JCCS-a 09/20164

Journal of Comparative Cultural Studies in ArchitectureJCCS-a

Hisako KUORA

Spatial Transformation and Sustainability of the Block Structure of Historic Urban Centres in JapanRäumliche Transformationen und Nachhaltigkeit der Blockstrukturen historischer japanischer Stadtzentren

ABSTRACT

The historic urban centre of Kyoto, the last Capital City that had developed in the 8th century, and Senba in Osaka, originally the castle town constructed in the late 16th century, are focused on in this paper to explore the dynamics of urban spaces in Japan and their sustainability in the context of urban design issues based on the analysis of the spatial transfor-mation of these cities. Spatial alterations in Japan had been moderate until the western style mod-ernisation was introduced in the late 19th century, which brought about drastic changes in Japanese cities. Both historic urban centres adopted the mod-ern building styles and urban functions in the very early stages of the Meiji Era, but have resulted in different appearances. Although the transforma-tions of the historic urban centres of Kyoto and Osaka have resulted in different appearances, they can be commonly explained as the process of the replacement of Machiya – a prototype of traditional urban housing – with modern structures. An examination of the transformation process of the historic urban centres in Kyoto and in Senba, Osaka, reveals that Machiwari and the urban hous-ing prototype, Machiya, are the key indicators for appraising historic spatial value. Machiwari is the framework of urban spatial composition and Machiya is an urban building prototype for realis-ing collective comfort in low-rise and high-density historic urban environments. Changes to tangible qualities, such as the replacement of Machiya are substantial and obvious, while the intangible frame-works of the urban space such as Machiwari and the neighbourhood units with autonomous local rules are easily neglected even if the original historic value of the urban landscape is preserved. In this sense, Senba can be considered as a historic urban centre with a modern appearance, as long as the Machiwari, its historic framework, is preserved. Now that economy has stagnated and depopula-tion has started in the cities in Japan, the need for a shrinking strategy has come up for discus-sion. Development management needs to develop means to control spatial alterations and the re-maining Machiwari could be the key setting for redesigning the historic urban centres.

Keywords:

Traditional Japanese block structures, Kyoto, Osaka, ancient castle towns, western influences, sustainability

KURZFASSUNG

Das historische Stadtzentrum von Kyoto, der letzte Hauptstadt, die im 8. Jahrhundert errichtet wurde, und Senba in Osaka, ursprünglich eine im späten 16. Jahrhundert errichtete Burgstadt, stehen im Fokus der Untersuchungen dieses Beitrages, um die Dynamik urbaner Räume in Japan zu erkun-den und auf ihre Nachhaltigkeit im Zusammenhang mit Problemstellungen der Stadtgestaltung und der Analyse räumlicher Transformationen dieser Städte zu überprüfen. Die räumliche Veränderung japanischer Städte war nur mäßig, bis die west-liche Modernisierung im säten 19. Jahrhundert eingeführt wurde. Erst diese brachte drastische Veränderungen der japanischen Städte mit sich. Beide historischen Stadtzentren. Beide historischen Stadtzentren wurden im Baustil und städtischer Funktion in der sehr frühen Meiji-Zeit errichtet, weisen aber verschiedene Erscheinungsformen auf. Trotz dieser Transformationen der historischen Stadtzentren von Kyoto und Osaka mit ihren un-terschiedlichen Erscheinungsformen, können sie in der Regel als Prozess des Austausches von Machiya erklärt werden – einem Prototyp des traditionellen städtischen Wohungsbaus – kombiniert mit moder-nen Stadtstrukturen.

Eine Untersuchung des Transformationsprozesses der historischen Stadtzentren in Kyoto und in Senba, Osaka, zeigt, dass Machiwari und der städtischen Wohnungsbau Prototyp, Machiya, die wichtigsten Indikatoren für die Beurteilung historischen räum-lichen Wert sind. Machiya ist der Rahmen der städtischen Raumkomposition und Machiya ist ein städtisches Gebäude-Prototyp, mit dem Komfort im Flachbau mit hoher Dichte in historischen städ-tischen Quartieren realisiert wurde. Änderungen an greifbaren Qualitäten, wie der Ersatz von Machiya sind erheblich und offensichtlich, während die imma-teriellen Rahmen des urbanen Raums wie Machiwari und die Nachbarschaftseinheiten mit autonomen lo-kalen Regeln leicht vernachlässigt werden kann, auch wenn versucht wird der ursprünglichen Wert historischer Stadtlandschaften zu bewahren. In die-sem Sinne kann Senba als historische Stadtzentrum mit moderner Ausprägung betrachtet werden, so-lange die Machiwari, sein historischer Rahmen, erhalten bleibt.

