Akito Murayama

Viability of using global standards for neighbourhood sustainability assessment: insights from a comparative case study

Neighbourhoods are increasingly gaining attention as planning units of great potential for contribution to sustainable development. Many assessment tools such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities and CASBEE-UD have been developed to examine the sustainability of neighbourhood development projects. Some of these tools are claimed to be suitable for assessment in different contexts, and LEED-ND has already been utilised in various countries. This study investigates the viability of using global standards through a series of comparative case studies. One certified case from each of the aforementioned tools is chosen and evaluated against its non-corresponding assessment tools. Selected cases are, respectively, Hoyt Yards, MediaCityUK and Koshigaya Lake Town. Results of this study provide evidence that casts doubt on the viability of using global standards. The paper concludes that neighbourhood sustainability assessment should be regarded as a pluralistic practice. This implies that any realistic and reliable assessment should take account of the specificities of specific locations and varying needs of different stakeholders.

Tokyo’s Urban Growth, Urban Form and Sustainability

Tokyo, the largest mega-region in the world so far with 35 million inhabitants in 2007, has experienced a rapid growth in the twentieth century with various issues associated with urban form and urban environment. Some issues were solved and others remain to be solved. If Tokyo is evaluated as one of the most efficient, productive and sustainable mega-regions in the world, it is the result of rapid urban growth and development in the twentieth century. After that, Tokyo has been facing new challenges as it left the phase of rapid growth and entered the phase of no- or low-growth, depopulating and aging society. In this respect, Tokyo is a leading or an instructive mega-region in the world. At the same time, Tokyo must take part in the global effort to achieve sustainability. This chapter focuses on the history of Tokyo’s urban growth, the diversity of urban form issues in Tokyo, some previous successes in solving urban environmental problems and some new challenges facing efforts to enhance urban sustainability.

Land Use Planning for Depopulating and Aging Society in Japan

This chapter, based on author’s experience as a professor planner who works closely with local governments and consultants in Japan to draft master plans or planning guidelines, introduces several cases of land use planning for depopulating and aging society with various sudden and progressive risks. The cases include urban master plans for Yokosuka City, Shizuoka City and Suzuka City as well as Mie prefecture’s planning guidelines for disaster mitigation. The author emphasizes that there is no universal approach to land use planning for depopulating and aging society. “Networked-Compact City” might be a broad concept to follow, but actual urban master planning practices show diversity of issues and approaches.

Reconsidering Urban Planning through Community-based Initiatives

This chapter emphasizes the need to reconsider Japanese urban planning through community-based initiatives. The country’s changing urban environment as well as the increasing level of planning uncertainty in its cities are introduced through some examples: Unexpected population decline in Toyota City, an increase in (surface) parking lots in urban center and inner-city neighborhoods, demographic and spatial trends in Yokosuka City and the gradual relocation of urban areas in Owase City. After reviewing the evolution of planning theories and the introduction of a new tentative framework of urban planning, three pioneer cases are introduced in support of this new framework. These case studies are Fujimakicho’s urban park issue, Nishiki 2 District’s low carbon projects and disaster mitigation planning for the Greater Nagoya Region, all of which challenge Japan’s current urban planning framework. While these case studies are basically community-based, they outline a potential pathway to the transformation of formal urban planning processes.

Toward the Development of Plan-Making Methodology for Urban Regeneration

One of the major issues of sustainable urban regeneration is to shape attractive urban space through renovation of existing urban space, thus contributing to the enhancement of people’s quality of life. It is expected that in each area there should be a plan for a future vision of urban space that will implement effectively and creatively various measures such as preservation and utilization of historic buildings, reconstruction and repair of old structures, creation of a safe and comfortable pedestrian and bicycle environment, development of parks and open space, creation of a beautiful landscape, supply of community facilities, consideration for the environment and maintenance of safe and clean public spaces. It should be noted here that various actors, including citizens, businesses, government departments and non-profit organizations, take part in planning for and forming urban spaces. Thus, we should develop and apply systems, procedures and techniques to make possible the collaborative and continuous management of urban space by various actors. Planning, or plan-making, for urban space in a city is a comprehensive activity to define goals, policies and implementation measures to shape urban space based on the current and the future conditions of the city and the demands of various actors on urban space. Therefore, in order to tackle the issues of urban regeneration, there are high expectations toward planmaking with the participation of various actors. In cities in Japan, urban plans are developed in many settings, such as basic policies for municipal urban planning (urban master plan) since 1992 and district plans since 1980 under the City Planning Act, landscape plans

New Directions in Urban Regeneration and the Governance of City Regions

Cities should be recognized as social, economic as well as environmental systems formed through networks of cities, towns and villages rather than as isolated entities. Conceptualized as such, they are often called city regions. Central cities of city regions, which we call regional cities, play a decisive role in regional as well as national development. In an age of globalization, competition among such city regions is one of the major driving forces in their on-going transformation. Globalization may strengthen the sustainability of some city regions through enlarging their economic bases, or may weaken their sustainability through the loss of industrial competitiveness or loss of geopolitical importance. Indeed, regional cities are now at a crossroads of whether they decline or are regenerated under the impacts of globalization.

Urban Landscape: Urban Planning Policies and Institutional Framework

This chapter reviews the urban landscape policies and institutional frameworks related to the urban landscape in Japan, introduces an example of a “green” urban planning scheme for Nagoya City and presents the issues of urban landscape in other Japanese cities. The need for a regional and spatial scheme is emphasized, where the calculation of conservation cost plays an important role, as well as the need for green infrastructure development in urban areas, including urban centers, inner-city areas, and the suburbs through interventions of private lands due to scarce public financial resources.

Urban Planning: Is a Networked Compact City Vision Realistic?

The largest impact on Japanese cities is the arrival of the serious depopulating, hyper-aged society. Only scarce public money is available for landscape management, including the new development of parks and maintenance of existing parks as urban facilities. Urban greening policies must shift toward increasing greenspace along public-owned roads and on private property. Many cities pursue a vision of the networked compact urban society where an increase of population and building density center around public transit stations and decreases in areas under-served by public transit. The increase of greenspace will have significant influence on landscape management labor accounts, especially in de-intensifying urban areas. This leads to the question whether or not a vision of the networked compact city is realistic. The authors conclude that in order to answer this question, further consideration of urban block scale is necessary.

New Development in Landscape Planning: Report of the Germany–Japan Symposium and Suggestions on the Research and Practice to be Conducted in the Future

Issues on clinical environmental approach in multi-scale, participatory landscape planning can be summarized in the following four points: (1) Regional Landscape Planning System, (2) Local-Scale Landscape Planning and Design Methodology, (3) Science and Technology, Education, and (4) Institutional Innovation.

THE TRANSITION OF SPATIAL FUNCTION OF TRADITIONAL HOUSING IN MINAMI-SHINSHU INFLUENCES BY SERICULTURAL INDUSTRY AND ITS MAJOR REPAIR

The structure, which has existed in a country for a long term, is very important for local constructions in the days ahead. We reviewed the sericulture house form beginning and classified the transfiguration of sericuluture house. In this study, we believe that old houses can exist by changing with times and suggest the good reconstruction to taking over the old houses.