Hitomi Nakanishi

Disaster resilience in transportation: Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the transportation organizational service provision and travel behavioral responses after the March 2011 disaster in North East Japan. This research aims to identify the areas for capacity building in transportation to support resilient built environments. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was taken to examine the transportation organizational service provision in one of the most devastated communities after the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Data on post-disaster transportation arrangements were collected from local newspapers, desk reviews of reports by transportation operators and the local council, semi-structured interviews with local council and community groups, and a residents’ questionnaire surveying travel behavior. Organizational responses were analyzed by: the pre-disaster phase, the emergency phase, the rebuilding (temporary settlement) phase and the recovery (permanent settlement) phase. Findings – Transportation dema...

Travel habit creation of the elderly and the transition to sustainable transport: Exploratory research based on a retrospective survey

ABSTRACT Transport researchers have identified a low propensity to use nonmotorized travel modes among retired people and associated concerns about road safety risks and obesity. This exploratory research examines the creation of driving habits during the life stages and the contextual factors that affect the travel mode choices of retired people. Retrospective, semistructured interviews with 37 retired people were undertaken in a low-density city of Canberra, Australia. Analysis of recorded data from the survey provides an example of mobility narratives organized around five hypotheses. Most respondents obtained a drivers license as soon as possible, despite many reporting favorable experiences of using public transport when young. The need to move from place to place for work and childrens activities reinforces driving habits. This occurs especially in low-density environments such as Canberra where public transport cannot fulfill their needs. Once the driving habit is created it is retained well into retirement, and the preference is to keep driving independently as long as physical ability allows. In older age, some respondents self-limit their driving distances and avoid peak hours and night-time driving to minimize the safety risk. The conclusions contain research implications that explore the best opportunities to mainstream sustainable transport in an aging society. In addition to licensing and public transport issues, we argue that the fundamental challenge for sustainability remains how transport systems could be designed to support the needs of every generation, to minimize later dependence on the automobile.

Integrating tourism into disaster recovery management: the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011.

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the impact that tourism makes in the lifecycle of disaster recovery. A review of the literature on disaster lifecycle models identifies that there are no integrated models which combine the research domains of disaster recovery and tourism crisis management. This chapter integrates tourism into the existing disaster management models in order to understand how, and where, tourism makes an impact on disaster recovery. The case study of the Great Japan Earthquake stresses the significant impact that tourism operators, tourists and the energetic mindset of tourism and hospitality staff have in disaster recovery. Based upon the case data a new, integrated lifecycle model of disaster recovery is presented, demonstrating a more nuanced role for tourism. Integrating Tourism into Disaster Recovery Management. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304252843_Integrating_Tourism_into_Disaster_Recovery_Management [accessed Apr 23, 2017].

How does urban policy influence quality of life? The case of Canberra, Australia

The centennial city of Canberra, the Australian capital, has been developed following stringent planning concepts to deliver liveable neighbourhoods. The built environment of Canberra was strongly influenced by the Garden City concept in the early days and the New Town Development model in the 1960s and 1970s. While enhancing quality of life (QoL) is increasingly emphasised in urban planning, little empirical research has been done to assess how urban planning underpins this better QoL. This research examines the relationship between urban policy and QoL in Canberra by applying an integrated policy evaluation tool. The neighbourhoods of Canberra have been divided into seven districts for spatial analysis. The QoL level in each district was compared and the Belconnen and Tuggeranong districts were identified as achieving a lower QoL than other districts. Key indicators that were closely linked with the QoL level in these districts were identified. Using scenario analysis, the article identifies the changes to QoL in the two districts which could result from improving these key factors. The article proposes a method of mapping the interdisciplinary issues with the related urban policy and concludes with the implications for urban planning and further analysis.

Long-Term Disaster Recovery as a Complex Problem: Giving Disaster Resilience New Meaning

The paper proposes that a reason why long-term disaster initiatives fail is the adoption of a linear, complicated problem based approach rather than seeing recovery as a complex system. The argumen...

Co-production with disaster volunteers: the key to longer term crisis recovery

Despite increasing awareness of the importance of enabling disaster recovery initiatives to be more successful in the longer term, many are not as effective as anticipated. This paper suggests that one of the reasons for this apparent weakness is that the voice of the community is under represented in the recovery phase and that the centralized, directive form of planning and decision making commonly found in post disaster scenarios reduces the range and type of, as well as commitment to, the decisions made for long term disaster recovery. Using qualitative data from the Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand the paper demonstrates that the government (at both local and national levels) had adopted a centralised approach. There was evidence of some new governance arrangements emerging but it appeared that, for the most part, neither local volunteer groups nor community were integrated into such arrangements. The concept of co-production is proffered as offering potential for more effective longer term cr...

Measuring the Economic Impacts of Road Network Improvement in San-en Region

近年,我 が国では,国,地 方双方の財政の逼迫に加え, 少子高齢化の進行,こ れに伴う人口の減少,地 球環境問 題,社 会情勢や都市構造の変化などの様々な問題が生じ ている.そ こで今後の政策の方針としては,限 られた財 源を有効に活用すると共に,必 要性の高い分野に重点投 資を図ることが不可欠であると考えられる,地域計画に おいては,将 来的な経済性および都市構造を加味するこ とが不可欠であり,経済性,土 地利用など様々な観点か らの評価を踏まえた計画が重要となる.ま た,地 域計画 を行う上で道路網整備による地域への影響を考慮するこ とは極めて重要である. そこで本研究では三遠地域の地域計画に大きな影響を 及ぼすと思われる幹線道路整備に着目し,整備効果計測 のための経済波及効果モデルの開発を行い,複 数の整備 計画案を対象に整備効果を計測することによって,道 路 整備が対象地域にどの程度の経済波及効果をもたらすの かを試算している.本 論文では,モ デルの全体構造,サ ブモデルの定式化,パ ラメータ推定方法,効 果計測結果 の概要を示すとともに,特 に交通需要予測モデルの特定 化やパラメータ推定方法の違いが効果計測結果に及ぼす 影響について実証的に検討する.

A study on containment of development in farmland by Transfer of Development Rights

TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) is a land preservation tool by which owners of property who are well situated for development acquires the development rights from a property for conservation. Since 1990s, U.S. cities have adopted TDR programs as an effective tool for achieving Smart Growth. In Netherlands, which had strict land-use regulation, TDR began to be introduced to prevent sprawl. Although Japan has many cities experiencing serious sprawl, TDR is seldom considered as a tool to cope with it. In this study, a methodology to implement TDR in Japan is suggested and the feasibility of TDR is discussed.