Research Institute for High-Life

Summary
“Research into new generation communities, considering the future urban lifestyle”

1. Background and objectives, alignment　

This research relates to various regional phenomena that are likely to surface among the urban reforms (Urban renewal) aimed at the steady state society that is expected to come, with the objective of a multifaceted analysis and consideration regarding how new generation communities can make a contribution going forward.

In urban planning for a steady state society, the existence of communities, which surface as “regions”, is important. The hypothesis presented in this research is that the core role of attraction in urban planning is “new generation communities”, as a specific themed community. We consider this hypothesis by means of logical analysis and analysis of case studies.

　In last year’s study, analysis and consideration was carried out regarding the “involvement in urban planning” conducted by universities and creative people in the Aoyama district, targeting the Society-Academy Collaboration Research and Education Center (SACRE) at Aoyama Gakuin University and the “Astudio” based there.

　In this year’s study, the focus is not on activities being a “base”, as with Astudio, but rather on the activities of new generation communities developing within an “area”. In this way, inclusive of last year’s study results, an attempt is being made at analysis and consideration from a comprehensive perspective. The alignment of these case studies is presented in an organized fashion in section 1-2, to which reference should be made.

　As a result of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, changes have gradually occurred in both the thinking and the practical nature of urban planning. With this in mind, this research also adds to its strategic focus, as urban planning for new generation communities, an analysis and consideration from the perspective of how to regard the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. It is our hope that this research will be of some help in considering the future of urban planning in Japan.

2. Organization of terminology

　There are diverse ways of understanding and definitions for the term and concept “community”. The term “community” is assumed to have 94 interpretations, based on the example definitions assembled by sociologist G Hillary (Hibata 2008). Here, the definition that can be ascribed to Hiroi Yoshinori (Reexamining Community, Chikuma Shinsho), namely “Community: a group in which humans have some sense of belonging to it, and among its component members, some form of solidarity and a sense of mutual assistance (mutual support) is at work”, is close to the intentions of this research, and will therefore be adopted herein. The foundation of this research is an awareness of the issue of whether such comfortable person-to-person connections are the origin of richness associated with lifestyles and quality of life.

　In the past, within a geographical region, “regional communities” based on territorial connections existed. Regional communities were originally formed with a base of the natural conditions and social conditions of the region. They were lifestyle communities that were essentially based on the land.

　However, against a background of the transformation to secondary and tertiary industries, which are industry structures not dependent directly on the region’s natural resources, and “urbanization” involving delivery by vehicular transportation and an increase in the mobility of people, etc., regional groupings have become weaker, along with which, the regional natural resources owned by the regional communities and the close lifestyle relationships have been lost.

　Many individuals in regional societies have their place of work in corporations, etc., that are separated at some distance from the region, and the relationship with the region has become diluted. There have been no opportunities to test how an individual’s capabilities and experience might be able to contribute to the region. Individuals are detached from the regional society, and lose their sense of belonging (additionally, the dilution of the relationship with the regional environment brings about a negative effect, namely the loss of affection for, and a sense of participation in, the region). Instead, in current Japanese society, what are being produced are the diverse activities, businesses and practices of various NPOs and social entrepreneurs, etc., and the many attempts aimed at building “new communities” as can be seen in SNS and FB.
These are “mission” oriented and theme communities, as they are called.

　Community researcher Prof. Hiroi (2002, 2009) has pointed out that the communities that are called “regions” will, in future eras, surface as being important. The reason is that the era from the end of the war, through the period of rapid growth, and until recent times, was an era in which people with weak connections with “regions” continued to grow consistently, and that is because conversely, at present, people with strong connections with regions, such as seniors, etc., are entering a consistent growth phase. For this reason, it is contemplated that going forward, in Japanese society, the issue of what kind of connection themed communities will have with regions, and the issue of the form in which themed communities overlap with regional communities will become significant challenges.

