Haruhiko Goto

Shu Yamamura and Haruhiko Goto — Japan

1. Present State of Planning Two remarks to begin with: i) Japanese society entered a mature phase of development earlier than other countries in Asia, and ii) Japan has a relatively decentralized planning system compared to many neighboring countries. Local government bodies prepare most legally binding plans, although the plan-making process is still under the strong influence of the central government. On the other hand, players in the private sector are increasing their influence on planning in Japan, especially within central areas of big cities, where development pressure is relatively high. Recently, the central government has strengthened the legal framework to promote active involvement of private sector actors in the planning process, and consequently, there has been an increase in relatively large-scale urban regeneration projects led by private property developers. Such a policy, which promotes private-led urban regeneration by easing development regulations in particular districts, contributes to the upgrading of urban space quality mainly in such central areas, though it is associated with the risks of overdevelopment and gentrification. One of the biggest challenges Japanese planners face today is the decreasing effectiveness of established planning approaches. This has been caused by population decline and slowdown of land-use demand. For a long time, the most important task of planning was preparing an appropriate amount of land for development in order to meet increasing demand for housing and industry, as well as realizing desirable land use by applying various combinations of regulations and incentives. Recently, however, demand for additional land for new development has been in significant decline, and so the “regulation-and-incentive” land-use control method is becoming less effective.

CHANGE IN LIFESTYLE ASSOCIATED WITH RENEWAL OF FUNCTIONS IN LOCAL SHOPPING DISTRICT

Neighboring shopping districts have always been commercial space required by local residents, and at the same time, they have played an important role as a forum in everyday life. However, many exhausted local shopping districts are lately under “residentializing” process.This research investigates the followings in 64 local shopping districts in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo that may “residentialize” :1. The actual conditions of “residentialization” in local shopping district2. The actual conditions of residents daily life in “residentializing” shopping district.By comparing these shopping districts by their location, it is found that change in space and change in commercial function within local shopping district have influenced its interaction function, and as a result, it is clarified that the lifestyle is changing in local shopping district.

RESEARCH ON FOSTERING SOCIAL VALUE OF GROUP OF POSTWAR MODERNISM ARCHITECTURE CONSERVED BY CIVIC ACTION

Considering serious losses of postwar modernism architecture in Japan, this study aims to clarify a social value fostered by civic action. Noteworthy example were found in Hirosaki City , Aomori Prefecture. 8 buildings planned by well known architect called Kunio Maekawa, which are communal facilities located in middle of the city, were conserved in particular way by citizens.By the research, it revealed that these group of buildings were playing an important role by being a group of life-stages of the citizens. This means that these buildings contains cumulative life-histories of people, which helps people to look back history of themselves and the city. Also by using this networks of accumulative life-histories, the value of these buildings were developing in a sustainable way.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RESIDENCE AND WORK ABOUT USE SEPARATED FROM BUILDING TYPE

This study clarified the following points on the relationship between dwelling and manufacturing function for textile industry buildings located in Sumida ward, Tokyo.1) The door plate survey showed that 68% of the buildings included dwelling function, and 29% shared dwelling and manufacturing function. 2) 62% of the buildings was found to have dwelling function from the questionnaire survey. 89% of the results showed agreement with the door plate survey. 3) Only 50% of the land use investigation results showed agreement with the actual situation on the mixed function of buildings. Reliance of the land use investigation was found to be poor.