Piazza San Marco in Venice. In the City of Water, which attracts tourists from all over the world, much of the city is flooded from October to December due to land subsidence due to pumping up groundwater and rising sea levels due to climate change.
Mori: I have high hopes for your generation to naturally accept that ``what is good for the environment also leads to the enrichment of people's lives,'' rather than thinking that ``what people put up with will become the SDGs.'' .
Professor Suguru Mori
Mr. Suguru Mori serves as a community development advisor for Kamishihoro, a town with a population of 5,000 people in Tokachi, eastern Hokkaido. In the Koizumi area of Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, which was affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, we navigated a collective relocation led by residents and received the 2021 Architectural Institute of Japan Award. We analyze the framework and distortions of the existing town and propose a ``town alignment'' with an eye to the future.
When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, I spread "Okujiri Sheet"
Professor Mori's specialty is architectural planning and urban planning. We place emphasis on the practice of formulating concrete plans together with residents and other stakeholders. Among them, there are many cases where the field is disaster-stricken areas or depopulated areas.
Mori: Well, first of all, let me introduce myself. I experienced the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake when I was a university student in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture.
At the time of the earthquake, experts and researchers from all over the country could be seen surveying the damage and heading home, and locals wondered, ``What's the point in conducting an investigation without cleaning up even a single piece of rubble?'' I could often hear voices of indignation.
Of course, I can understand the feelings of the disaster victims who say that, but on the other hand, from a researcher's perspective, even in such emergency situations, if we do not keep academic records, we will not be able to utilize them for future disaster countermeasures. I understand that research is necessary.
I hope to be able to bridge the gap between the two, and my investigations and research are always practical. When starting a new town development due to disaster damage or depopulation, we take the approach of thinking together with the residents, ``What kind of town should we make not only for the people who live now, but also for our children and grandchildren?'' I am.
An initiative using this method, “Mass relocation led by residents in the Koizumi area of Kesennuma City,” won the 2021 Architectural Institute of Japan Award. When 100 households in the Koizumi district of Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit by a tsunami of up to 20m in height during the Great East Japan Earthquake, were forced to relocate to higher ground on the mountain side, they decided to use a resident-led plan instead of a relocation plan determined by the government. It was highly praised both domestically and internationally as a good example of successful mass migration.
This effort has been compiled into a book. “To pass on our beloved Koizumi to our children – group relocation is a gift to the future”
Mori: When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, I first went to Okushiri Island. For a moment, I thought about going to Tohoku to do some relief work and field research, but when I thought about what I could do based on my experience at Hanshin Awaji, the first thing that came to mind was Okushiri Island. .
This is because Okushiri Island suffered severe damage from the tsunami caused by the 1993 Hokkaido Nansei-Oki Earthquake. Afterwards, a huge amount of public money was invested in reconstruction efforts, and the residents were relocated to higher ground. Many examples of this pioneering relocation were featured in newspaper articles and academic reports.
I thought that these articles would surely be useful for the reconstruction of East Japan, so I summarized the main points of related articles, and also conducted a field survey and listened to the voices of the residents who currently live on Okushiri Island, nearly 20 years after they were relocated to higher ground. I listened to them, made them into PDF files, and spread them all at once. I call it the "Okujiri seat."
There are some words that left a strong impression on me during the interview survey on Okushiri Island. As my grandfather, a fisherman, once said, ``Because of the reconstruction aid, I can't stop being a fisherman.'' To be honest, I thought it was about time for my physical strength. But then donations came in and a new boat was built, so he had to continue fishing.
I thought about this when I heard this story. I wonder if this is the kind of revival that was hoped for. Generally speaking, ``reconstruction'' is often thought of as ``returning things back to the way they were,'' but the focus should not be on the past. If the people concerned do not consciously think about what to do with their town with an eye to the future 20 or 30 years from now, money will just be thrown in a way that does not meet their wishes, as in this story. .
I wanted to spread the word about this, so I spread the word ``Okujiri Sheet'' and received calls from people in the Koizumi area who read it and asked if I would like to consult with them. In the Koizumi area, a council was formed mainly by working people in their 40s and 50s. I wrote about it in detail in ``In order to pass it on: Group relocation is a gift to the future,'' so if you are interested, please pick it up.
Housing plot plan for the Koizumi district Koizumi's story has spread overseas, and inquiries have been received from Australia and New Zealand, which are considering mass relocation due to disasters such as large-scale forest fires and flash floods caused by torrential rain.
Throwing away Showa-era ideas and thinking about ``town chiropractic''
What kind of town development is currently underway in Kamishihoro Town, Hokkaido, which has a population of 5,000 people?
Mori: Even when people say that ``Japan is currently experiencing a serious population decline,'' the truth is that not many people are paying attention to it. It wasn't until I was assigned to Hokkaido University and became involved with Kamishihoro Town in 2011 that I began to feel the reality of population decline.
