Recently, the heat wave has been recognized as a new normal and social disaster. It means that the heat wave not only concentrates damage on vulnerable people and districts, but also causes a wide sociocultural changes. However, public policies against the heat wave in Seoul are still focused on eco-technical measures and emergency relief. This study aims to understand the social impact of the heat wave on Seoulite to propose that how Seoul Metropolitan Government(SMG) can better deal with the heat wave.

First, the in-depth interviews with 5 types of heat vulnerable people reveal that they have daily difficulties according to their characteristics, except for heat illness. Second, a panel survey of 1,000 Seoulites shows that not only how they lived in summer, such as sleep, eat, leisure, social exchange, and health behavior, but also how their lifestyle was changed by the heat wave.

Based on the interviews and the panel survey, this study suggests as follows: 1) expanding policy targets to the whole citizen group to alleviate their lethargy by the heat wave, 2) Providing customized support for the heat vulnerable by their characteristic, and 3) adding social agenda such as labor, culture, local community to SMG`s heat wave response policy and system(the regional Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters/CDSCHQ)