　In this research, the moderate communities created by “urban dwellers” are called “new generation communities”. The “urban dwellers” spoken of here are not just landowners and residents, but rather it is a collective term encompassing people for whom a given city represents an inseparable part of their lifestyle, in other words, consumers who come to the city, workers, students, etc., or basically, people who have a place to be within the city without being resident. These people spend a long time in the city, and actually play a main role in the city, being also a party in the creation of the city’s culture and the liveliness of the streets. Put more simply, they generate comfort in and affection for the city. Urban dwellers share this feeling and style, and their existence in the city is one of visualization. Hence, new generation communities are not “regional communities (spatial communities)” rooted in territorial connections. Instead, new generation communities are those in which the shared feeling for the “city” or “region” is based on a sense of belonging to the group. People, without being constrained by location, behave freely, build networks that extend beyond a given space through sharing and exchange of information, and develop new interactions. These are groups that have, as attributes, “themed communities (time communities)” not bound by elements of territorial connections.
　
　The reason that this research intentionally uses the expression “new generation” communities is that we believe that the attributes of a community of what may be called “newcomers”, which are possessed by “city dweller” communities, yet are essentially different from the communities based on territorial connections, in the old sense that they are formed from landowners and residents, are important in urban renewal and urban planning.

　In urban planning, landowners and the old residents, as well as the role and mechanism of government, are extremely important, but with only the both of these, it is difficult (but not impossible) to succeed in urban renewal. The reason for this is that society to play (region) the decline is because nothing else than to rebuild the old social structure that. The famous American urbanologist Jane Jacobs (1977) argued that communities socially stabilize by means of causing long-term residents and temporary residents to assimilate, and while the people who remain in that place over a long time provide continuity, newcomers produce diversity and a reciprocal effect that gives rise to creative assimilation. In other words, as attractors for rebuilding the community’s social structures, new generation communities, with which Japanese urban planning has not been much involved, could play a role, and it is an awareness of this problem that is the base of the theory in this research.

　The details are set out in section 2-3, but one successful case supporting this problem awareness and theory is the downtown of American cities. American downtowns that have recovered from decay and hollowing out are not in an integrated urban form having a conventional concentric structure, but have transformed to an urban form in which attractive areas (=components) agglomerate. The methods for each of the respective renewal themes is on a case by case basis, but what is shared in every region is the point that everything was rebuilt not with only landowners, residents and government, but new implementation organizations such as NPOs and CDCs (depending on the situation, new private developers) were added, the system for progressing urban planning was structurally changed, and from there development began.

3. Research system

This research was carried out using the following system.

Research planning/coordination
LLP Machi Communication Research

Research Implementation/Analysis
Arata Endo (Associate professor at Kogakuin University School of Architecture)
Hajime Enomoto (Yomiko Advertising, Inc. Chief of Research Institute for Urban Lifestyles)
Osamu Tomoda (LLP Machi Communication Research)

Research Partnerships
Kougakuin University School　　Arata Endo Research Laboratory

Research Supervisor
Shinichi Sentoda (The Research Institute for High-Life Foundation　Chief scientist)

4. Research outline

This research is structured in accordance with the arguments presented in all five chapters.

Where is urban renewal headed?

Chapter 1 discusses “urban renewal and new generation communities”.

Challenges around urban renewal

　“Twentieth century” cities formed in Japan, having as their main axes the production industry and consumption, amid the coming and going of the times, since the 1980s, with the bubble economy and its collapse, suddenly lost their attraction and activity from the 1990s. Upon entering the 2000s, “urban renewal”, which was enacted by the then Koizumi administration, drew a lot of attention, but the urban renewal advanced by the national urban renewal office was, within a practical and effective framework having an objective of economic structural reform, the promotion of hard provision based projects. What was lacking was a vision and strategy for the cities.

　At present, Japan has entered an era of nation wide population decline. On top of this, there is the enormous challenge of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011.

The matter of survival of cities is in question, namely how to reform hollowing out and shrinking cities, with the future in mind, in a sustainable form.

Before considering these problems, first where should Japan’s urban renewal be headed? Among the various arguments and visions, often stated are the four keywords “liveliness”, “creativity”, “diversity” and “environmental sustainability”. Conventional urban development, or urban renewal projects that are national initiatives, have a strong economic development aspect, and emphasis has been placed on advanced use of land and widespread infrastructure. However, the urban renewal planning sought by new generation communities must undergo a significant shift of values and methods in the direction shown by the four keywords.

