answer the questions with respondents. Figure 1 in Introduction section shows the same accuracy as the labor workers, and hence was a representation of Goshiwon for each district. considered a valid respondent. Two office worker Additionally, the occupants of the three Goshiwons respondents live in Goshiwon A shown in the mentioned on the Introduction section contributed Introduction section, three student respondents live to more than 40% of the total responses used in this in Goshiwon B, and all labor worker respondents live study. in Goshiwon C. The age range of the student respon- The three Goshiwons mentioned are considered as dents was 23–27 years old, 27–31 years old for the representative because they were located within the office worker respondents, and 38–53 years old for designated sites and the occupants of each Goshiwon the labor worker. Eight of the interviewees were living fit the intended respondents for this study. Out of 129 in a Goshiwon when the interview was conducted responses obtained from the online questionnaire, while the others lived in one up till 6 months before four responses were classified as “straightliners” the survey. Before the interviews were conducted, we because the same answers were selected for all of the made sure that all interviewees are capable to give questions, hence they were deemed invalid data. The information needed for this study. Due to the severity age of the respondents varied from 20 to 45 years old of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of data collec- with the highest number of respondents aged 26–30. tion, most of the interviews were not conducted face- Respondents at older ages of 35–45 belonged to the to-face. A set of structured questions was prepared labor workers. The number of student respondents beforehand to ensure the comprehensiveness of the was the highest at 58.4% of the total respondents, interview results and that each respondent received followed by office workers and labor workers, with the same questions. The questions for the interview 27.6% and 13%, respectively. The validity of the followed the same variables as the questionnaire and answers given by the respondents were checked by are explained in the next section. Furthermore, the Figure 3. Map of Seoul and the three main locations for this study. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 7 questions were checked and approved by senior Each of the independent variables had three to four researchers that are experts in housing studies to con- indicators, and the dependent variable consisted of firm its validity. two indicators, both based on the earlier review of micro-housing physical attributes. The model was used for four observations in total: current livability (quantitative), improvement suggestions (quantita- 3.2. The path model tive), current livability (qualitative), and improvement A path model was designed as the guideline for the suggestions (qualitative). The first two usages of the data collection, based on the literature review con- model were to measure the current situation, and ducted earlier. As seen in Figure 4, this study investi- the second two usages were to measure the possible gates the correlation between the living environment future improvements. Hence, both the questionnaire of goshiwons as the independent variables and the and interview had two parts, one of which focused on tenants’ perceived livability as the dependent vari- the current living situation of goshiwons, the other of ables. Although livability is such a complex matter to which focused on improvement suggestions based on measure, this study focuses on the physical aspects of the design principle in micro-housing. An example of it and after referring to micro-housing concept, we the questionnaire points for each part is as follows: categorized the important physical components of “X3A: Room sizeCurrent living environment of livability into three variables with total of ten indica- Goshiwons: The room size allows me to do basic daily tors. There are three independent variables in the activities comfortably. Improvement suggestion: The model: (i) the location of the goshiwons, (ii) the build- comfort of Gosiwons would be improved if there is ing condition and the quality of the shared areas, and a minimum standard of room size that allows me to do (iii) the room facilities and overall condition. Location basic daily activities comfortably (around 14 m2).” was measured by the proximity of the goshiwons to Questions for the interview were also derived from important places for the residents and by how safe the the path model and related to the variables. A total of residents felt about living in that area. The building two open-ended questions were asked to the respon- and shared areas were measured by how satisfied the dents. The first question was about the living environ- residents were with the areas other than their rooms, ment of goshiwons, and the other question was about including other establishments in the building. Lastly, suggestions for future improvements. With the first room condition was measured by all attributes that are question, the author tried to understand the reason related to the physical quality of the rooms. One why the respondents chose to stay in a goshiwon and dependent variable was proposed, the livability value, to learn the experience of living in a goshiwon, espe- and it was measured by the comfort level of the resi- cially the details related to the three scales of goshi- dents and their willingness to stay long term. wons’ physical environment. The second question Figure 4. Path model of the study. Figure 5. PLS algorithm and bootstrapping analysis result for the current livability of goshiwons. *p < 0.05 †0.05 < p < 1. 