Exploring the Contribution of Social and Economic Status Factors (SES) to the Development of Learning Cities (LC)

Abstract

Learning cities can help to reinforce the socio-economic well-being of residents in deprived areas contributing to the sustainability of cities and also provide them with learning and working opportunities. Diverse learning providers should be inclusively designed to meet all citizens’ needs, opportunities, and aspirations. Understanding the different social and economic characteristics of a city enables the proposition of appropriate development strategies to truly meet all citizens’ needs. Thus, this study examines the relationship between social and economic status (SES) and the perceptions of the development of learning cities (LC) in peri-urban development. To understand the significance of different social factors affecting the development of a learning city so that appropriate development guidelines and responses to people’s needs in outskirt areas can be recommended, data were collected from 400 participants through questionnaires in Thanyaburi District, Pathum Thani province, Thailand. This study applied nonparametric statistics through the use of the Chi-Square and Kruskal–Wallis H test to explore the differences in the variables of each classification and pairwise, including exploring the correlation between independent and dependent variables. The results revealed that different SES characteristics were significantly associated with different learning-enhancing activities (p-value < 0.05). The development of a learning city is therefore recommended to respond to the diverse citizens’ needs while contributing to several societal objectives with great potential for sustainable urban development.