Quantitative analysis of disaster mitigation system in Edo city

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03096
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Yamamuro Kyoko 東京工業大学, 工学院, 教授 (00158239)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小笠原 浩太 東京工業大学, 工学院, 准教授 (00733544)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 江戸 / 減災 / 都市災害

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we introduced a new concept of <disaster mitigation> about how the city of Edo tried to protect the people from various disasters such as fire, flood damage, earthquakes, epidemics, etc. It was repositioned using the method.
As a result, the various aspects of the Edo people's efforts to minimize the damage of the disaster were clarified. Taking a fire as an example, a lumber wholesaler handling flammable and heavy lumber is located in a district with a low fire risk, a lightly loaded drug wholesaler is located in a downtown area with a high fire risk, and merchants chose locations by business type. Analyzing the correlation between business location information and the disaster characteristics of each town, it becomes clear that the disaster mitigation aspect is to consider the disaster characteristics of each town and select a suitable business.

Free Research Field

江戸の経済史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的意義としては、新しい視点から江戸の減災の各諸相が炙り出せたこと、社会的貢献としては、今まさに眼前にしているパンデミックへの対応が挙げられる。今後も続発することが予想されるパンデミックについて、社会へのダメージを経済的損失の尺度のみで測るのではなく、より長期的に未来の世代への影響、たとえば母体を通しての胎児の健康状況へのショックや、劣悪な教育環境が一定期間続いた場合の人的資本への負の影響などを数値として測定するための方法論を提供できる。社会経済の「将来への影響」に着目し、それをモデル化して具体的に解明する着想は、未来シナリオの構築にとって、きわめて有用であろう。