Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

This study investigates how the deepening of income inequality in South Korea has influenced residential segregation and the widening distance between social classes. The study explores the symbolic meanings of residential segregation and the spatial representations of social hierarchy by analyzing representative TV dramas from each period as cultural texts. The findings reveal that class-based segregation is not merely a matter of physical distribution but is closely intertwined with broader social structures, where the residential spaces of specific classes function as sites of class entrenchment and social exclusion. Moreover, the gradual disappearance of inter-class contact and the weakening of mutual understanding suggest a structural risk of intensified social conflict and polarization. This research highlights how TV dramas serve as cultural records that reflect class perceptions and spatial structures of their time, suggesting the potential of cultural representation analysis in future research on residential segregation.

This study analyzes the everyday practices of women fish vendors at the Mzizima fish market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to examine how informal urban spaces function as liminal spaces. Drawing on feminist geographic theories of relational space (Doreen Massey) and liminal space (Sharon Zukin), it explores how space is produced through social relations and repeated practices. The findings show that women excluded from the formal economy reconfigure peripheral spaces—such as household courtyards and market corners—into liminal spaces. These spaces are formed through everyday practices grounded in trust and relationships. Although informal and often overlooked, they play a crucial role in sustaining the formal urban economy, including food distribution, livelihood maintenance, local circulation, and even educational access. This study supports feminist critiques of the public/private divide by showing how women’s spatial practices blur and transcend such binaries. It argues that informal and invisible actors are central to the functioning of urban economies. It contributes to expanding the dialogue between informal economies, gender, and spatial theory in the Global South, which has been overlooked in previous studies.

This study empirically examines how urban running activities are practiced across spatial and temporal dimensions and explores their potential to be interpreted as forms of touristic performance. Using Seoul as a case study, geotagged Instagram data related to running were collected from 2019 to 2025. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and K-means clustering were applied to observed grid cells to identify spatiotemporal patterns. The results reveal that urban running exhibits statistically significant spatial clustering and can be categorized into distinct typologies based on spatiotemporal characteristics. When interpreted through the conceptual framework of the everyday - non-everyday continuum, these findings suggest that urban running transcends routine physical activity, encompassing leisure-oriented practices and place-based performances with touristic implications. This study contributes theoretically by analyzing urban physical activity at the intersection of everydayness and non-everydayness, while demonstrating methodologically the potential of social media-based spatiotemporal analysis for uncovering connections between urban leisure and tourism practices.

This research investigates visual, structural, and point-of-interest (POI) complexity factors that influence drivers' perception and understanding of traffic conditions at road intersections. It also examines the relationship between intersection complexity and vehicle crashes. Considering that intersection land use varies with urbanization levels, the study categorizes samples into three groups—high-density, medium-density, and low-density—using the Fractional Impervious Surface metric. Fourteen variables were identified to evaluate intersection traffic environment complexity in Atlanta. The findings reveal that in high-density areas, structural factors such as lane count, speed limits, and traffic volume are strongly and positively correlated with traffic accidents. In medium-density areas, structural complexity variables, sky ratio, and the presence of well-known POIs also show positive correlations with crashes. In low- density areas, speed limits are significantly associated with accidents, while a higher vegetation ratio appears to reduce crash occurrences. This study contributes to the field by providing a method to quantify intersection traffic environment complexity and proposing tailored strategies for traffic accident reduction based on urban development levels.

The developmental state is a concept that explains how East Asian countries developed into advanced economies within the global capitalist system in a relatively short period of time through a particular configuration of their internal political economic organizations as well as external conditions. Claims have been made that such developmental state underwent neat transition to the post-developmental state status following the economic crisis of the late-1990s and the resultant neoliberalization. Critically scrutinizing this transitional perspective, this study elaborates path dependency of the developmental corporate strategy in the semiconductor industry in variegated system of capitalism. The semiconductor industry and corporations that have grown in state-led ways during state developmentalism take a state-compliant and an internalization strategy to protect domestic industries and promote exports. This study emphasizes that these developmental corporate strategies continue to be reproduced and maintained to date, ultimately shaping the current memory-semiconductor centric industrial structure in South Korea.

