• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.417-431
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• 2007

This study investigates the differences among residental areas in the health, standard of living, and social relationships of female elderly living alone. The total of 501 subjects(185 from rural areas, 159 from fishing communities, 77 from the islands, and 80 from urban areas) were questioned from May to July, 2006. The research area was confined to Chungcheong Province. The female elderly living alone of this study were an average of seventy-three years old, had a low cost of living, and received little formal school education. Over sixty percent(60.3) of them lived on less than thirty dollars a month which was the recognized Korean poverty level in 2006. The female elderly living alone were evaluated as being in good health, but they themselves perceived their health as being poor. Observed by residential areas, the subjects in urban areas were lower in ADL, and both the urban dwellers and the islanders appeared to be higher in their satisfaction with medical services as compared to those in rural areas and fishing communities. The fishing villagers showed the lowest standard of living for female elderly living alone. The analysis of social relationships as seen in the different residental areas revealed that the female elderly living alone g in urban areas tended to be receiving social supports rather than providing for others, and subjects living in fishing areas and the islands proved to be relatively higher in the exchange of social supports. In relation to offspring, the female elderly living alone in urban areas had a lower frequency of meeting with their children and also a lesser degree of intimacy with them because they lived at a distance. On the other hand, subjects living in rural areas and fishing communities had a higher frequency of meeting with their children and a greater degree of intimacy with them even if they lived at a distance. The study also showed that the female elderly living alone in the islands had a higher frequency of once meeting per three week with their offspring and a higher degree of intimacy with them because they all live in the same islands. In conclusion, the subject living in urban areas appeared to be isolated from their offspring as compared to the other seniors in the study. The female elderly living alone in urban areas suffered from an insufficient network of relatives and neighbors, and they experienced a poor quality of relationships to their offspring. Almost all of the lone seniors in the study had a low score in social activities; however, the female elderly living alone in urban areas revealed a higher level of participation in volunteer activities, group activities, and educational activities. Nevertheless, the lone seniors living in urban areas were not satisfied with their participation in social activities. The subjects living in rural in fishing communities and the islands showed more participation in money-making activities. This study suggests that the policies for female elderly living alone should reflect the differences of regional characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.93-102
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• 2008

In Korea, a movement for forming intentional communities is gathering people's interests to improve individualistic living environment, and to create a humanistic lifestyle. However, it is difficult to say if its management is successful or not, because intentional community is just in the experimental stage in Korea. The purpose of this study is to identify actual condition of residents' participation in forming process, shared activities in their daily lives, residents' regulation, common facilities and its management in order to offer basic information for revitalization of intentional communities in Korea. 7 intentional communities including eco-friendly villages, religious communities and a cooperative housing community were collected as the study objects. Upon analysis, those communities were divided into two groups according to their purpose of establishment; "HC (Housing-life focused Community includes cooperative housing community and eco-friendly community)" and "IC (Ideology focused Community includes ideology community and religious community)" in order to identify difference in residents' participation between the two groups. In-dept interviews with representatives of 7 intentional communities by a structured questionnaire were used as study method. The findings of this study are as follows; In general, more active residents' participation is identified in ICs than in HCs. There is no common house, which is considered as essential in intentional community, in HCs, while it was facilitated in all ICs. Role of leader seems more important in ICs than in HCs. About the ownership of housing and land, private owned is common in HCs, while community owned is common in ICs. Shared activities and residents' regulations are evidently less in most HCs than in ICs. Furthermore, in order to run a community sustainable, it is crucial to encourage sense of community among residents, and developing common house and activity programs. Common house design, which can promote proactive residents' participation in shared activity should be studied fitted to Korean circumstances. Above all, proactive participation in the shared activities is one of the most important factors in intentional community.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-281
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• 2014

