Social Urbanism -Knowledge exchange meeting between Latin America and Japan
We will hold “Social Urbanism-Knowledge exchange meeting between Latin America and Japan” at 18:00 -21:00 on February 7 in Kyoto. We Invite an architect Alejandro Echeverri, who is known for urban renewal in Medellin, once called the “World’s Most Dangerous City”. Architects and researchers who practice Social Urbanism at domestic and abroad from the Japanese side will also share knowledge in South America and Japan. Although the capacity is limited, it is an open meeting, so if you are interested please join us!
“What is the relationship between the disaster prevention map and Jizo’s shrine?”
This is a simple question from a participant, local residents when I conducted a workshop in an area I am currently helping disaster prevention community planning. From the viewpoint of the theme of this special feature, Accomodating, it is necessary to watch the city not only during normal times but also during emergencies. On the other hand, when we think about emergencies, you also need to use your imagination about the situation of the city during normal times. Such a perspective between normal times and emergency times is indispensable for creating a truly disaster-resistant local society. However, it is often that the link between normal and emergency, which was natural for me, is not for others. What I introduced at the beginning was a word from the inhabitants who made this fact noticeable to me. Let’s look at the theme given to me in this article, “Urban Accomodation Focused on Emergencies.”
This paper firstly summarizes the transition of tea plantations, focusing on the treatment of laborers’ dwelling and environment (line house) based on existing studies. Next, analyze the “design guidelines” (Planters Manual) that became the prototype of the standard plan for line houses. In addition, grasp the current situation of the residence of the line houses and compare it with the prototype. Finally, this paper explores mainly the physical aspect of the line houses, the Tamil people who have faced the situation at that time while being at the mercy of complicated history, and the image of residence of the line houses that have continued with them.
“Jizo-Bon” is a precious event where multi-generation of cho-community exchange each other. In Kyoto, there are areas where Jizo-Bon continues to be devised, such as by collaborating with welfare facilities and university students to address issues such as a reduction in the number of players and participants. Let’s learn about these cases, exchange opinions among participants, and join together to give tips on community revitalization, such as how to increase the number of players.
Although Vietnam adopted the Doi Moi policy in 1986 and started working on cooperation with the international community, fieldwork by Western researchers was still rare. In 1994, a comprehensive survey of the townscape of Hoi An’s old town in central Vietnam was conducted. Based on this experience, the field has been expanded to other cities in Vietnam and other countries, but fieldwork in Hoi An continues every year. The possibility of fieldwork is considered from the development of research and field changes due to continued involvement in the field for over 25 years.
This paper analyzed how Jizo-Bon, small-scale religious festivals held widely in Kyoto-city, contributes for improving resilience of “cho”, the basic communities in the central urban area of Kyoto. We clarified that Jizo-Bon is one of important opportunities for inhabitants to be involved in “cho” except for “cho-nai-kai”, community management associations. The results show Jizo-Bon 1. Loads for management are distributed to the extent that each inhabitant can bear them. 2. Meaning of Jizo-Bon can be flexibly renewed corresponding with each inhabitant’s purpose or motivation for joining.
The area called “dense urban area” in urban planning retains the architecture and space from the modern age, and conveys the life culture of the city to the present day with the people living there. However, in recent years, dense urban areas are often regarded as targets for renewal due to their vulnerability to disasters. In Yurin school districts, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, members of the “Machi-zukuri Committee”, which is composed mainly of residents, investigate the distribution of resources such as kyo-machiya, alleys, Jizo-bon and the location of evacuation facilities/equipment, and visualized them as community disaster mitigation map. The map is the first step to promote a community development that balances the “life culture” and “disaster safety” of the often conflicting dense urban areas. In addition to the paper version of the map, it can be viewed and edited on the network by linking with stlory (the online sharing platform for the original map), which is also used in community disaster mitigation training.
Social mobility and uncertainty surrounding local communities are increasing in the contemporary societies. “Resettlement society” means societies with social support for people who lost stable dwelling as unexpected reasons and intend to restore their stable conditions. Toward realization of the resettlement society, it is necessary to promote research and practice on dwelling design exploring equilibrium points beyond social conflicts and housing policy considering locality and dynamics of housing system.
This paper examined the factors affecting residents’ acceptance of the support based on the action research on support for improvement of temporary house and environment after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Some residents accept because they understood the problems and technology with their knowledge or experience. However, other many residents couldn’t understand them enough and depend their decision on “trust” to others. When they build trust, their expectation for ability of supporters as experts is lower than attitude of supporters as volunteers and residents understand supports better after acceptance of them and are more actively involved through their continuous involvement.
Masahiro Maeda et.al : The effect of micro credit on life restoration and community formation in resettlement households affected by the tsunami
This paper analyzed the effect of micro credits in resettlement sites from the perspectives of the NGO staff and residents who participated in micro credit groups. The results are listed below. (i) Micro credits have economic effects for reconstructing life by providing loans for economic activities in resettlement sites in which economic activities are difficult due to the geographical and spatial features. (ii) Micro credits have social effects on community formations through micro credit activity and reorganizing household relationships in resettlement sites. NGO staff and residents organized micro credit groups through neighborhood and family/relative relationships, which succeeded from a previous settlement. Moreover, they created new relationships in addition to these existing relationships. (iii) These results show that micro credits may be a method for sustainable residence in resettlement sites that arise after natural disasters.
Sri Lanka is world-famous for Ceylon tea, the export amount of which was used to be the first of the world. However, the people who support the tea as labor are not well-known to the world. They are Tamil people, immigrants from South India, who are neither British people nor Sri Lankan people. The aim of this project is to revitalize a village, Bawlana village, where Tamil people have been living for 130 years, through support from architecture because they have been marginalized and poor after tea plantation here got closed about 30 years ago. We have regenerated a row house called “line house” in Bawlana. Although 1/3 of it used to be lost before the construction, it becomes a base of local tourism the attractive points of which are the history, the culture and the nature of Bawlana. Line houses in Bawlana consist of characteristic elements which are derived from 3 countries related to tea plantation. They are steel frames made in Britain 130 years ago, local granite and veranda space often seen in houses of Sri Lanka, and floor covered with cowpat closely connected with a ceremony of Hinduism from India. We planed the regeneration by two methods, namely, restoring parts of the original house and recomposing the characteristic elements so that the composition of it becomes seen more clearly. Line houses in the former tea plantation area are often regarded as “negative heritage” in Sri Lanka. However, if the history of Bawlana and Tamil’s life and culture are appraised by various viewpoints, it will be power of drawing the future of Bawlana. We believe that this regeneration will make a chance of it and this regenerated line house will be a place where a new history of Bawlana will be born.