8 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. aimed to gather detailed suggestions from the respon- dependent variables. Next, through the bootstrapping dents to improve goshiwons’ livability. Furthermore, process, the t statistic was also measured to ascertain respondents’ tendency and willingness to stay in an the significance of each correlation. The universal stan- improved goshiwon was also investigated through the dard of 1.96 was used to determine whether an inde- interview process. pendent variable significantly affected the dependent variable. Last, the predictive relevance through run- ning the blindfolding method was measured to predict 3.3. Data analysis the validity of the entire model. From the predictive relevance, the appropriateness of the independent The questionnaires consisted of 24 indicators, and the variables in predicting the dependent variable can be respondents answered the questionnaire with agree- observed. ment or disagreement in a five-point Likert scale (from For the interview data analysis, thematic analysis “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”). The first 12 was used. In thematic analysis, the answers are points were related to the current living environment grouped to find patterns or themes that are useful to while the next 12 points were related to suggestions answer the research question (Braun and Clarke 2006). for improving goshiwons. Each set of the 12 points is Three main phases of thematic analysis were con- distributed to three independent variables and one ducted to find a pattern in the interview data before dependent variable. Independent variables include finally matching it up with the questionnaire results. Goshiwon’s physical attributes that are divided into The first phase was organizing the interview data. In various scales as has been explained in previous sec- this step, all oral interviews were written and relevant tion: (i) location as the macro scale, (ii) building and information was highlighted. The second phase was shared facilities condition as the messo scale, and (iii) searching and reviewing themes. Information related room condition as micro scale. Degree of livability is to the four variables shown in the path model (loca- the only dependent variable in this study. All 24 points tion, building and shared areas, room condition, and were designed to be reflective indicators because livability value) was sought and reviewed. The last manipulation towards the variable will also be phase included the definition of each theme and utiliz- reflected on the indicators (Dijkstra and Henseler ing information to help construct the conclusion. 2015). The data from the questionnaire was then ana- lyzed with SmartPLS software, which is well known to be reliable in analyzing the path model similar to the 4. Results one used for this study. SEM was chosen for this study Following the aim of this study, the results were rather than the conventional multiple regression because SEM can present more significant statistical divided into two main parts: the physical aspects that affect the current livability of goshiwons and sugges- relationships between the independent and depen- tions for future improvements. For both parts, the dent variables (Nusair and Hua 2010). Additionally, the model used in this study involves latent and questionnaire results are presented first to convey general information about the research subjects, fol- observed variables that are more efficient to be ana- lowed by the interview results to provide more detail. lyzed by the SEM method. Following the path model in Figure 3, the obtained data were inputted into the smartPLS 3.0 for path modelling in two main steps. 4.1. Current living environment The first step included checking the validity and reliability of the indicators in measuring the variables. While checking the validity and reliability, variable X1B: After constructing Figure 4 model in the software, each “Proximity to amenities” was invalid and unreliable in indicator’s value of the outer loading and average predicting its latent variables after the first data was variance extracted (AVE) were calculated to measure inputted. After these indicators were eliminated, the the validity. Next, the reliability test was conducted by values were once again inputted into the software, and calculating Cronbach’s alpha. The threshold of the confirmatory factor analysis was conducted again. The outer loading, AVE, and Cronbach’s alpha to be con- new result shows all indicators were valid and reliable sidered valid and reliable are 0.5, 0.5, and 0.6, respec- to measure the correlation between the variables. tively (Hair, Ringle, and Sarstedt 2011). This process Table 3 shows the complete