Urban communities have been recently highlighted as an alternative idea in the field of urban regeneration, social economy and so on. Urban communities should not be understood as an ideal, but the way urban communities work in reality also should be analysed. This paper aims to find out what urban communities really mean and who are involved in urban communities. The paper explores the features and issues of unban communities by surveying residents in Ansim area, Dong-gu, Daegu city. The paper analyses the relation between participation and community features: residents' socio-economic features, residence features, social relationship with their neighbours and the sense of community. The survey outcome shows that middle income, higher educated residents living in apartment complex are relatively more involved in community activities. Moreover, those who have more relationship with their neighbours have participated in community activities more than those who do not have any. As a consequence, this paper carefully states that the urban community is middle class-oriented and such feature could cause other residents' limited opportunities to access information about their own community and lead to social exclusion. This paper suggests that urban community groups need 'soft solidarity' between social classes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.29-36
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to develop and adapt indicators for the rural community assessment. Bearing in mind, indicators are derived from the various theoretical literature review and the efficiency of the indicators has been tested through comparing and evaluating 3 different rural communities which was selected based on their distance from Seoul. In order to assess a rural development project, the assessment indicators should include at least 5 domains of natural environment, socio-economic, quality of living environment, community characteristics, public participation, which are the basic formation of indicators of this study. Furthermore, this approach could be a ground for the environmentally friendly rural development planning.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.149-160
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• 2005

There is an increasing curiosity in Nordic as well as Far East Asian countries about senior cohousing, where the middle-aged and elderly people, 55+. form a community for independent living. What are the ideas behind senior cohousins? Why are people moving to senior cohousing community? What may senior cohousing provide and mean for individuals and groups of the elderly? Is senior cohousing a sustainable idea for future generations of elderly people? There is a curiosity among elderly people looking for interesting alternatives. Municipalities and state authorities hope that senior cohousing can contribute to the welfare of the elderly as the scope far support by the public sector is decreasing. Actors in the building sector are interested In investment and meeting the demands. In Denmark and Sweden the senior cohousing concept had a revival around 1985. In Denmark there has been a vivid discussion and plenty of books have been published. In Sweden there are few evaluations but an increasing interest. From different points of view, Danish, Swedish and Nordic as well as Far East Asian countries, there is a concern to explore and compare to get more facts and deeper understanding far further actions. This is a comparative study of inhabitants' life satisfaction in cohousing communities in Denmark and Sweden. The study is based on discussions with cohousing providers, study-visits in cohousing communities and a questionnaire to residents themselves. Study-visits took place during springtime and the questionnaires were handled spring and summer of 2002. 655 seniors responded to the questionnaire from 14 seniorbofae llesskaber (rented or housing cooperatives) in Denmark, 11 seniorhus within the SABO sector (municipality owned housing with rental apartments) and 8 housing cooperatives initiated by the Seniorgarden Housing Company in Sweden. Data were analyzed by SPSS program, using frequency, percentage, cross-tab and chi-square test. This paper focused three major areas of interest; 1)characteristics of the inhabitants. 2) participation in common activities and mutual cooperation among residents and 3) evaluative outcomes from the inhabitants' points of view. Mainly the inhabitants expressed quite positive experiences of their living environment and everyday lift and a few difference was found in life satisfaction between Denmark and Sweden.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.143-155
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• 2012

This study explored the essential meanings of experiences that married immigrant women living in rural communities have in their community participation process and analyzed the situations and types of their community participation in order to support immigration women's community participation and develop strategies for social welfare by type of community participation. For these purpose, we analyzed story outlines, meanings, types and situations of community participation among married immigrant women who had been over 5 years since their immigration. According to the results of this study, the meaning of married immigrant women's community participation was "Recognize myself as the pioneer of my life and participate in social activities continuously." In the results of analyzing the types of participation, the subjects were classified into 'self directed growth type,' 'self content type,' and 'social support expectation type.' The results of this study are expected to be helpful to understand the life of married immigrant women in rural areas not as 'individuals' otherized in a foreign country but as 'participants' of community that are encountered naturally in daily life, and to develop community level services suitable for such women.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the current research is to investigate the contribution of the sports and leisure sector to raising elderly citizens' quality of life. Through this investigation, the sport and leisure sector may give seniors a sense of safety and security by creating a safe atmosphere in which they can engage in activities and feel a part of their communities. Research design, data and methodology: Literature data were extracted from previous studies between the role of the sports leisure sector and living quality for senior citizens using a standardized data extraction form by two independent reviewers after articles have been included in the review. Each study's data extraction includes details on the study's design, exposure, outcome metrics, and findings. Results: Based on the qualitative textual approach, the present author had figured out total four Functions assumed as follows: (A) Physical Activity and Exercise, (B) Socialization and Interaction, (C) Opportunities for Learning and Development, and (4) Emotional Wellbeing. Conclusions: All in all, professionals should try to give elders chances for social interaction and peer participation in order to foster a feeling of community and belonging. This might entail setting up groups or leagues for elders to engage in meaningful social activities, like hiking or sports.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.113-125
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• 2004