In den letzten Jahrzehnten stagniert die wirt-schaftliche Entwicklung, was zu einer Entvölkerung der Städte Japans geführt hat. Es hat nun eine Diskussion über die Notwendigkeit von Strategien für diese schrumpfenden Städte eingesetzt. Für dieses Entwicklungsmanagement werden neue Strategien gebraucht, und die Diskussion darüber hat nun be-gonnen. Um räumliche Veränderung zu steuern, können die Machiwari eine Schlüsselstellung für die Neugestaltung historischer Stadtzentren sein.

Schlagworte:

traditionelle japanische Blockstrukturen, Kyoto, Osaka, alte Burgstädte, westliche Einflüsse, Nachhaltigkeit

09/2016 – pp. 4–12

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Hisako KOURA

Fig. 1 Location of Kyoto and Osaka. (Source: Hisako Koura)

1 A Capital City in Japan is the political centre where the emperor palace is located. During the 6th and 7th century, the country had become politically uni-fied, and Nara Basin, where the administrative facilities were concentrated, became identified with the centre of the power that was gov-erned by the emperor fam-ily. Consequently, the first Capital City was established in Nara as the national cen-tre of government based on the legal code called “Ritsuryo”.

2 During the 15th and 16th century, the warring period in Japan, the local lords, who were the Samurai, con-structed the castle as their residence and fortress. They relocated the merchants and artisans nearby the castle and the surrounding vassals residences to form the cas-tle town. Edo was also one of the castle towns, which was the centre of Tokugawa shogunate government, but not the capital, Capital City. Osaka was the first castle town as the centre of gov-ernment when the samurai achieved the unification of the country after long war-ring period.

Räumliche Transformationen und Nachhaltigkeit der Blockstrukturen historischer japanischer Stadtzentren

1. INTRODUCTION

The industrialization and modernization introduced from Europe during the Meiji Restoration (1867) had an enormous impact on the historic urban centres in Japan. Most of them, including Osaka and Kyoto, accepted the modern technology for buildings and infrastructures, so as to manage the reformation of urban functions.

Kyoto is the last Capital City1, developed in the 8th century, and it kept its position as capital until the Meiji Restoration. Osaka was originally a castle town2 constructed in the late 16th century. Kyoto and Osaka were two of the three major urban centres during the Edo period, and both adopted the modern building styles and urban functions in the very early stages of the Meiji Era.

However, the two cities differ in terms of how they underwent the subsequent transition of industri-alization and urban expansion. Osaka underwent rapid industrialization and became the most pros-perous economic centre in Japan in the early 20th century, and lost most of its historic townscape, while Kyoto has preserved the traditional urban culture and artisanal work all through the mod-ernization process and is now globally considered an attractive historic city.

Although the transformations of the historic urban centres of Kyoto and Osaka have resulted in differ-ent appearances, they can be commonly explained as the process of the replacement of Machiya – a prototype of traditional urban housing – with mod-ern structures, which has often been accompanied by the alteration of lot allocation in urban blocks. This paper uses the analysis of the spatial trans-formation of Kyoto and Osaka (Fig.1) as a basis for exploring the dynamism of urban spaces and their sustainability in the context of urban design issues.

1.2 Urbanity from a historical perspective

Whereas most of the cities of the Occident were enclosed by a city wall or mound or waterway to define the city boundaries, Japanese cities paid little attention to being enclosed. Cities in Japan were generated from a spatial cohesion of urban functions rather than based on an area defined by physical boundaries. The temporary marketplaces in the early medieval era are considered to be the origin of urbanity. They became the regular tem-porary markets in ports, riversides, village fringes, near temples or at posting stations on the old high-ways, and evolved into the spatial cohesions of urban functions, which then grew into small towns (Miyamto: 1968).

