Kazuaki Tsuchiya

The potential of, and threat to, the transfer of ecological knowledge in urban areas: the case of community-based woodland management in Tokyo, Japan

Urban dwellers often have little knowledge of local ecosystems, but community groups that actively manage local ecosystems can acquire a rich ecological knowledge. Understanding the knowledge transfer process within community groups contributes to the continuous improvement of urban ecosystem management. In this paper, we address three main questions: (1) How is ecological knowledge acquisition linked to boundary and intra-group interactions? (2) Does holding knowledge mean the involvement in actual management activities? (3) Does the aging of community group members threaten the continuity of activities? We selected satoyama woodlands (seminatural woodlands) in peri-urban Tokyo, Japan as a study site. We used a mixed method approach that combined a qualitative interview with a quantitative questionnaire. We found that boundary interactions were particularly important at the start of an urban ecological management process, to obtain basic knowledge relating to management activities. Intra-group interaction contributed to knowledge transfer after the starting period. We found that participants possessing considerable ecological knowledge do not necessarily participate in management activities. Findings also indicated that the aging of group members in groups established for more than 10 years was an area of concern for the continuity of group activities. New members did not necessarily solve this aging issue. We conclude that further measures and actions are needed to ensure long-term knowledge transfer among the participants of community groups in urban ecosystem management.

Sustainable Landscape Planning in Selected Urban Regions

Rural and urban landscape components have traditionally maintained a clear separation in the morphology of European cities. In contrast, the historical landscape of Edo Japan consists of mixed rural and urban land uses, due in part to a period of relative peace that rendered contained and fortified cities redundant. Despite European and Japanese cities having very different historical drivers of their resultant urban forms, modern landscape planning discourses in both regions have shifted toward a common aim for a clear rural–urban separation. However, prevailing socioeconomic factors (associated mainly with farmers’ rights) that have sustained the mixed urban–rural pattern of Japanese landscapes resulted in a partial uptake of the modern landscape planning morphology. Instead of labeling the resultant “chaotic” urban–rural mix characteristic of modern Japanese landscapes as a “failure,” one could instead draw lessons for a better future. The initial motivator for separating the rural from the urban landscape in modern landscape planning was to limit chaotic urban expansion. However, there has been increasing recognition that cities of today have to be resilient to new challenges, such as the increased instances of extreme events. This chapter makes the case that a city with an integrated rural–urban landscape is ideal for increasing urban resilience to natural disasters. The historical Japanese landscape could, ironically, function as an urban-planning model that ensures the functional connectivity needed for food security and simultaneously ensures the provision of adequate, accessible green spaces.