Ota Naotaka

The importance of self-help and mutual aid is growing due to the increasing severity and frequency of large-scale disasters. District disaster prevention plans are a resident-centered institutional mechanism for the purpose of improving local disaster preparedness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current status of disaster reduction planning in Kobe City 30 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake through interviews and a literature review. As a result, it became clear that there are disparities in the current status of disaster reduction planning in Kobe City among regions, depending on whether they have experienced the disaster or not, and on the structure of their residents. Based on these results, it is necessary to create a new mechanism for community-driven disaster reduction and to promote cooperation with other entities, in accordance with the actual conditions of each community.

Recently, the preservation and utilization of cultural properties have been actively discussed, and unique venues (UV) are attracting attention as a new way to utilize cultural properties. In this report, we take up the “UV HIMEJI Plan” as a case study to investigate the concept of the “UV HIMEJI Plan” and its current achievements and issues. As a result, it was found that the current plan is a system that allows the use of the site without damaging the value of the World Cultural Heritage site. However, the number of users is low, and there is a risk that an increase in the number of users will cause a loss of the dignity of the World Cultural Heritage and the special feeling required for UV. So, it is necessary to consider what kind of content to select in the future.

The scope for discretionary judgment by local governments is expanding in urban planning administration, and there is a growing need for unique initiatives and judgment criteria. This paper focuses on the location designation and planning standards for high-rise buildings in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture. Through a comprehensive literature review and interviews conducted in February 2025, the following three points were identified: 1) Ibaraki City's approach is unique and comparable to cases in Germany. 2) Despite the advanced nature of the system, its implementation is minimal. 3) A comparative study with municipalities having similar location characteristics is necessary.

In recent years, many shopping streets in local cities have been facing problems of decline. In this paper, we use the Jikemachi shopping street in Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture, as a case study. We investigated whether a market event called the 'Kawano Machi Market' would contribute to the revitalization of the shopping street. The survey was conducted from August to October 2024. As a result, the event had more of an impact than expected, but it was not enough to revitalize the shopping street. While continuing to hold events, it is necessary to reconsider the way in which support is provided to connect shop owners with shop owners in the shopping district.

The challenges of a declining and aging population drive the shift to more intensive urban structures. The importance of sub-centers is also increasing due to the diverse ways of living and working in the post-covid(19) world. Based on these backgrounds, this study aimed to identify the results and issues of the “RENOVATION KOBE” project, which aims to create a comprehensive space around a subcenter station based on the premise of a multi-pole, decentralized urban structure. To clarify the actual situation, we surveyed private businesses involved in supporting the utilization of the plaza. “RENOVATION KOBE” is seen to have PR effects on citizens and to induce urban functions. Still, it became clear that the initiative is unclear and relies heavily on the corporate efforts of business operators.

Recently, due to increased number of occurrences of brief heavy rain, risk of flooding is increasing. As a countermeasure, this study focuses on rain gardens, a type of green infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to clarify achievements and challenges in implemented process and maintenance of rain gardens in Kyoto, relationships between actors and disaster mitigation effects. Through location analysis using GIS, interviews and field surveys, this study found: 1) Rain gardens can handle daily levels of rainfall but they have little relationship with extreme water hazards. 2) The Kyoto Landscape Architecture and Construction Association suggested that Kyoto City take the initiative in maintaining rain gardens, which is now being maintained by local volunteers. 3) The implementation is still in process, and there is a gap between the government and volunteers in terms of maintenance and management.

We examined the functions of the barrier-free basic plan system in the case of ordinance-designated cities. The purpose of this study is to clarify the function of the barrier-free basic plan system and to suggest a method for setting priority development areas. This study conducted a literature search on the barrier-free basic plan system of ordinance-designated cities, and clarified the differences in department and from. Next, this study conducted a hearing survey with the person in charge of the local government, focusing on the ordinance-designated cities in the Kansai region. Based on the survey results, this study clarified the functions of the barrier-free basic plan system and proposed a method for setting priority development areas in ordinance-designated cities.

This paper reports on a collaborative project implemented in August 2021 between Hyogo Prefectural Hokusetsu-Sanda High School and the University of Hyogo. The two-day short-term intensive project provided an opportunity for high school and university students to study together. The results of this project can be described as follows: 1) The program assumed a form of cooperation based on an equal relationship between the high school and the university from the design stage, which allowed for enhanced educational content and appropriate division of roles; 2) Responses to the questionnaire by participating students were mostly positive; and 3) Although this project was successful, some issues need to be resolved in order to continue implementing the project and clarify any links with urban planning or Machizukuri.

We examined the relationship between urban public park characteristics and the evaluation of park management in the Designated Manager System (Shitei-kanrisya-seido: DMS) through the case of Hyogo prefectural park to improve the way of park management. The materials used for the analysis are plans of the targeted parks and relevant documents. According to these materials, the information on park types and facilities were sorted. Then we employed interview surveys with designated managers and their candidates to grasp how the evaluation of park management is conducted in the DMS. By using these results, existing problems of the DMS were discussed. The results show that the evaluation of park management based on park characteristics has not been sufficiently carried out in all the targeted parks. It was also found that designated managers had difficulty in understanding sufficiently what is the ideal management taking park characteristics into consideration like. These findings indicate the necessity of unique evaluation indicators for the park management evaluation in relation to park characteristics. The park management plans for each public park may be also needed.

