Focusing on urban Japan and South Korea, this paper addresses interactions of shifting urban conditions that have channeled particular manifestations of single-dwelling featuring disproportionate shifts in housing pathways among younger-adult cohorts toward living alone in rental housing.

We identify how features of East Asian cities, in particular housing markets and high-speed renewal of the built-environment, have contributed to the growth in one-person households, as well as how the proliferation of singlehood and living alone is reshaping urban redevelopment. This shift represents a particular disruption in social and spatial reproduction that has implications for future welfare and urban conditions in this region more generally.

This working paper is no longer available, it was published as an article.

The work on this article has been supported by the European Research Council [ERC Starting Grant HOUWEL, Grant Agreement No. 283881, directed by Richard Ronald].