Retail Gentrification in Residential Neighborhoods: Gyeongridan, Seoul

Abstract

This paper is an examination of the gentrification process and its impact on local businesses in the Gyeongridan neighborhood, Seoul. Commercial gentrification has many benefits as well as being associated with local disparity of residents. While culturally sensitive visitors enjoy the new consumption experience, it is at the expense of the local businesses. In-depth interviews were conducted with long-term shop owners to investigate the impact of gentrification in their businesses and lives. Our interpretive examination of different attitudes towards the transition revealed that reactions of long-term shop owners vary according to their situation, somewhat contrary to previous studies.Keywords: retail gentrification; sustainable neighborhood; Gyeongridan; displacementeISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.