A Qualitative Study of How Young Single-Person Households Recognize Neighbors and the Conditions Shaping This Recognition

Young single-person households have often been understood as lacking the conditions that support neighbor relations, including long-term residence, homeownership, repeated encounters, and community participation.Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 27 young single-person household residents in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, this study examines how young adults recognize neighbors and the conditions shaping that recognition.The findings identify two conditions: relational cues and the controllability of encounters.Relational cues are information and repeated experiences that make others recognizable and predictable, while controllability refers to the ability to initiate, maintain, or limit interactions to suit one's rhythm and desired involvement.Neighbor recognition was most stable when both conditions were present; partial fulfillment produced thinner or context-dependent relations.Residents of the same building were often excluded from the neighbor category when relational cues were absent and encounters were difficult to control, reflecting dispersed daily rhythms, scarce semi-public spaces, exposure of private life, safety concerns, and obligatory interaction.These findings suggest that young single-person households do not simply lack neighbor relations; rather, such relations are selectively formed under conditions that allow legibility and autonomy.