validity and reliability was done by running the PLS algorithm on the soft- measurement of the indicators. ware. After the relationship of the independent vari- After the evaluation of the indicators was complete, ables and their indicators proved to be valid and the next step was to evaluate the correlation between reliable, the correlation evaluation between the inde- the independent and dependent variables. Before pendent variables and the dependent variable was evaluating the correlations, the Stone-Geisser’s Q conducted. In this step, the path coefficients of the value, also known as the predictive relevance evalua- model were measured to find out the positive or nega- tion, was calculated to check the model suitability tive correlation between the independent and (Geisser, 1974). The Q value can be obtained by JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 9 Table 3. Validity and reliability measures for the current living environment evaluation. Outer Cronbach’s Indicators loading AVE alpha X1A: Proximity to school or workplace 0.642 0.760 0.618 The goshiwon is located near my school/office. X1C: (Perceived) Safety 0.909 The goshiwon is located in a crime-safe area. X2A: Shared Facilities 0.726 0.585 0.645 The shared facilities such as the kitchen and laundry machine of the goshiwon are clean and have enough capacity for all the tenants. X2B: Other facilities in the building 0.800 The other facilities in the building do not disturb daily life in my goshiwon. X2C: Resident Type 0.767 The other residents do not disturb daily life in my goshiwon. X3A: Room Size 0.812 0.773 0.901 The room is in an appropriate size that allows me to perform daily activities comfortably. X3B: Window 0.874 The room has a window with an appropriate size that can be opened. X3C: Storage 0.909 The room has enough storage to keep all my belongings. X3D: Furniture 0.917 The furniture in the room allows me to perform basic daily activities. Y1: Comfort 0.933 0.869 0.849 The goshiwon offers appropriate living facilities for me to live comfortably. Y2: Long-term stay 0.930 I can tolerate long-term occupancy (more than a year) with the current condition of my goshiwon. Table 4. Tenants’ perceptions of the current living environment of the goshiwons. Occupation Content Students The location of goshiwons is their main advantage because of their close proximity to the school. The size of the shared facilities is not proportional to the number of tenants. Tenants often have to wait to use the facilities, such as the laundry machine. Main reason to choose goshiwons is to save money for other entertainment purposes, such as travelling and hanging out with friends in expensive cafes. Second main advantage of goshiwons is the free rice, instant noodles, and kimchi that are often provided in goshiwons. Many goshiwons are located in a mixed-use building where other facilities such as restaurants and bars exist. Some respondents complained about some disturbance from those facilities. Office workers The location of goshiwons is the main advantage of goshiwons because of its close proximity to the workplace. The soundproofing of the room is really bad. Not enough natural light, which can cause depression. Main reason to choose goshiwons is to save money to move to a bigger place (apartment or one-room) of better quality. The biggest advantage of goshiwons is that the tenants do not have to pay for utility bills. Restaurant is the most disturbing facility to have in the same building as goshiwons. Besides the noise, the smell of the food from the kitchen is really disturbing the tenants. Labor workers and the goshiwon The main advantage of a goshiwon is that it is cheap, and no key money or deposit is required. manager There is a tendency to maximize all benefits of goshiwons, such as bringing the free meals to the workplace. Loneliness is the main issue due to the lack of meaningful interaction with other tenants. The room can be really depressing due to its small size and lack of natural light. Goshiwons with labor workers as their tenants usually are less attractive compared to those with only students or office workers as the tenants. running the blindfolding process in the SmartPLS soft- model is 0.827, which means that 82.7% of the current ware, and the suggested value for the model to be livability value of goshiwons is indeed determined by considered well structured is greater than 0. The pro- the location, building, shared facilities, and the room posed model has a Q value of 0.689, which indicates condition. that the model is well constructed. The evaluation for For the interview results, Table 4shows the core correlation between independent and dependent vari- statements of each group of goshiwon tenants. ables was conducted through the path coefficient test Although all respondents agreed that location was as well as the t-statistic test to determine the signifi - the biggest advantage of choosing goshiwons as cance. Figure 5 shows the result of the path coeffi - their residential place, almost all respondents also cients and t statistics for each variable, written in agreed that the only beneficial aspect about the loca- black and blue, respectively. The result shows that tion was the close proximity to