　New generation communities, which are urban dwellers, are communities of newcomers, and are essentially different from communities of territorial connections, in the old sense of constituting landowners and old residents. Hence, urban planning by new generation communities seeks not the yield obtained from land ownership (land title), but the fruits obtained from using the land (interaction, liveliness). Developing such yield from, not infrastructure, but regions (areas), is the nature of urban planning by new generation communities.

The position of new generation communities in urban renewal
　In order to improve understanding of urban planning with new generation communities, we create plane coordinates with the axes of two values from the perspective of differences from the traditional urban renewal projects, and attempt to conceptually position urban planning for new generation communities. The idea of “the basis of the city” is set on the horizontal axis and the idea of “the goal” of urban planning (the goal from the perspective of what we want to maximize) is set on the vertical axis.

Here, the former is referred to as the B-axis after the initial letter of “basis” (or “basis axis”), and the latter is referred to as the G-axis after the initial letter of “goal” (or “goal axis”). Further, on the negative side of the B-axis, the “infrastructure” sought in traditional urban development is positioned, and on the positive side, the “area” sought in new generation communities is positioned. On the other hand, on the negative side of the axis, the “volume” sought in traditional urban development is positioned, and on the positive side, the source of interaction and activity, that is, the “theme” is positioned. Figure 1 was created under such an arrangement.

　In these coordinates, it is believed that urban planning for new generation communities lies in the first quadrant characterized by “area × theme”. The “theme” is an important attribute for new generation communities. For example, a theme such as art surfaces in the area, with creators engaged in relevant activities, in some cases, companies and authorities, or people as citizens supporting those activities gathering, which moderately forms one space (area).

　The zone corresponding to the second quadrant of the coordinates is characterized by “theme × infrastructure”. It can be said that this applies to promotion of interaction and activity with emphasis on soft aspects in locations where infrastructure development and urban space development as the framework has been already completed. The zone corresponding to the third quadrant of the coordinates is characterized by “infrastructure × volume”. This applies to the traditional urban development, urban renewal projects as the country-led economic policies, and so on. The zone corresponding to the fourth quadrant of the coordinates is characterized by “volume × area”.

It can be said that this applies to urban planning in such a way as to strengthen attraction and characteristics as an area, with accumulation (high density) of urban activities resulting from being high volume as a strong point.

What will new generation communities bring to the city?

Chapter 2 discusses “urban renewal from the theme and area”.

The value of the theme
　It is believed that what can be specifically a theme (what can surface as a theme) in urban planning for new generation communities is what can be actually recognize from experiencing a place called a “city”. In order to recognize the theme from experiencing the city as a real space, “stories” that conceptualize the experiences in the city are required. 　

　In order to conceptualize the experiences in the city as “stories”, that city is required to be an urban environment (living environment) that has been formed with a certain type of story. Usually, the process of forming a city is the process of forming a story. To consider this as an issue of the city, it is necessary to consider the act of making the environment a theme (constructing the living environment with a certain type of story) as an issue of culture and lifestyle. Many people will admit that even if a “theme park city” is made by imitating Disney Land superficially and putting a symbolized theme only, it is not attractive as a city.

Value of the area
　The area is the concept of extracting a space as a “city” shared by new generation communities.
The fact that new generation communities are formed in a certain city means that the difference between the area and other areas is recognized as “specificity” of the area. There is a concept of “brand” that describes such specificity.
It has been conventionally a marketing term, but recently the brand concept has been also applied to a region (area) itself and its name, from which terms “area brand” and “regional brand” have come. The regional brand (=area brand) is described as the total of various images for the region recognized by residents when looking at the region mainly from the economic aspect. The area brand is supported by the construction of the “individual brand” linked to tourist resources, specialty products, and life resource.

What links the theme and the area
　Therefore, the respective concepts “theme” and “area” are required for urban planning for new generation communities, and “stories” that conceptualize the experiences in the city are important to surface the theme, and the “brand” that makes the specificity of the theme recognized is important to surface the area, respectively. 　