Cities which are planned are the other type of Japanese urban space besides those which evolved spontaneously from such as marketplaces. Capital cities and castle towns are the two main types of planned urban spaces. From the viewpoint of urban design, a location concept and block develop-ment are the significant design issues involved in capital city planning, while a land use zoning and castle moat layout as well as a location concept and block development were essential in castle town planning. The basis of urban design in Japan is a block development concept called Machiwari, which entails the development of streets to formu-late blocks, which are then subdivided to allocate the land to the various urban functions.

The first capital city was developed in Nara in the 7th century. The location concept common to all capital cities was based on the concept of feng shui, which delivered the spatial arrangement and the orientation in relation to the connotation of topographical condition as follows: a waterway in the east, a primary highway in the west, hills and mountains in the north and lowlands in the south (Takahashi: 1993). This concept was also applied to Kyoto. The block development concept was at first much influenced by the spatial pattern of Chinese capital cities but was adapted and developed to fit the local needs of each capital.

Castle towns began to be built in the 16th cen-tury, after a long period of struggle for power to determine who would govern the country. The cas-tle towns were the political and commercial urban centres planned by the local lords (who were del-egated by shogunate but independent) during the Tokugawa reign that lasted 265 years, from the 17th to the mid 19th century. A castle town was gener-ally composed of the samurai-class residential area around the castle, commercial and artisan area with residences for ordinary people, and a temple area at the city fringe. Most of the present Japanese local urban centres originated from castle towns.

Kyoto is the last capital city and Osaka is typical of the castle towns, and both have retained their position as major cities of Japan. Though both of them have undergone urban expansion in the modernization process, substantial differences are observed in the present townscapes of their historic urban centres.

2. TRANSITION OF URBAN SPACE IN KYOTO

2.1 Planning concept of the capital KyotoThe last capital, Kyoto, was settled in the Kyoto Basin with abundant underground water and surrounding mountains in the north to protect it, with the Kamo River in the east and lowlands in the south, according to the traditional location concept for capital cities.

The area of the capital city was defined by the block development. The east-west axis was approximately 4.5 km long and the north-south axis was approxi-mately 5 km long. The main street, about 80 m wide in the centre, connected the south entrance of the city and the palace, and divided the capital area into the east and west sections.

Fig. 1

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Spatial Transformation and Sustainability of the Block Structure of Historic Urban Centres in JapanHisako KOURA

Fig. 2 The layout of the capi-tal Kyoto and its block s t r u c t u r e . ( S o u r c e : Takahashi 1993: 36)

Fig. 3 The transformation of the block structure accompa-nied by the formation of the neighbourhood unit. (Source: Hisako Koura)

The urban blocks were developed in a hierarchy with different widths of streets, in a grid pattern (Fig. 2). The urban block of 120 m by 120 m was standard and was divided into 32 lots allocated to ordinary people. The palace was located at the centre of the north edge and blocks adjacent to the south of the palace were occupied by the administrative facilities. The ruling class families were allocated a block per family for their residences and most of them stayed in the east side (Takahashi: 1993). This block de-velopment concept is the Machiwari of Kyoto capital.

The boundaries of the capital defined by Machiwari were not fixed, but depended on the land use inten-sity. The west side of the capital area was scarcely built up and soon abandoned, but the area expanded to the north. When the public markets closed down, a shophouse-type housing, which was the origin of Machiya, emerged, and many units were built with the shop-fronts along the street. As a consequence, a standard block was divided into four parts, each of which faced onto a block street (Fig. 3).

2.2 Historic block and site structure

The present historic urban centre of Kyoto is com-posed of two main types of blocks and site patterns (Fig. 3). One is the 120 m grid block which evolved

from the capital city block structure in the 9th cen-tury, with the later transformation of site patterns associated with the emergence of the Machiya. The other is the 120 m and 60 m gird block pattern developed in the 16th century to increase land use intensity, promoting urban economic activities.

