There are several types of emergency shelters in Seoul including civil defense evacuation facilities, temporary shelters for victims, outdoor evacuation places for earthquake, warming centers, and cooling centers; in late 2020, such emergency shelters were approximately 11,426.
Since emergency shelters are not frequently used facilities, currently, their conditions and accessibility are poor; while there are several legislative systems and departments in charge, they are distributed by shelters type, implying the possibility of inefficient administration and management.
This study proposes policies for improved management of emergency shelters in Seoul by analyzing distributions, locations, facility conditions, institutional management systems, and citizens’ needs for emergency shelters.
First, the types of emergency shelters and management systems as well as a case study on Japanese emergency shelters were reviewed. 
Second, the locations, spatial distributions, capacity, and facility conditions of various emergency shelter types in Seoul were analyzed. Further, detailed facility conditions were analyzed based on a field survey of emergency shelters.
Third, the accessibility of the emergency shelters and accessibility improvement through expanding the shelters were analyzed using the location-allocation model, a spatial optimization model. 
Fourth, citizens’ perception on emergency shelters was evaluated using a 1,000 citizens survey questionnaire to determine knowledge, and intention to use, and needs.
Finally, this study proposed several policies and measures to improve the accessibility, facility conditions, and integrated management systems of the emergency shelters. Especially, the policies focus on the care for the disaster vulnerable groups such as the aged, the disabled, and women.