their school or working location has a negative correlation with the livability places. For students and labor workers, the free meals value, while the other two variables have a positive were really appreciated, while the office workers correlation. However, only the room condition shows seemed to more greatly appreciate having no deposit significant correlation with the livability value. Also or extra utility bills. During interviews, students and shown in Figure 5 is that the R-squared value of the office workers complained about goshiwons being in 10 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. Table 5. Validity and reliability measures for evaluation of future improvements. Outer Cronbach’s Indicators loading AVE alpha X1A: Proximity to school or workplace 0.902 0.797 0.873 The convenience of goshiwon would be improved if it were located closer to my school/workplace. X1B: Proximity to urban amenities 0.906 The convenience of goshiwon would be improved if it was located closer to various urban amenities. X1C: (Perceived) Safety 0.870 Safer environment will make goshiwon better as a living space X2A: Shared Facilities 0.708 0.557 0.606 The comfort of goshiwon would be improved if the shared facilities were cleaner and sufficient for all tenants. X2B: Other facilities in the building 0.878 Other facilities in the building should never disturb the life of the goshiwon residents. X2C: Resident Type 0.631 It would be nicer if the tenants of the goshiwons were from the same background. X3A: Room Size 0.722 0.548 0.685 Goshiwons should have a minimum size that allows the tenants to perform daily activities comfortably. X3B: Window 0.686 The room should have an appropriate and functional window. X3C: Storage 0.808 The comfort of goshiwons would be improved if there were enough storage and if the storage were designed to create more space for the room (e.g., installing wall storage, putting storage under the bed, etc.). Y1: Comfort 0.813 0.607 0.654 With all the improvements mentioned above, goshiwons would be more comfortable to live in. Y2: Long-term stay 0.744 With all the improvements mentioned before, I am interested in staying in a goshiwon long term (more than a year). the same building as other facilities. The labor workers, and t statistic tests were performed; the results are who were notably older than the other tenants, projected in Figure 6, and it shows that all indepen- expressed that living in goshiwons caused loneliness dent variables positively correlate with an increase in that could lead to depression. Lastly, all respondents livability value. Improvements in the location and agreed that there should be a minimum standard to room condition affect the perceived livability of goshi- ensure the appropriateness of goshiwons as a living wons significantly, while the improvements in building environment. and shared areas are proven not to be significant. This indicates that if there were improvements in the loca- tion and room quality, tenants would see goshiwons as 4.2. Suggestions for future development a more livable housing option. However, the R-squared value of the first model is only 0.273, meaning that the For analyzing the future development of goshiwons, observed independent variables have a little contribu- similar to the current livability analysis, validity and tion in predicting the livability value and that there are reliability measures were first presented. After the eva- other factors that should be considered in improving luation was done, indicator X3D was proven to be the livability value of goshiwons. invalid and hence had to be eliminated from the ana- Based on the interview data presented in Table 6, lysis. Table 5 shows the complete validity and reliability even though most of the respondents agreed that measurements after the invalid indicator was removed. goshiwons have strategic locations near schools or Similar to the evaluation of the current living envir- workplaces, inconveniences often arise from some onment, the predictive relevance value was first mea- types of neighboring facilities and businesses. Due to sured. For analyzing the possible future improvements close proximity to universities and offices, the areas for goshiwons, the model only has predictive relevance where goshiwons are located often attract late-night of 0.122. The value is still considered relevant, but not entertainment establishments as well. Students as relevant as when the model was used to analyze the expressed that the safety could be compromised if current livability of goshiwons. The path coefficient Figure 6. PLS algorithm and bootstrapping analysis result for the future improvements. *p < 0.05 †0.05 < p < 1. