• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.549-563
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• 2008

The purpose of this research is to identify the urban structure in Korea. Though there is research regarding urbanization, there is little regarding the urban structure of the Korean economy. In this paper, two issues will be discussed: the measurements of inter-city and intra-city structure in Korean Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), which is newly defined. First, the city size rank rule, widely known as Zipf’s Law, will illustrate Korean the inter-city structure. The city size rank rule gives an idea whether Korean MSAs are balanced or not. In general, Korea has a heavy concentration in the Seoul MSA in terms of population. It could be either that the Seoul MSA is too big or that the Busan MSA is too small or both. If this is the primacy problem, a decentralization policy is necessary. On the other hand, if it is a second city problem, development policies for the Busan MSA and Daegu MSA are more important. Next, the Korean intra-city structure will be discussed. The evolutions of the MSAs explain intra-city structure by analyzing population density function and the housing price function. Some large MSAs such as Seoul and Busan have experienced urban sprawl, while other MSAs have experienced urban concentration. The population density gradient by the distance from the ARC GIS shows the growth rate of a city. According to the Spatial Mismatch Index between population and employment, the Ulsan MSA, Gwangju MSA, and Suwon-Hwaseong-Osan MSA are more mismatched, while the Daejeon MSA and Incheon MSA are less mismatched. Therefore, these analyses of Korean urban structure are meaningful in developing regional policy.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.19-32
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• 2023

Using extensive job posting big data, this study investigates the industrial and locational characteristics of decent work from the supply side. The analysis revealed that manufacturing is pivotal in supplying decent work, accompanied by a stark regional disparity, most notable in the Seoul Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which constitutes nearly half of all decent work opportunities. The study further uncovered that the distribution of decent work varies significantly across MSAs, with a pronounced inclination towards a higher supply in peripheral rather than central areas. These findings bring to light the critical need for policies that bolster manufacturing, aiming to enhance the availability of high-quality jobs and to bridge the job quality gap between the Seoul MSA and other regions. Moreover, the results emphasize the necessity for customized job supply strategies in each MSA, prioritizing strategies that account for the proximity between workplaces and living areas in the job supply process.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.86-96
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• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between central city and suburban areas. In particular, we examine the relationship of construction activities in suburban areas with construction activities in central city. That is because if the construction activities in central city are correlated with those in suburban areas, the economic trends in those two parts would become interdependent. The construction permit data in 114 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) for the past 11 years are used as a central explanatory variable of influencing the relationship, as construction permits issued would reflect population growth, economic growth and housing price in certain area. The main findings of our analysis are as follows. First, MSAs classified as showing high population growth has higher correlation between central city and suburban area than MSAs showing low population growth rate except for only office construction. However, there is little difference in correlation characteristic by the size of MSA Second, most of the MSAs show little causality between the central city and suburban area in lagged situation. Therefore, it is hard to say that the past trend of construction activity in central city reflects in direct the future trend of construction activities in suburban area.