Living Cities in Japan: Citizens' Movements, Machizukuri and Local Environments

by André Sorensen (Editor), Carolin Funck (Editor)

Overview

Over the last fifteen years local citizens' movements have spread rapidly throughout Japan. Created with the aim of improving the quality of the local environment, and of environmental management processes, such activities are widely referred to as machizukuri, and represent an important development in local politics and urban management in Japan.

This volume examines the growth and nature of such civil society participation in local urban and environmental governance, raising important questions about the changing roles of and relations between central and local government, and between citizens and the state, in managing shared spaces. The machizukuri processes studied here can be seen as the focus of an important emerging trend toward increased civic participation in managing processes of urban change in Japan. The contributors provide a comprehensive overview of the machizukuri phenomenon through examination not only of theory and history, but also of case studies illustrating real changes in the institutions of place making and neighbourhood governance.

Living Cities in Japan will be of particular value to readers interested in social, urban, geographical and environmental studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415402378
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/03/2007
Series:	Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. André Sorensen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Programme in Planning at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Carolin Funck is Associate Professor at Hiroshima University Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences.

Table of Contents

1. Making Livable Places André Sorensen and Carolin Funck Part 1: The Context of Managing Shared Spaces in Japan 2. Toshi Keikaku versus Machizukuri: Emerging Paradigm of Civil Society in Japan, 1950-1980 Shun-ichi J. Watanabe 3. Changing Governance of Shared Spaces: Machizukuri as Institutional Innovation André Sorensen 4. Japan’s Construction Lobby and the Privatization of Highway-Related Public Corporations Thomas Feldhoff Part 2: The Practice of Machizukuri ‘Community Making’ 5. The Concept of Machi-Sodate and Urban Planning: The Case of Tokyû Tama Den’en Toshi Yorifusa Ishida 6. Machizukuri, Civil Society, and the Transformation of Japanese City Planning: Cases from Kobe Carolin Funck 7. Earthquake Reconstruction Machizukuri and Citizen Participation Atsuko Ito 8. Machizukuri and Historical Awareness in the Old Town of Kobe Hiroshi Nunokawa Part 3: Conflicts Over Changing Places and Governance 9. Citizens’ Movements to Protect the Water Environment: Changes and Problems Toshihisa Asano 10. Civic Movement for Sustainable Urban Regeneration: Downtown Fukaya City, Saitama Prefecture Akito Murayama 11. Neighborhood Associations and Machizukuri Processes: Strengths and Weaknesses Shizuka Hashimoto 12. Inner-City Redevelopment in Tokyo: Conflicts over Urban Place, Planning Governance, and Neighborhoods Sayaka Fujii, Junichiro Okata and André Sorensen Part 4: Conclusions: Making Livable Places 13. A Diversity of Machizukuri Processes André Sorensen and Carolin Funck