　What activities link both the “theme” and the “area”? The first is community business. While individuals recover involvement with the region, they find various roles and jobs in the areas, enriching both the individuals and the region. They will rediscover the area called a region as a range where their activities are possible, and discovery and use of various resources lying in the region will lead to creation of activities of various themes in the region, leading to creation of multidimensional lifestyles. The second is the area-branding with the theme. The typical case in which a theme community has been formed in a certain area and furthermore that area has been branded, is a group of renovated shops along Meguro River in Nakameguro. The third is producing the content and the area. Here, it is believed that urban planning to link the “theme” and the “area” becomes possible by positioning “for what” as improvement of the area value.

Urban planning to link the theme and the area learned from the U.S.

　Chapter 3 reveals the characteristics of the places formed by urban planning for new generation communities to link the theme and the area, through an analysis of the theme district formed in the city center (=downtown) of U.S. cities, regarding “space of the new generation communities”.

Renewal of U.S. downtowns
　The “theme district” formed in U.S. downtowns (=city center) renewal is such an area differentiated from the surrounding urban area by a certain type of commonality found in land use, space use, appearance of buildings. It can be said to be a typical example of the city formed with a matching theme and area.

　Originally, downtown renewal (broad meaning inclusive of repair, modification, etc.) in the U.S. started as an approach for overcoming “reduced tax revenues in municipalities” and “serious blight of downtown” caused by “suburbanization” of the city starting in the 1920s and its reverse effect, the “cavitation” phenomenon in the urban center.

　The former space structure of a U.S. city could be understood as a structure in which the density of the urban land use was gradually thinning in a concentric fashion. That is, there was a central business district (CBD) in the center, with a “transitional region” with less dense land use than CBD spreading in the surrounding area. However, it was the blighted space downtown, where downtown redevelopment brought three changes; renewal as a business district, creation of urban center tourism, and expansion of urban residence, shifted from the concentric structure. As a result, it was fragmented into an area that was to be renewed and an area that was not, resulting in a variety of “theme districts” emerged.

Unique areas and theme districts
　There is a regional concept of a “unique area” as the extended concept of the theme district. The unique area is an area where multiple theme districts are accumulated.　

　For the theme districts, there are three types according to spatial property of downtown, “central business type”, “historic environment type”, and “new development type”. Considering the relationship between these types and three phenomena indicating downtown renewal (renewal as a business district, creation of urban center tourism, and expansion of urban residence), it can be believed that in the central business type, redevelopment intended for “renewal as a business district” and “creation of urban center tourism” forms a theme district, while in both the historic environment type and the new development type, redevelopment intended for “creation of urban center tourism” and “expansion of urban residence” forms a theme district.

　Focusing attention on the “theme” and the “area” required for urban planning for new generation communities, it can be seen that the “theme” that constitutes the theme district comes from three approaches, “renewal as a business district”, “creation of urban center tourism”, and “expansion of urban residence”, while the “area” that constitute the theme district is brought by different locational properties, “central business district”, “ruined buildings”, and “blighted open space”.

The perspective for urban planning in Japan
　Creating a unique area is nothing but shifting downtown itself to an urban area with multi layered theme districts. The greatest difference between “new downtown” having a variety of theme districts and “old downtown” relying on offices and central business is that redundancy for changes in the economic and social environment is increasing. A downtown containing a multitude of unique districts is a “strong downtown” that resists a variety of external changes and has resuscitation power to be reactivated therefrom. Considering the measures and the actual condition of activities in the city center of regional cities in Japan, it is likely that similar to U.S. downtown, fragmentation of the city center in Japan also has advanced to no small extent. If this trend is recognized to be an opportunity to reorganize the city center space, systematic and active response for shifting the surfaced district to a unique area will be required for the government and urban planning organization.

What is the urban planning method to develop new generation communities?

　Chapter 4 discusses “urban planning for new generation communities to make the area unique”.

