Flood vulnerability characteristics considering environmental justice and urban disaster prevention plan in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate environmental injustice and analyze flood vulnerability characteristics in consideration of environmental justice and urban flood disaster prevention planning. We investigated various physical and non-physical urban disaster prevention factors to prevent urban flooding and applied them to the urban development process in Seoul from an environmental justice perspective. Flood risk areas were identified, and flood damage data from 2000 to 2018 were collected. Furthermore, a panel analysis was performed and the final model was selected. The flood vulnerability characteristics were found to be detached houses having basements, aged detached houses, land area for detached houses, public assistance recipients, and population aged 65 years or above, which had impact factors of 8.323, 3.781, -2.877, 3.257, and 2.637, respectively. The results indicate that not only the socially vulnerable population lacked the ability to respond to floods, but buildings and areas with poor residential environments also suffered from flood damage. This implies that there was socioeconomically disproportionate exposure (termed as environmental injustice) in the process of urban flood prevention planning and urban development. Our results can contribute qualitatively and quantitatively to preparing a flood prevention plan based on environmental justice paradigm.