Rebuilding Sustainable Urban Environment in Suffered Towns and Cities by the Great East Japan Earthquake through Nurturing Commons via 'Town Management' Scheme

Abstract

"This paper discusses the idea of urban commons under two components. One is what the essential commons factors are, usually supporting urban life and habitation, but in what way they are reconsidered from special vantage point of revealing experience of cities, such as Ishinomaki city under the disaster struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. The other is how to rebuild central urban districts of suffered areas augmented with commons conditions through tangible 'town management' approach. The first part reflects not only from the nature of urban commons but also from the sheer experience of this disaster. Those include the need of endowment of amenity in the city in terms of physical conditions, but one will find the paramount importance at how citizens identify their spaces as their own, self-reliance, and linkage among people. The second part relates to the application of the first part for realising commons in rebuilding of the city. The proposing method includes creating 'town management company' based on stakeholders initiatives, introduction of a scheme separating right of use of spaces from their ownership but joint-use between stakeholders, independent operation of those spaces by that company at economically feasible principles but with necessary support from public sectors, and shared codes of design for new buildings and zoning of districts. Joint-use renders several rule-makings which really create new urban commons for the city."