The spatial structure of the block in the former capital city of Kyoto had been transformed through-out history. Though Kyoto was the capital for more than 1000 years, the power of the emperor and the aristocrat was constantly challenged after 12th century, resulting in frequent battles for power. The urbanized areas considered as the capital and the spatial structures of blocks have changed accord-ing to the political conflicts, especially during the 15th century. The neighbourhood unit was gener-ated in the 15th century as a self-governing and self-guarding spatial unit of local merchants and manufacturers against the political disorders. The primary neighbourhood unit was composed of two parts of the quarters in the block on both sides of the block street (Fig. 3) (Akiyama: 1975).

The most drastic change came about in the 16th century, when Kyoto was restructured to be the castle town by Toyotomi, samurai authority. This was the time when most of the original blocks planned for the old capital were redesigned into 120 m and 60 m grid blocks. The authority of the castle town, however, could not force the people to change the block size of the blocks that contained the neighbourhood units that were formed as the self-governed local association in the late medieval times. They have been in charge of performing the rituals of the Gion festival (Takahashi:2003).

And even though the urban structure has changed and buildings have been rebuilt in the modern style of the time over and over on the same site, the basic concept of the block type and the neighbour-hood units have been sustained for centuries.

The present neighbourhood unit in the historic ur-ban centre was developed and is maintained by the owners of the lots and/or buildings on both sides of a block street, which means that each urban block contains part of four different neighbourhood units (Fig. 4). The shops and workshops of Machiya on the urban block street faced each other and the street in the middle functioned as a kind of com-mon public space.

The traditional spirit of the neighbourhood unit, i.e. autonomous and self-governing, has contin-ued until the present. Each neighbourhood unit is basically independent as long as it does not dis-turb the living environment of the adjacent units. Community affairs are managed by local agree-ments, and although some of the contents of the agreements are now considered out of date, they remain a significant basis for the management of local issues (Koura: 2003).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

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Hisako KOURA

Fig. 4 The scheme of neighbourhood unit. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Fig. 5 A typical layout of a Machiya with building facing the street and open spaces to the rear. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Räumliche Transformationen und Nachhaltigkeit der Blockstrukturen historischer japanischer Stadtzentren

Fig. 4

2.3 Collective condition of urban housing

Machiya is a prototype of Japanese urban housing with a typical lot form that is characterized by nar-row frontage and long depth. In the historic urban centre of Kyoto, frontage width mostly ranges be-tween 5 and 8 m. On the street, the continuity of the eaves and the tile-roofed skyline represent the typical Machiya streetscape. The typical plan of the Machiya has a room for the shop or workshop in the front facing the street and rooms for private quar-ters at the back (Kyo-Machiya: 2002). The windows and openings on the façade are covered by wooden lattices that shield occupants from being seen from the street, yet enabling to see out.

Open spaces, such as a small garden and household workspaces, are usually located at the back of the lot. These open spaces in the middle and the back of individual lots are linked with each other, preventing

the building walls from hindering the wind and the sunlight, and supplying light and natural ventilation to the rooms (Fig. 5). This typical spatial compo-sition of the Machiya provides collective comfort within the block in a low-rise, high-density living environment (Kyoto Centre: 2009).

Most of the traditional Machiya are two-story wood-en structures that do not meet the spatial needs of modern urban offices and other functions. However, although Kyoto is a major city, the pressure for ur-banization and development has been comparatively low, and thus the processes of rebuilding and trans-formation have advanced at a moderate pace. As a fireproof building is a legal requirement in commercial zones in Japan, it is difficult to maintain and/or re-build the wooden structures in the mixed-use historic urban centre. And thus, the Machiyas were gradually replaced with tall steel and concrete office buildings and apartments that have caused ‘confusion’ in the townscape. During the last 50 years, many of the shophouses have also been replaced with detached houses – despite the urban policy to retain traditional mixed use in the historic urban centre.

