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Due to structural demographic shifts, declining population, economic restructuring and deindustrialization, the number of shrinking cities has been increasing in South Korea. To tackle these challenges, policy makers have promoted entrepreneurial environments, largely absent in such cities, to accelerate rates of revitalization by attracting talented young knowledge workers. The creation of collaborative coworking spaces is one of these policy responses. However, there have been rising concerns over whether such coworking spaces are producing the expected outcomes. It is uncertain whether policy makers are encouraging the development of coworking spaces without strong evidence of their effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to find out what roles coworking spaces play in small and medium sized shrinking cities. A five-month study was conducted in 12 small and medium sized cities (<500,000 population) using two interrelated methods: 1) an online survey with users of coworking spaces in their 20s and 30s and 2) semi-structured interviews with the managing staff/owners of 4 coworking spaces. Based on the study, the research concludes that the coworking spaces played a key role in bringing young people together and helping them to start new businesses by providing proper hard and soft infrastructure, hosting events and sharing information and knowledge. • The emergence, concept and expected outcomes of coworking spaces in relation to urban revitalization. • The demographic changes, economic restructuring and the increasing number of shrinking cities in Korea. • An online survey with users of coworking spaces in their 20s and 30s. • Semi-structured interviews with managing staff/owners of coworking spaces. • The roles and limitations of coworking spaces in shrinking cities in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that intersectionality can benefit the study of migrant urban citizenship and that migrants' legal status affects their potential for urban citizenships. These arguments are based on life story interviews I conducted with Mongolian labour migrant women (both documented and undocumented) living and working in Seoul during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from this data, I first discuss the mutual relationship between COVID-19 regulations and the specific urban spaces they affected, and second, how migrant women navigated this relationship. In practice, I categorise these pandemic-driven experiences into three specific types of spaces – spaces of escape , spaces of fear , and spaces of (potential) discrimination – which I analyse through the lenses of gender, class, and racialisation. In conclusion, I call for future research on migrant urban citizenship to critically consider the role of legal status in migrants' embodied processes of urban citizenship-making and investigate how underlying structural social and power relations shape these embodied processes. Reformulating the concept of urban citizenship in a way that explicitly informs policy making and fosters migrants' embodied experiences of urban citizenship is also needed. • Intersectionality can benefit the study of migrant urban citizenship. • Migrants' legal status affects their potential for urban citizenship. • COVID-19 regulations transformed urban spaces in Seoul into spaces of escape, fear, or discrimination. • Migrant urban citizenship needs to be reconceptualised into a policy-oriented approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the rental affordability problem requires defining and measuring 'affordability' accurately. A variety of objective and subjective indicators have been suggested to measure rental affordability. However, several studies demonstrated that objective and subjective measures of rental affordability are not well aligned with each other, and the underlying cause of this mismatch is unknown. Drawing on Noll's (2013) objective and subjective social indicator framework, this paper examines the extent to which the objectively and subjectively measured levels of rental affordability are incongruent and the driver of the disparity. Using the longitudinal data of the Labor and Income Panel Study in Korea (2015–2020), we conducted a series of panel multinominal logistic regressions with fixed effects. The results show that there is a significant mismatch between objective and subjective rental affordability, and this incongruence is partly due to residential satisfaction, which influences subjective rental affordability. The paper calls for more in-depth exploration of residential satisfaction to benefit refined and nuanced policies to address rental affordability problems. • Objective rental affordability is not well aligned with subjective affordability. • The mismatch between the two indicators is partly due to residential satisfaction. • Residential satisfaction affects subjective rental affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

District 2-2 (or Saerom-dong), located in Sejong smart city, is designated as a 'Specially Designed Zone for Women'. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gendered dimensions of this smart city district through gender analysis. This paper analyzes the planning, implementation, and post-occupancy stages of the district through a review of guidelines of gender-mainstreaming policies of Korean cities, interviews of experts involved, and a survey of 100 residents to gain an insight into how users perceive the spatial aspects of the women-friendly walking environment. Results show that, at the planning stage, little interprofessional communication occurs between smart city experts and 'women-friendly city' experts. At the implementation stage, this leads to incomplete gender-mainstreaming of the district. Post-occupancy survey results reveal, however, that despite these shortcomings, both women and men perceive the 'Specially Designed Zone for Women' to be safe. Even so, there is a gender difference in the perception regarding smart installations. CCTVs are more important to men than women, while on-site emergency bells are more significant to women than men. This indicates that women need more active safety systems than passive surveillance systems. This paper argues that a gendered perspective is needed for the more inclusive planning of smart cities. • The gendered dimensions of Sejong's smart city district are investigated in three stages. • There is little interprofessional communication at the planning stages. • This led to incomplete gender-mainstreaming of the district at the implementation stage. • Post-occupancy survey results reveal that both women and men perceive the 'Specially Designed Zone for Women' to be safe. • A gendered perspective is needed as women need more active safety systems than passive surveillance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]