Urban planning to renew "systems"
　Although a city is an entity with a variety of orders and disorders intricately mixed, the real urban space that is present here and now is what is integrated in some way to assume one form, whatever those orders and disorders are. Behind the urban space, there are various “systems” according to different orders, such as the mechanism of buildings and infrastructure, natural system and ecosystem, culture and customs, various social systems, and superficial and hidden social relationship. It can be said that a theme community is also one type of "systems". They are overlapped in many layered on various scales and dynamically related to each other, resulting in the present urban space.

　It can be understood that creating the urban space is visualizing certain “systems” like layers, and while attempting consistency in the “systems” and adjustment between the “systems”, that is, organically relating those multiple “systems”, integrating them into one space. However, because the “systems” that can be visualized entirely are limited (to physical systems and institutions etc.), in reality, the urban space will be controlled dynamically in conjunction with a dynamic program that allows variation of invisible part of the “systems”.

　Looking to shrinking regional cities, it can be seen that various existing “systems” are being fragmented, degenerated, and lost. Therefore, in renewal of the regional cities, first, how to renew these “systems” will be an issue. For renewal of “systems”, three approaches will be effective.

　The first is creation of a new “system” by organically weaving regional resources. It has been already often pointed out that approaches focusing on regional resources on the site of regional cities are effective for regional renewal. For regional resources, various elements such as empty houses and open spaces, food and nature, human resources, and culture are potential regional resources. The point is whether the value thereof can be discovered and organically associated as new “systems”. Next is editing the existing “systems”. This is to recheck fragmented and weakened “systems”, reconstruct the relationship of the regional resources from the perspective of the future, and create new “systems” along with innovation. The last is centralization of “systems” such as directing the spread of “systems” to limited areas within the urban area. The method of reconstructing the city as an aggregate of respective areas made from a variety of “systems” is, in fact, also the method that has been promoted for many of hollow city centers (downtowns) in the U.S. to get renewed.

　In case of a shrinking regional city, in order to maintain and renew “the sense of the city” appearing in its urban space, three basic strategies are required in forming the urban space. 　

　The first is forming the urban space that is open to a variety of uses without simply portioning the space by possession of the land. Creation of “activity” due to an increase in the interacting population and the number of visitors is often presented as one of the goals of urban renewal. The sense of the city is felt in “activity” in which people gather not because of the density of people, but because it is felt that the place is opened to a variety of people. Not simply increasing the number, but how to create that open situation will be the issue of urban space formation.

　The second is forming the urban space while developing the framework (soft) that supports the space (hard). Because there are a variety of users of the urban space such as residents, government, visitors, and others, consultation and consensus-building are required for construction of the framework that supports the urban space (the sense of the city that it has). Because establishing regional rules is a process to foster new public values, it should not be abbreviated. However, since even consultation of urban planning has weak points, in order to complement them, an approach of “social experiment (demonstration experiment), empirically indicating the method for collecting matters that cannot be agreed upon in discussion as one form of the urban space and spatially resolve them, is sometimes effective. Through social experiments, a new spatial order is temporarily indicated, from which the framework necessary to maintain that spatial order is back cast and considered.

　The third is forming the urban space in a chain fashion. In this way, just as someone’s act raises sympathy, spreading from a point to a plane, “the sense of the city” also spreads from a point to a plane.
The formation of the urban space in a chain fashion is in an inextricably linked relationship with the chain development of the “systems” behind that, and therefore, it is likely that attempting the space formation focusing on the regional resources is effective also for promoting the chain.

　The process of the urban space formation with renewal and integration of the “systems” is dynamic. Here is a problem of how to dynamically integrate and control the urban space while a variety of bodies are getting involved across multiple projects over many years. One of basic strategies for this is constructing a “power structure” for smoothly realizing a one-dimensional urban design. The power structure is the “structure” of “power” for the main body of the urban design to keep the influence for a long time on individual parties such as local residents and businesses in the area intended for planning.
The steadier it is, for a longer time, the one-dimensional urban design can be realized. The “power” herein is constructed with soft power and hard power intricately intertwined, supported relationships of trust and roles, contractual relationship, etc. By obtaining the steady power structures, while moving according to circumstances, cooperation of a variety of bodies related to urban planning can be obtained and more consistent formation of the urban space can be promoted.
　Moreover, problems that shrinking regional cities suffer from are complicated and deep-stead across a variety of themes. In order to address this, it will be effective to have a place as an open basis for urban planning where people, activities and funds gather, at the initiative of experts. Such an open basis is organized in cities in Europe, the U.S., and Asia and referred to as an “urban design center”.

