| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The central questions of this research were : first, what impact the redevelopment of central city areas has on urban landscapes ; and second, what social changes this brings. The purpose of this study was to discover the causes of the frequent conflicts surrounding urban redevelopment. The first question was investigated by surveying architectural landscapes, and for the second question the analytical methods of environmental sociology and urban sociology were used.
This research analyzed the redevelopment process using the Otaru Canal preservation issue in the city of Otaru in Hokkaido as a case study. Specifically, three things were analyzed : 1) the stages of development of the movement to protect the canal ; 2) the stages in the responses of the merchant class ; and 3) changes in the landscape and quantitative changes in the shopping districts.
Survey results included the following : 1) Those promoting the building of roads conceived of the canal as a "space" with functional capabilities, while those in favor of preserving the canal saw it as a "place" embodying the memories of the residents. 2) The differences in these two groups' concepts of space made dialog between them difficult 3) Out of fear that they would lose customers if they made their own postion clear, merchants did not get involved with the "canal issue." 4) Since the second half of the 1990s, the increasing focus on tourism has raised land prices and the historic environment has been rapidly lost, widening the gap between Otaru's image and reality.
In conclusion, the "canal preservation movement" was not the sort of backward-looking movement implied by the word "preservation," but in fact was a struggle for citizen-led social management of changes in the urban landscape. In this way, this study may clarify points that should be considered in future urban redevelopment policies and machizukuri efforts.
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