Peace City, an Unfinished Project: The "Urbanization" and "Reconstruction" of Hiroshima in Modern Times

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23262
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0108:Sociology and related fields
• Research Institution: Hiroshima Bunkyo University
• Principal Investigator: SEMBA Nozomu 広島文教大学, 人間科学部, 准教授 (50847697)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 広島 / 都市 / メディア / 都市社会学 / 平和都市

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to clarify how the "Peace City" of Hiroshima was created and how its urban ideology and built environment have intertwined to make an urban dynamism. In doing so, this study has been conducted with an awareness of the interconnections between urban theory and field analysis as follows. (1) Developing a theoretical framework for conducting an urban study of modern and contemporary Hiroshima: introducing postcolonial urban theory. (2) An examination of urban movements and media events in Hiroshima from the 1920s to the 1950s, centered on the slogan "Greater Hiroshima”. (3) Final output will be created by combining the urban theory and case studies written above.

Free Research Field

都市研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「1945年8月6日を起点としない」ことによってのみ解明可能な、空間的系譜の存在を明らかにしたことである。たとえば米山リサが提起した「同心円の想像力」的枠組みの限界を指摘したうえで、〈平和都市〉の「復興」の起源を原爆被害でなく、近代アーバニゼーションの水脈から捉え返した視点がそれにあたる。
本研究はこの理想の系譜を言説、知、そしてアクターの同一性を根拠に戦前にまで辿って解明し、「復興」
をつくりあげる都市的原動力が戦前から発露していたことを明らかにした。