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 11 Table 6. Tenants’ suggestions for the future development of goshiwons. Occupation Content Students Suggested future Location should not be in close proximity to nightclubs, pubs, or any other drinking development establishments for safety reasons. Even if it is small, a window is a must. There should be a shared reading room or study room. Occupancy Improvements may increase interest in staying in goshiwons, but not significantly. Office workers Suggested future Air circulation needs to be fixed by installing a window of proper size. development There should be a minimum standard of goshiwons. The entrance of goshiwons needs to be secure (installing CCTV, passcode, etc.). More storage space in the room is needed. Location should not be around businesses that produce excess noise, such as bars or pubs. Occupancy Okay for now, but once money is not a problem, staying in goshiwons is not preferable even with the improvements. Labor worker and the goshiwon Suggested Future Offer standardized rooms that will ensure the health and hygiene of the room. manager development Limit the number of rooms to prevent fire accidents. Provide a shared living room as a place for the tenants to interact. Private toilets are believed to improve hygiene and help prevent infectious disease. Occupancy Money is the biggest issue in moving out from goshiwons. It is even difficult to move to public housing because of the money. Even with the improvements, goshiwons are still not preferred if money is not the problem. a goshiwon were located near such establishments as between the current regulations. Due to similarities in nightclubs and bars. Similarly, the office workers also many aspects, this paper used the core concepts of expressed their concern about the entertainment facil- micro-housing to find crucial areas for improvement to ities and that those facilities can get too noisy and transform goshiwons into a more livable space. Based disturb the tenants. Regarding room improvements, on cases around the world, micro-housing concepts students emphasized the need for a comfortable are implemented on three different scales: room, studying environment, such as the provision of building, and neighborhood. Hence, this study used a shared reading room or the improvement of the those three scales to investigate the current living desk and chair in the room. For the office workers, environment and the pivotal aspects that need to be good soundproofing seems to be the demand to changed to improve the livability of goshiwon. Many enhance their sleep quality at night. Meanwhile, the previous studies have been conducted about users’ labor workers were more concerned about fire safety satisfaction in goshiwons and directions for goshi- due to the large number of rooms on one floor. One wons’ improvement separately (Ryu and Kim 2021; respondent recalled an incident that happened in 2018 Lee and Yoon 2010). However, this study argues that in Seoul where a goshiwon establishment caught fire it is important to study both aspects simultaneously to and killed seven of its occupants. In some goshiwons, get results that are applicable to policy developments. the high number of rooms had created multiple dou- Focusing only on the current situation would not be ble-loaded corridors that would make it more confus- beneficial without knowing which elements to ing to find the emergency exit in case of fire. Except improve, and without investigating the current situa- students, there was a tendency for all respondents to tion, suggestions for future improvement would not maintain low interest in staying in goshiwons even be valid. with the improvements. Office workers would only Three aspects from different scales were observed live in goshiwons as a method of saving money to in this study. The first variable concerns the location, move to a better apartment. The labor workers stated which represents the macro scale aspect of a micro- that, even with the improvements, goshiwons already house. In contrast to some of the previous studies (Kim had a bad reputation as a living environment, and that 2014; Ko, Lee, and An 2016; Cho et al. 2017; Lee and if they had enough money they would opt to live in Kim 2017), location was found to negatively affect the public housing. current livability of a goshiwon, and improving loca- tion positively affects the future livability of a goshiwon. However, location was not proven to sig- 5. Discussion nificantly affect the users’ perception of the current Although a goshiwon’s living environment is lacking in livability, but improvements of it, significantly affects many aspects and it is far from the ideal residential the future livability. This finding is valuable because, by space, many believe that it plays a crucial role in sup- default, location is believed to be the biggest value of plying low-cost housing options in Korea (Lee and goshiwons. From the interview results, it was under- Yoon 2010; Ryu and Kim 2021; Ko, Lee, and An 2016). stood that, although respondents appreciated the Preliminary study on related laws and regulations led short distance from their goshiwon to their school or to an assumption that one of the main reasons for the workplace, they found other facilities around it quite deterioration of goshiwons is the absence of a law disturbing. This finding follows a previous study that specifically tailored to them and that there are gaps stated goshiwons are often agglomerated around 12 O. R. MANIFESTY ET AL. entertainment facilities such as arcades, pubs, and kar- even after the improvements, previous studies stated aoke places (Koo 2019). This result indicates that that micro-housing is not only about providing low- although location is the main attraction of micro- cost housing