"The current method used at the Rainbow Garden run by the Seongdong District Office, which separates and labels general allottees and basic livelihood recipients by section, can cause unnecessary stigmatization and psychological intimidation among users."
A list of winners from vulnerable groups at a public garden in Seoul's Seongdong District was released together with plot numbers, making it possible to identify user types from the layout map alone. The setup exposes whether a user is from a vulnerable group even during use, prompting controversy over a "labeling effect."
According to Seongdong District and others on the 15th, the district has operated the urban public "Rainbow Garden" since 2012. The goal is to give families and neighbors a chance to tend gardens together and communicate, building a healthy and vibrant local community.
Rainbow Garden spans 5,744㎡ (about 1,738 pyeong). This year, 56 of the 403 plots were allocated as "consideration type." Eligible groups are people with disabilities, basic livelihood recipients, near-poverty single-person households aged 65 or older, national merit honorees, and households with two or more children.
The issue was the "list disclosure method." In February, Seongdong District released the list of consideration-type winners separately from general allottees and provided each winner's garden number. It appeared as "Kim ○-su / garden number 200," for example.
Cross-checking this list with the layout map makes it easy to see whether a user of a specific plot falls under the consideration type. In fact, the Seongdong District Office website and the notice board at the garden entrance post layout maps marked with plot numbers and locations, allowing user types to be distinguished.
District residents have also raised concerns. One resident said in a complaint, "Selecting beneficiaries and separating and labeling them even during use are completely different matters," adding, "A setup that allows identification (of vulnerable groups) by number alone needs improvement."
A person who used the garden, identified as A, also said, "It is hard to understand a method that announces only the consideration-type users separately and even reveals their locations."
This is not the first time this method has been used. Since 2013, Seongdong District has released the list of consideration-type winners together with plot numbers, and in some years both full names and numbers were disclosed.
As the controversy grew, Seongdong District decided to pursue reforms. Starting in 2027, it plans to release a combined list of general and consideration types.
It also plans to fix the clustering of consideration-type plots in specific areas. A Seongdong District official said, "We will assign only those requiring physical accessibility—such as people with mobility difficulties or older adults, and multi-child households accompanied by minor children—to areas near the main entrance, and integrate the rest of the consideration type with general plots."