Living Space Design Issues from the Perspective of the "Solitary Death" Problem in Disaster Areas

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K04407
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 23030:Architectural planning and city planning-related
• Research Institution: Otemon Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Tanaka Masato 追手門学院大学, 地域創造学部, 教授 (40785911)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 東日本大震災 / 孤独死 / 仮設住宅 / 災害公営住宅

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study presents spatial design issues to prevent "solitary deaths" that occur in temporary housing and disaster housing in disaster areas, using the Great East Japan Earthquake as a case study. This study is an extension of a previous study (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research: 17K06736). The main results are as follows.
1) Although it is essential to look at a wide range of generations in order to solve the problem of "solitary death," there are two patterns of "solitary death" among non-elderly people. One is suicide under different circumstances from isolation, while still maintaining human relations, and the other is death from illness due to debilitation under poverty. 2) Both patterns have in common that the victims were left behind for a long period of time in relatively small housing complexes. 3) There is a clear relationship between the size of the temporary housing complex and the incidence of solitary death and the progression of isolation.

Free Research Field

都市計画

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「孤独死」に対する社会的認識は高まり，官民双方において精力的に対策が講じられてきた。本研究が対象とする東日本大震災でも，当初から継続的な支援が試みられ，災害公営住宅に関しても，田中（2012）による空間デザイン上のコンセプトが自治体の設計ガイドラインに盛り込まれるなど，ハードウェアとしての進展もみられた。ただ，これらの実践がどこまで「孤独死」を抑止し得たのかは十分に検証されないままだ。本年（2024年）元日に発生した能登半島地震でも「孤独死」の発生は回避できていない。本研究の意義は，こうした問題に対処してきた既存の制度・政策の限界を明らかにするとともに，空間計画上の課題を示した点にある。