but also introducing and accommodating housing, it needs to be understood more deeply and a new city lifestyle that are acceptable especially by the comprehensively. Close proximity to the school or current generation (Soub and Memikoglu 2020; workplace should not neglect the comfort and safety Karatseyeva and Akhmedova 2022). aspects of location. Another study in New York City suggests that proximity to open spaces is also impor- 6. Conclusion tant in aiming for low perceived density (Fisher- Gewirtzman 2017). Low perceived density helps to Due to the deterioration of the living environment of ease the crowded and stuffy feelings that often arise goshiwons, despite their popularity as an option for in high-density city center. The second variable con- affordable housing for single occupancy, specific laws cerns the shared facilities and other non-goshiwon and regulations are urgently needed to maintain the facilities within the same building. Although it was sustainability of goshiwons. In order to contribute to not proven to significantly affect the current or future the study of required regulations, this study aims to livability of a goshiwon, interview respondents men- investigate the current living situation of goshiwons tioned that there were specific facilities they wished and to recommend a set of possible directions for were not in the same buildings as the goshiwon, such future development that can enhance their livability. as restaurants and pubs. A study by Byun and Choi Several attempts were made to distinguish this study (2016) states that the living room is the center in from previous research. The first was the adaptation of traditional Korean houses and although younger the micro-housing concept to construct the path respondents do not share the same value, older resi- model, resulting in multi-scale variables to be studied. dents wished goshiwon could provide a centralized The second attempt was the usage of a combination of communal space. quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a more The last variable focuses on the room condition of comprehensive result. This study observed goshiwon the goshiwon. As the most significant variable that livability through three physical scales: room, building, positively affects the user’s perception of livability, and neighborhood or location. The result of this study room condition holds the critical value to transform indicates that the relatively poor condition of goshi- a goshiwon into a livable micro-house. This is further wons is the significant cause of their low livability. The supported by the interview result showing that main reasons why goshiwons’ rooms are considered respondents’ negative perception of a goshiwon’s liv- poor include (i) poor soundproofing quality, (ii) insuffi - ing situation is mostly due to the poor room environ- cient natural light and poor air circulation due to the ment. Unlike the other variables in which the small size or absence of windows, and (iii) the large respondents had limited suggestions for improve- number of rooms per floor that is perceived as a fire ment, more answers were given in terms of room hazard. Although it is palpable that improving the improvement, showing how impactful the room con- room condition of goshiwons would lead to higher dition was to the respondents. This result is in line with livability, this study proceeded with another set of a previous study by Jin and Choi 2018 that says that observations that focused on how to improve the the possibility of choosing a room that matches one’s livability. Based on the results of the observations, we needs elevates the resident’s satisfaction. Another presented some important points that can be useful in study in Almaty proved that design in the smallest determining directions for physical improvement of details could help improve the room quality in goshiwons as an alternative of livable micro-house in a micro house (Karatseyeva and Akhmedova 2022). South Korea and other megacities with similar urban The interview result also shows that each group of fabric and society issues, such as Hongkong and goshiwon residents has different needs that necessi- Tokyo . tate diversifying goshiwon facilities depending on the First, for goshiwons to be considered a livable form residents, as also shown in research by Yoo, Yang, and of micro-housing, the statistical analysis suggests that Kim (2019). The last interview points show that, while room condition should be significantly improved by graduate students had a higher tendency to live in having a sufficient minimum room size and a window goshiwons if the improvements were made, office to allow natural light and air circulation. Those are the and labor workers implied that if money were not an two basic requirements for a room to function prop- issue they would never choose goshiwons, even with erly. Next, the installation of proper soundproofing and improvements. 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Journal

Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering – Taylor & Francis

Published: May 4, 2023

Keywords: Goshiwons; Korean housing studies; micro-housing; affordable housing; livable house

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