Participatory Neighborhood Revitalization Effects on Social Capital: Evidence from Community Building Projects in Seoul

Abstract

Neighborhood revitalization projects have been implemented to improve both the physical and social environments of deteriorated communities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of government-sponsored community building projects (CBPs) in Seoul, Korea, that aim to revitalize declined communities through resident participation on the social capital of their inhabitants. The present study compared survey data collected from 12 completed CBPs and matched communities of similar size and demographic characteristics using structural equation modeling. The analysis identified a significant effect of CBPs on certain dimensions of social capital. For instance, the cognitive and trust dimensions of CBP residents tended to be higher than those of inhabitants of the matched communities. However, there was no evidence of significant differences in the social behavior dimensions of social capital between the two groups. The results imply that, although the influence of CBPs on some dimensions of social capital is limited, the participatory process initiated in CBPs encourages interaction among residents, thereby contributing to the improvement of social capital.