• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.56-71
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• 2023

Citizens' needs for urban green spaces are on the rise due to improved quality of life and increased interest in environments. The garden is noteworthy because it is small in size, making it less controversial to create in the city, and it is adjacent to the residential area, improving citizens' daily environment. Moreover, recently gardens is attracting attention as a tool for urban regeneration, such as being created in declining areas as part of a government project. Therefore, it is time to study the role and value of urban gardens in deteriorated areas in terms of space welfare. However, there are few studies that quantitatively evaluate the effects of gardens, and many prior studies are limited to focusing the green space larger than a certain size (e.g., parks and forests). Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the effect of garden and gardening quantitatively, paying attention to social aspects such as life satisfaction and community of inhabitants. The study was conducted in an old row housing complex in Gojan1-dong, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do. In there, some of the dwellers voluntarily created outdoor gardens and engaged in gardening for a long time. In addition, after the 2017 Gyeonggi-do Garden Fair, several gardens have been maintained and used by residents there. For the first step, the field trip was done to research the status of the garden in the area, and then, a survey was conducted on whether or not gardening has an impact on the life satisfaction and community of residents. The results were analyzed by t-test and ANOVA. As a result, residents who are engaged in gardening are more active in the "neighborhood exchange" and "resident participation" than those who are not engaged in gardening. In addition, if residents voluntarily create a garden, the level of "satisfaction of life" is higher than those staying in the garden which is constructed by the government. And a resident who is gardening in the complex shows higher life satisfaction than those who garden outside of the complex. These results confirmed that the garden has positive effects promoting "exchanges with neighbors", "participation in the community", and "life satisfaction" of residents. It shows that it is important to ensure the right of residents to participate in the garden-making process as much as possible, and the garden's location should be paid attention to maximize the positive effect of gardens.