Housing Precarity, Immobility, and Recurrent Flood Damage in Seoul
Core question
How do physical flood risk and housing precarity jointly shape recurrent flood vulnerability in Seoul?
Seoul is a dense metropolitan region with highly concentrated population, housing, and infrastructure.
Flood risk is not only a matter of total annual rainfall.
The seasonal concentration of summer rainfall increases short-duration flood pressure.
Mountainous terrain, streams, and highly urbanized surfaces contribute to localized flood vulnerability.
Flood damage in Seoul is spatially uneven.
Some areas experience large but episodic damage.
Others experience repeated, smaller-scale or chronic damage.
This distinction matters because recurrence may reflect not only physical exposure, but also social and housing-market conditions.
Most climate migration discussions ask:
Does disaster risk cause people to move?
This project asks a different question:
What if the most vulnerable residents are unable to move away from recurrent risk?
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Argument
Recurrent flood damage may reveal a form of socially produced vulnerability, where housing precarity and residential immobility keep certain populations exposed to repeated flood risk.