Consumerization of living space in the Post-war Japanese housing

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K00794
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Clothing life/Dwelling life
• Research Institution: Aoyama Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: KUROISHI Izumi 青山学院大学, 総合文化政策学部, 教授 (70341881)
• Research Collaborator: Feuerstein Marcia , 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 住宅政策 / 消費財化 / 冷戦期文化政治 / 米国住宅政策 / アメリカ的イメージ / 工業化住宅 / 公共住宅 / メディア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the relationship between the housing policy, design of the common people’s houses and their lifestyle images between the 40's and 60's in both Japan and the United States, by analyzing the source data and by conducting field surveys. In the United States, while there were many social issues, the American image in housing design was consistently important, and the relationship between housing design and technology changed frequently. On the other hand, Japan's post-war housing system and design were influenced by American Cold war cultural politics, the uniqueness of the Japanese traditional lifestyle and culture were ambiguously reconciled, and the positive affirmation of the American image as the method of lifestyle improvement was promoted in various media. The planning philosophy of Japanese public housing and the design of industrialized housing were in line with these changes, and accelerated the dismantling of the Japanese spatial concept of housing.

Free Research Field

都市建築理論、生活デザイン

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

戦後の日本の住宅概念と生活様式の変化を、戦前から戦後にかけてのアメリカのそれと比較し、単なる西洋化・近代化ではなく冷戦期の文化政治の一部としてのアメリカ化であり、生活空間の消費財化であったことを原資料にあたって研究した。このようなアプローチは建築学・社会学ではこれまでなされておらず、空間の使い方を扱う生活デザインの視点と近年の戦後史研究の進展の成果でもある。研究の社会的意義は、住空間のイメージや技術の価値、社会基盤としての役割が、機能性や近代化のイメージだけでなく政治社会的要因で歴史的に形成されてきたことを明らかにし、自分自身の生活空間の基盤と価値判断を再考する手がかりとすることである。