In recent years, the maintenance and management of plazas have been promoted towards revitalizing the central area. The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics and issues of three types of management form (designated manager system, outsourced management, and self-management) and to suggest a guideline for selecting a sustainable management form of plazas. This study focused on five plazas in Kansai region, and conducted a hearing survey with the local government and managers. Based on the survey results, three types of management form were analyzed from the perspective of location, role, and cost. This study suggests that it is important to clarify the images of plaza and to select a management form that is suitable to the local conditions.

In growing cities, the pressure of urbanisation is threatening traditional allotment gardens. The City of Berlin revised its Allotment Garden Development Plan (KEP) in 2019 to respond to the emerging demand for potential construction land due to the rapidly increasing population. This article reports how the KEP changed to discuss an effective way of balancing conservation of urban gardening spaces with the demand for urban development. While the previous KEP focused mostly on the existing legal zoning system to secure allotment gardens, the new KEP used statistical and spatial analysis to elaborate on the significance of allotment gardens. Furthermore, the renewed categorisation system for allotment gardens shows more explicitly whether each garden site should be secured or can be developed. In summary, Berlin’s KEP became a more data-driven plan and shows development possibility clearly.

In recent years, greening activities of local residents are active. For example, a system for citizen’s flower bed was established with the aim of making a contribution to beautify the local environment and to create communities in Kobe in 1962. There are 735 groups which use the system now and consist of local residents. This study analyzed the situation for continuous greening activities by hearing survey and questionnaire to activity people. As a result, the following three points were revealed. First, they find doing rewarding to interaction with passer. Second they needs to solving their problem of activities shortage and aging. Third, they find how to do stress free work against damaged flower beds. This study suggest that these are important for ongoing activities.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the current achievements and issues, focusing on whether the deregulation of development restrictions in urbanization control areas has led to sustainable town development, taking the case of the special designated area system in Hyogo Prefecture as an example. The study shows that the Specially Designated Zoning System is functioning as a deregulation of development restrictions within the urbanization control area, as new buildings were found in Ono City, the target of the survey. On the other hand, it indicates that the system does not function sufficiently to solve problems in the urbanization control area because it is not said that it has influenced development trends, and there is no particular effect on the unoccupied house problem that is considered to be more serious in the future.

This research aims to clarify the actual situation of the cities which had taken actions in the face of population decrease in Germany. The paper focused on a problem from the side of government, specifically, "Restructuring of living environment ", "Profit utilization in vacant lots and houses" and "The way of civic collaboration ". Reviews of the literatures and interviews in the cities found the following: The city planning for population decrease was made by switching technique and idea of the conventional plan. Additionally, the system which promoted vacant lots and houses use were created, it contributed to the improvement in potential attraction of the city. These efforts were given full weight to discussions with citizen.

This study deals with reconstruction of regional core area in regional hub city whose feature is car dependent and the core in the regional before merger. According to questionnaire at Kannabe Kawakita and Kawaminami, Fukuyama, three points were revealed. First, this area is car dependent area. However, even though they cannot use own cars, it does not affect their everyday life so seriously. Second, there is not statistically significant relations between positiveness of regional activities and level of existing satisfaction. Third, the residents request realistic reconstruction such as safety roads. The study shows that in similar area, it will be greatly important to strike a balance between residents needs and medium and long term planning theory in the future.

本稿は修士論文のための研究ノートである．広島県府中市は平成27年現在，人口が約4.0万人と小規模であるにもかかわらず工業都市として発展してきた．その一方で，用途地域と絡む農住工混在問題を抱えている．これは，高度経済成長期の発展が大都市圏の産業集積地と異なっていることに加えて，準工業地域の規制の緩さや指定面積の範囲などに起因すると考えられる．しかし，筆者らの既往研究に基づくと，農住工混在は住民側の意見として，生活上の問題と捉えられておらず，むしろ生活空間の一部として受け入れられているように思われた．そこで，府中市内でも準工業地域に農住工混在地域としてみなされる高木町・中須町・広谷町・鵜飼町をケーススタディ対象地として現地踏査を行った． 今回の調査を通じて，住工混在で生じる住環境問題が農地によって軽減されていることが示唆されるとともに，これを客観的に評価し，適切な土地利用を構想することが求められる． This Report is a Research Note for a Master Thesis. Fuchu City in Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of about 40 thousand and it has developed into an industrial city. However, the city has a significant problem: ”Farming-Dwelling-Industrio-Districts” (Mixed Land Use of 3 types). Maybe, it was because of rapid economic growth and a Quasi-industrial Zone that permitted to anything to be built (except it is fraught with hazards and it is produced environmental pollutants) and others. Speaking as citizen, that problem is nothing new. Considering the importance of people and living space, we decided to do a site reconnaissance at the Quasi-industrial Zone (Hirotani, Ukai, Takagi, Nakazu). This time, we found that Farming Place is given a comfortable dwelling environment and seen very important zone (Buffer Zone). This view is low on evidence. Hence, we should research a hypothesis in an objective manner ongoingly and make the concept of ideal Land Use.