The objective of this study was to analyze the evaluation of the rural resident's on their community at view of community life satisfaction. The specific purposes of this study were to identify the degrees of community life satisfaction, consciousness of rural community according to the individual variables. The data were gathered from 1,870 rural residents by the structured interview in the 187 communities sampled by multi-staged cluster stratified sampling method in November, 2003. The major findings of this study were as follows; first, the degree of the rural residents'community life satisfaction was generally low, especially the rural residents were dissatisfied with the opportunities of leisure and education environment in their communities, and by half were satisfied with housing environment. Second, as consciousness of rural community, the degree of rural resident's joining at community meeting was high, and openness to the outside residents' was high. third, the most important factor for consciousness of rural community were community organization, good neighbor. As result of this study, the following conclusion and recommend can be drawn. First, the level of rural resident's community life satisfaction is overall low. Especially it is needed policy efforts and priority investment for advancing satisfaction on leisure and education environment in rural community. Second, to foster rural resident's community consciousness, community orgaruzatlon Is first of all supported and activated. Through viability of these community organization, rural resident's participation in community welfare will be enhanced

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.125-138
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• 2006

While the global food system prevails in America, the community food system is also spreading rapidly. The former, which is based on industrial agriculture, has negative impacts on family farms, food safety, and community development. In contrast, the latter has positive effects on farmers, consumers, communities, and the environment. Community food systems have been able to grow successfully through the participation of farmers and consumers, support of the federal and state governments, and the initiatives of NGOs. Food Circle, upon which this study focuses, is one of the community food systems based on the regional level. It is the outcome of the green movement in Kansas City, Missouri. The goal of Food Circle in Missouri is to retain and support rural family farms by connecting them with regional consumers. Its main activity is to collect data, including a directory of farmers and their regional products, and distribute this data to regional consumers. It is informally organized and entirely self funded. Although community food systems have several problems, their development is to continue in America. The food system in Korea has become a global one in recent decades, and agricultural problems and food safety issues are being generated as a result. The development of community food systems would be helpful in resolving these problems. In order to activate community food systems in Korea as seen in America's case, it would be necessary to have the imperative participation of both farmers and consumers, the support of the central and provincial governments, and the initiatives of NGOs.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.29-42
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• 2004

Women are unlikely to receive an equal education, compared to men, in rural Korean society despite the equality in labor sharing. To address this issue this research aims to (a) analyze the educational needs for farming skills and daily life management in rural communities, and (b) develop a model for educational programs reflecting regional characteristics for the female farmers in order to make them experts in agriculture. A structured questionnaire was administered, using a group interview method, to 366 female farmers from the Jeonnam, Chungbuk, and Gyeonggi provinces with help of agricultural agents. The major components of the questionnaire dealt with individual peculiarities, educational environment, and curriculum and training subjects wanted by the female farmers. Educational program content was classified as daily life management, scientific farming and agricultural management skills to create systematic and effective programs. It was found that the critical factors for developing educational programs for the female farmers are as follows: a. It is necessary to develop a program combining daily life management skills and farming skills to make the female farmers experts in agriculture. b. Statistically significant differences were found in the female farmers' educational program participation and needs based educational level, age, educational expenditure, farm type, farming experience, and farm scale. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a program considering the fore-mentioned socioeconomic status and farming characteristics. c. It is important to establish an educational system for the female farmer to improve their quality of life as a minority group in Korean society. In addition, it is also necessary to develop public relations program to ensure that female farmers recognize the importance and necessity of the education.