In the regional cities, the existence of the organization that continuously links a variety of experts and the chance for the urban space formation is important. In the urban design center, centralizing allows continuous and all-round consistent involvement of experts from the initial stage.

“Spatial design of “systems”” with new generation communities
　From an analysis and consideration of the cases of Historic Third Ward (Milwaukee) and Eastern North Philadelphia district (Philadelphia), the following items of knowledge have been obtained regarding the urban planning method for spatial design new generation communities.

　The first is regarding management of the spatial design in light of area characteristics. In the spatial design of the city, the urban planning organization plays a major role. The urban planning organization promotes formation and uniqueness of the theme district by leading individual redevelopment to something suitable to the district. The urban planning organization needs to dynamically manage the way of redevelopment business from three perspectives, early organization of issues by prior consultation, improvement of the business framework through consultation, and the design in harmony with the entire area.

　The second is regarding application potentiality of management of unused land against shrinking of the city. In the aspect of city shrinking, from the reduction in economics and size of population, further increase of unused land that cannot be expected to be redeveloped is concerned. Because redevelopment of all the unused land is not realistic, how to manage that unused land will be the greatest issue for cities in Japan.

　The third is regarding the vision for the space and rules of realizations. What space the district should have as an area ? to realize this, the “vision” for the space and the “rules” for realization will be needed. The rules and vision for the design do not have to be used just because they have been decided and given, but it is desirable that they will be fleshed out by involved parties, city residents and local people.
It will substantiate the guidelines. However, it is a point for success to make up the design control in the form so that both the region and landowners will have merits.

“Management of “systems”” with new generation communities
　From the case analysis of the business community “Cyber Village” and the artists community “Art District” in Lowertown district (Saint Paul), and the case analysis of urban planning in Main Street district (Buffalo), the following items of knowledge have been obtained regarding the area management method with new generation communities.

　The first is regarding area marketing. Only because of the approach of what to do with the entire district but not with a building alone, the theme community and the area can be linked.

　The second is regarding support for activating art activities. Hard maintenance is narrowed down to highly inevitable projects, while various businesses are developed such that the chance itself for a variety of artists to act in the district can be maintained. For example, support for continuing events by artists, creation of art projects, inviting various organizations leading to support of art activities, etc. will expand the chance to accept various activities of artists.　

　The third is regarding value improvement of the area. In order to attempt value improvement of the area, the first issue is setting the target area. Furthermore, an organization that produces and management that area is needed. With new generation communities involved in this, it is believed that it is also effective to coexist with the system to make the city attractive from the viewpoint of visitors (external and cool viewpoint) or visualize the city’s attraction.

“Spatial use of “systems”” with new generation communities　
　From the case analysis of “Sakanomachi Art” in the old town district, Yatsuo Machi, Toyama City, and “Ohno Yumeichi” in Ohno District, Ohno Village, Iwate Prefecture, the following knowledge has been obtained regarding the method of spatial use with new generation communities.

　The first is regarding spillover effects of the urban planning experiment. The social experiment of urban planning will trigger production of a new theme or project. This will promote spatial use with new generation communities.

　The second is regarding progression of cooperation with the urban planning experiment. In general, urban planning cannot be completely and clearly understood by residents, including the objects and policies. The urban planning experiment brings with it the chance to empirically understand part of that by empirically conducting it. Moreover, this will be the chance of verification for the government to obtain the prospect of policy effects. It is new generation communities (universities in both cases) as third parties that carry out this. There are various difficult factors such as labor and technical aspects for carrying out it only with the residents and government. For this reason, the third parties, new generation communities, play a major role. With the third parties involved, cooperation between the residents and government can be evolved.

　The third is regarding communication effects of the urban planning experiment. The urban planning experiment has educational effects on students at the university laboratory and on local residents.