This is similar to the Koizumi area mentioned earlier, where depopulation was already progressing and there were few people, so they said, ``Now, let's create a new town,'' and called for large-scale commercial facilities in the same way as in the Showa era. Does it really make sense to use tax dollars to rebuild public facilities of the same scale in the exact same location?
Cities are made of people, so just like the human body, over time, the bones become distorted and fat accumulates. Particularly in Japan, during its period of high economic growth, cities throughout the country became unnecessarily bloated, modeled after large cities.
That's why, now that we're in the midst of urban development, we're calling on people to once again think about ``organizing the town,'' making their town healthy again.
Recently, the term ``compact city,'' which centralizes a town's functions in a central location, has become commonplace.
Mori: My goal is not just to make the town smaller, so I try to avoid using such technical terms with the residents.
Originally, in the field of urban planning, there was the ``neighborhood theory'' - assuming a population of about 5,000 people, and locating housing and living facilities within a 400m radius from the city center, centering on schools and other educational facilities. --There is an idea. American sociologist Clarence Perry proposed a radius of 400 meters in 1929, based on the idea that this is the area within which people can and want to walk.
Kamishihoro Town has also adopted this idea, and is considering a grand design for the placement of public facilities, etc., by positioning a 400m radius as ``an area that can be walked on a daily basis,'' and an 800m radius as ``an area that can be walked with a little effort.''
For example, we have planned the relocation of large public housing complexes located outside an 800m radius over a 30-year span, and we are currently having residents gradually move to the center. By concentrating the activities of townspeople in the center of the town, infrastructure costs such as buses and trains can be lowered, and people can also give up their cars, which can help reduce energy consumption and address issues related to elderly drivers. It also reduces the cost of winter snow removal, which is important in Hokkaido.
I heard this from someone else, but a grandmother who had already relocated laughed and said, ``Since I moved into the city, I've started to be a little more careful about my clothes when I go out to throw out the trash.'' Until he moved, he didn't worry about being seen, but now his feelings have changed, even when it comes to taking out the trash.
I was so happy when I heard that. This made me think once again that this is the richness of human life and the true value of community development.
Rather than thinking about the town hall that is about to be renovated or the elementary school that wants to be moved back to the center in the near future, it is better to use the town-run sports center instead of building a new gymnasium at the elementary school, or to use the lifelong learning center's kitchen for home economics cooking training. I think it is quite possible to come up with a new idea such as doing it in person.
If the office and classroom are close, it might not be a dream to see a father who works at the office and his child eating together at lunchtime. I would like to give form to this richness of life in Kamishihoro Town.
Kamishihoro Town Central Belt Concept Kamishihoro Town, which promotes zero carbon and is passionately working on SDGs, has been selected as a 2021 "SDGs Future City" by the Cabinet Office.
Proposing a set of ideal values and pitfalls in the real world
What do you think is required of researchers and experts to promote the SDGs?
Mori: The 17 goals of the SDGs have become widely known to junior high and high school students, but to tell the truth, each goal has been an urgent issue for experts in each field for decades. So, I don't think it's a new theme.
The reason why society as a whole is now thinking about this is because it is difficult for experts alone to realize the ideal society that we envision. This is because we need the help of ordinary people who are not experts.
Therefore, as a researcher, what I always keep in mind is not only to present the ideal value as an expert, but also to understand the pitfalls in the real world of what steps we need to take in order to realize it. Presenting the locations as a set.
We believe it is important to guide residents through each step.
In Hokkaido in particular, there are many problems related to the living environment, such as the fact that traveling by car is the norm and snow removal in winter, even before considering environmental problems. I strongly feel the importance of bridging the gap between ideals and reality.
Please give us your hopes and messages for future Hokkaido University students.
Mori: Those of you who have heard of the concept of SDGs since your teens are, so to speak, SDG natives.
In this way, instead of being stuck in the somewhat backward-looking thinking that adults today tend to have, such as, ``The way we live now is not good, so let's put up with it and do something good for the earth,'' we can think, ``What we do for the environment is just the same for people.'' This is a generation that can naturally think, ``This will enrich my life.'' I have high hopes for that.
What I want you to keep in mind at that time is that all 17 goals of the SDGs are linked. If you look closely at architectural planning and urban planning, which I specialize in, the content covers all 17 goals.
I believe that this perspective of looking at the SDGs in an integrated and comprehensive manner is a perspective that can only be acquired at Hokkaido University, where we study social issues from various angles as a comprehensive university.
A design meeting for the Kamishihoro Town Hall Graduates of the Mori Laboratory are active in a wide range of fields, including architecture, the travel industry, and publishing companies.
Suguru Mori Professor
Affiliation: Hokkaido University Graduate School Faculty of Engineering of Architecture and Urban Design, Spatial Design
He has been a competitive swimmer since childhood, and participated in the Inter-High School competition when he was in high school. Because he was good at drawing and crafting, he chose the field of architecture to go to university. In 2001, he was appointed to Hokkaido University and moved to Sapporo. We believe that Hokkaido, which is at the forefront of population decline and an aging population with a declining birthrate, is an advanced region that can realize a sustainable living environment.
