On the afternoon of the 5th, we visited ‘Flower Village,’ an unlicensed cluster of vinyl greenhouses in Jangji-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. As we entered the village, heat that felt as if it were boiling over washed over us. A severe heat wave alert had been issued in Seoul that day. Black shade cloths were hung in rows over the roofs of the vinyl greenhouse homes to block the direct sunlight.

Most homes are structures made by lining vinyl greenhouses with materials such as Styrofoam or plywood. Because the black shade cloths also absorb heat, the inside is often hotter than outside. At the home of Hyun Soon-bok (72), secretary of the residents’ association, the indoor temperature stayed around 32 degrees even after the air conditioner ran for more than 40 minutes. Hyun said, “Our home is still in much better shape,” adding, “Homes without air conditioners are basically steamers.”

As Hyun said, the situation at the nearby home of resident A was more serious. Without an air conditioner, the home was heated like a greenhouse under the sun. As we stepped inside, a blast of hot air rushed out. The indoor temperature hovered around 40 degrees. Resident A was enduring the heat with a fan while leaving the front door open.

Flower Village formed after the mid-1980s, as residents displaced during urban redevelopment projects in Seoul built horticultural vinyl greenhouses and used them as dwellings. It is known that about 70 households and roughly 100 to 110 residents live there now.

The village is surrounded by major roads such as the Capital Region First Ring Expressway, Songpa-daero, and Heolleung-ro, evoking a kind of ‘traffic island.’ Heat from the sunbaked asphalt converges on the village from all directions. With little greenery nearby, the location is inherently vulnerable to extreme heat.

The village has a community center designated as a cooling shelter. Thanks to a large air conditioner, it is the only space where residents can escape the heat. A resident who lost a home in an April fire is temporarily living there, however, making it hard for others to stay until late at night. Hyun said, “Other residents try to be considerate and avoid staying there in the evening.”

The National Fire Agency raised the heat-related fire risk alert to the highest ‘Severe’ level at 3 p.m. that day for fire departments nationwide. Fire risk is higher here than in other areas as well. Since a fire this spring, fire extinguishers have been placed throughout the village, but because vinyl greenhouses are clustered together, even a small blaze can quickly spread into a large one.

Most residents use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking fuel. Around the cylinders lie combustible materials such as wood and vinyl tarps. The cylinders were so hot they were difficult to touch with bare hands. Measuring the ground temperature next to a cylinder showed it exceeded 42 degrees. Two residential vinyl greenhouses and two storage sheds burned in the previous fire remained uncleared and left as they were.

The central government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have reviewed various measures regarding area redevelopment or relocation of residents. Because this area is designated as natural green space and residents are legally in a state of ‘unauthorized occupation,’ there has been little progress in the discussion for nearly 30 years. Across the street in front of the village, Wirye New Town was built a few years ago. With the village site physically cut off and issues such as land compensation entangled, the village was not included in the new town development.

Residents said they hope the issue here will not be forgotten. Hyun said, “Compared with other shantytowns such as Guryong Village, our village is not well known,” adding, “The problems in our village remain, and we hope they will not simply fade from memory.”