Strategies of urban planning for new generation communities　
　Considering that urban planning for new generation communities is consisted in a region where two elements, “theme” and “area”, are overlapped, in light of the analysis regarding the urban planning methods above, it is believed that strategies for urban planning to develop new generation communities include two strategies, “the strategy to create an area from a theme”, and “the strategy to create a theme from an area”.

　As can be seen from the fact that both the area marketing and the design management in light of area characteristics are methods to enhance the area value, it is effective to enhance the area value in urban planning of the area. Therefore, it can be believed that “the strategy to create an area from a theme” is a strategy to make the area added-value through the development of the theme.

　To conceptualize the experience of the city "narrative (story)" is the theme to the surface. It is believed that an approach of clarifying what stories can be formed in a certain area, and the context of those stories, is effective. Therefore, it can be believed that “the strategy to create a theme from an area” is a strategy to visualize the context of stories in that area.

Foresight of new generation communities as a leading force of urban planning
　
　Lastly, Chapter 5 discusses “new foresight of new development of generation communities”.

How to view new generation communities after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake　
　In the disaster areas in Tohokou, the tasks to set up recovery programs for devastated urban areas and settlements are ongoing. In each settlement and region, individual urban planning is about to get on the move, including experts who support it, everything is moving slowly in a chaotic manner. Also on the site of recovery, new generation communities are being formed. It is the connection between people who got involved for the purpose of recovery support activities such as volunteers and NPO, or people who shifted their activity basis to the disaster area due to the Earthquake, people who always liked Sanriku and want to get involved in this recovery from the earthquake in some way, etc.

　How can new generation communities get involved in adjustment of recovery programs and urban planning? In one way, as “external people”, such an activity as to dig out various attractions of the Tohoku experience as tourism is possible for Tohoku, an area with rich nature and culture. Another way is an approach to temporary residence. In temporary housing, various problems are surfacing. The contact with the local community because we care, it is considered that the new generation community to go shows practical styles to choose from that a sense of distance. The last one is reconstruction of the sense of the city. In city recovery, not only something quantitative and something emergent and minimum, but also how to reconstruct the sense of the city in total is an essential issue, however, it is difficult to realize only with a discussion between the national government, municipalities, land owners. It is likely that presenting and realizing this in a practical manner is the primary meaning of new

Requirement for urban planning for new generation communities
　New generation communities are good at such urban planning as to “gradually change how to use the present city”. By practicing that “it is more fun to use the present city in this way”, the movement to change the city is made. For this, good quality of stock is needed. All the previous systems of urban planning were based on the measures to try to enhance the quality of stock by controlling the flow.
However, it is already not realistic in Japan today to rely on the flow (that is, change). It is likely that building a stock society where we can live without relying on the flow will further activate urban planning with new generation communities. Moreover, when changing what is present now, we face problems of regulations, profitability, etc. When changing how to use the buildings and city, whether consensus with owners can be obtained and the entire city can be managed will be important. Through the activities to empirically and successfully use the city for new generation communities such as a social experiment, it is desired to create the idea to overcome the regulations and the idea to enhance business property.

　Urban planning for new generation communities should not end up in the flow of using the city but how to form enough stock that can respond to a variety of activities thereof is in question.

For example, urban planning with renovation will not greatly change the height and volume, and therefore, it will not greatly change the sight of the city. In this case, it is likely that the exiting street formation method such as landscape control using the design guidelines will not work effectively. If the urban area is “land”, renovation is “view”. By making the change attractive, the style shown by the initial renovation will subsequently get linked, spread, and develop throughout the area. It is likely that such development is sensed as a certain type of lifestyle or atmosphere to new generation communities. If something like a design manner as an atmosphere or style that is dominant to a certain area, the image (=theme) of that area will be enhanced.

Urban planning for new generation communities can be understood as urban planning that gradually gets linked, spreads, and develops from a point to the entire area. It will be the atmosphere of the city that supports this, as seen in the keywords such as “cool”, “stylish”, and “fun”. How “cool”, “stylish”, and “fun” in new generation communities will create an influenced environment is also an issue. Such an atmosphere may be a driving force that drives people regardless of the value of money. New generation communities are likely to have such strength.

May 2012
Research Institute for High-Life Foundation