This study aims to highlight the lack of expanded discussion on the concept of migration infrastructure in Korea, despite its conceptual usefulness, and to re-examine the significance of approaching migration phenomena through the lens of migration infrastructure. From this perspective, ‘studying abroad’ is driven by the connectivity of infrastructures related to migration in both the home and host countries, and even after migration, migrants continue to rely on these infrastructures for adaptation and settlement. Unlike actor-centered interpretations that focus on individual choices and motivations, this approach demonstrates that migration pathways are differentiated according to the various types of migration infrastructure available. To support this argument, this study analyzes interviews with Vietnamese students studying in Korea to examine how agencies for studying abroad in Vietnam have evolved into migration infrastructures connecting Vietnam and Korea. The analysis reveals that these agencies function as key migration infrastructures, responding sensitively to the policies of both countries and playing a decisive role in building diverse networks to maintain smooth relations. This research is significant as it is the first study on Vietnamese study-abroad agencies and attempts to expand the conceptual framework of migration infrastructure.

This study empirically examines the relative employment status of youth across regions and analyzes the spatial distribution patterns and key determinants of youth employment status. Using employment statistics at the county and district levels, it performs a K-means cluster analysis based on time-series indicators of the youth-to-adult employment rates, as well as unemployment rate data. It then applies multinomial logistic regression to compare the characteristics of each cluster. The analysis identifies four distinct cluster types: “optimal,” “moderate,” “declining,” and “severe.” Key differentiating factors among clusters include the proportions of manufacturing workers, professionals, and economically inactive youth population as well as youth net migration rates, housing costs, and stress perception rates. Notably, regions with weaker youth employment outcomes and larger youth-to-adult employment gaps tend to exhibit higher levels of youth migration and employment instability. This study provides empirical evidence and foundational insights for designing region-specific employment policies that address youth employment challenges from both regional and generational perspectives.

This study aims to examine the regional transformation process of activity types involving affiliated populations that participate and exchange to communities, and to consider how they engage with and contribute to community development alongside local residents. The findings are as follows: In 2010, only slightly more than 10% of towns and villages featured the ‘introduction type’ and ‘experience and exchange type’ of affiliated population activities. By 2020, however, due to the increase in the ‘experience and exchange type’ and the ‘coordinator type,’ about 30% of towns and villages exhibited these activity types - representing approximately a threefold increase compared to 2010. Therefore, over the decade, activity types shifted from the ‘introduction type’ and ‘experience and exchange type’ to predominantly the ‘experience and exchange type’ and ‘coordinator type.’ This transformation was driven by multiple interrelated factors: changes in urban leisure activity patterns, the development of rural convergence industries in farming and mountain villages, growth in agricultural experience programs, government policies aimed at boosting rural incomes, and the advancement of economic infrastructure, etc. As the affiliated population continues to expand and deepen, the roles of talent, place, and system become increasingly vital in community development. It is essential to develop diverse activity types for affiliated populations that enable regions to independently generate new value by leveraging these three elements.

This study analyzed the formation and change of Korea’s patent technology transaction network between 2001 and 2020, a period following the enactment of the Act on the Promotion of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. Using patent assignment records, intercity networks were constructed in five-year intervals and analyzed using Exponential Random Graph Models(ERGMs). Network link density is initially low but rises steadily, while mutuality and preferential attachment intensify, whereas transitivity and multiple paths exert only limited influence. The network is anchored by large cities with abundant research infrastructure, and both geographic and technological proximity significantly increase the likelihood of a transaction. These findings indicate that, despite quantitative growth, patent technology market in Korea has evolved through a selective and hierarchical structure, expanding spatially while concentrating exchanges around a small number of innovation-oriented urban hubs.