Urban Heritage and its Socioeconomic Impacts in Seoul, South Korea: An Empirical Study Using Residential Environmental Satisfaction and Housing Price as Indicators

Background and objective Recent research has highlighted the need for urban heritage conservation due to rapid urbanisation, especially in Asian cities; however, few studies have investigated the socioeconomic impacts of heritage assets in urban contexts. This study examined urban heritage sites in Seoul Metropolitan City from the perspective of residents’ environmental satisfaction and housing prices. Methods A spatial regression model was developed to examine the associations between urban heritage sites and their corresponding protected areas as the independent variables (nationally assigned cultural heritage, city-assigned cultural heritage, nationally registered cultural heritage, nationally assigned cultural heritage protected area, and city-assigned cultural heritage protected area) and residential environmental satisfaction and housing prices as the dependent variables. The model investigated how urban heritage sites influence housing prices through the mediating effect of residential environmental satisfaction. Results The results confirmed the impact of urban heritage sites on housing prices and the mediating effect of residential environmental satisfaction. Moreover, depending on their urban heritage classifications, noticeable differences were evident in the impact of urban heritage sites. Conclusion These findings provide an intellectual foundation for public policies, offering insights into how they might achieve an optimum balance between private and public interests in matters of heritage conservation.