Traditionally, urban mixed use was achieved by a large stock of Machiya in the shophouse style. However, recently, mixed-use in the historic ur-ban centre has been realized by promoting the coexistence of business and commercial use and variations of types of housing. These offices and apartments differ from the Machiya in layout and volume. According to our research of 2001 on open spaces in typical blocks, large open spaces were observed along the street where the office buildings had been developed by merging the lots (Fig. 6). If we compare the east and the west sides of the

Fig. 5

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Spatial Transformation and Sustainability of the Block Structure of Historic Urban Centres in JapanHisako KOURA

Fig. 6 A diagram of open spaces inside a block. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Fig. 7 Building types constructed during 2007-2011 in the re-search area: Center, W. Go-sho and Nishijin. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Fig. 8 Frontage design of the build-ings constructed during 2007-2011 in research area. (Source: Hisako Koura)

block in Fig. 6, the open spaces in the middle and the back of individual lots are maintained on the west (left) side that was still mainly composed of Machiyas, whereas on the east side, buildings were bigger and setbacks produced open space along the street. The alteration of the open space layout arose from the differences in building types (Koura: 2002).

Setbacks from the street line to avoid the height control line disturb the continuity of streetscapes and cause the loss of open spaces at the back of a site. As a result, not only does the townscape become ‘confused’ but setbacks lead to a deterio-ration in the collective comfort and quality of the block environment, because of the alteration of the layout of new buildings.

2.4 Recent spatial transition caused by the replacement of Machiya

In Japan’s historic urban centres, the structure and building types in blocks and lots effect spatial alterations. Urban landscape issues in Kyoto are often discussed in connection with the height and volume of new buildings such as offices, hotels and condominiums. However, according to our research carried out in three different types of neighbourhood in 2011 (Koura: 2012), the major building type to replace Machiya during the period 2007-2011 is the detached house (total 65%), whereas only about 25% of the buildings are large condominiums and

offices (Fig. 7). The detached houses observed in the research areas are characterized by a vacant space in the front, by the setback. Detached houses built on traditional lots with a narrow frontage and long depth opt for a layout with a large setback which is used as parking space in the front to meet the con-temporary needs. In the area explored in the 2011 research, 60% of the new buildings have setbacks (Fig. 8), and the traditional building line is ignored.

Regarding the historic spatial context, the impact of the setbacks may be more critical than the promi-nence of the height in the townscape caused by the

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

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Räumliche Transformationen und Nachhaltigkeit der Blockstrukturen historischer japanischer Stadtzentren Hisako KOURA

Fig. 9 Variations of facades in the traditional block structure. (Source: Hisako Koura)

condominiums, especially after the new landscape policy (2007) (Kyoto: 2009), including stricter height control, was implemented in the historic ur-ban centre. In general, the Building Standards Law in Japan contains no tools to control the layout of open spaces in a lot. The detached houses shown in the photo below (Fig. 9) were built legally in the historic urban centre, even though designated Landscape District and local ordinance requires buildings to take into considerations the historic context of the townscape. The design review system in Kyoto is applied only to large-scale devel-opments, and it is always very difficult in Japan to reach a common understanding of the local context in due consultation (Koura: 2010).

The transition of the open space layout from the back to the front of the lot has emerged in most of the building types of recent constructions. This type of transition, if it spreads further in the historic urban centre of Kyoto, might lead to the loss of the framework of the spatial structure. And although the changes in the appearance due to modern life-styles are more noticeable than those in the blocks and space layout, it is the latter that are the more important urban planning issue.

3. MODERNIZATION OF THE OLD CASTLE TOWN OF SENBA

3.1 Castle town plan and block developmentThe castle town of Osaka was constructed about 450 years ago. The castle was designed to stand on high ground with the samurai zone surrounding it. The commercial and artisanal activities zone, which was the ordinary peoples’ living area, was devel-oped in the lowlands outside the castle moat, and that became the dominant land use in Osaka castle town during the Edo era, when the political power and administrative facilities were concentrated in Edo, Tokyo. Senba, which is the present urban cen-tre of Osaka, was the first developed commercial area in the lowlands, surrounded by waterways. The commercial area was then expanded to the south and to the west.

The Machiwari of Senba started with the develop-ment of streets in a grid pattern, like Kyoto, to form the urban blocks of the 72 m grid. This block was divided into two parts, with each of the parts hav-ing access to the east-west block street, and to the sewage system provided in between (Fig. 10). Since Machiya had been already accepted as the common urban building style by that time, each part of the block face to the east-west street was subdivided into the lots that fit the Machiya use. Each of the allocated lots had a frontage width of 7-10 m and a depth of about 35 m (Miyamoto: 1989).

Neighbourhood units in Senba were organized by the owners of the lots on both sides of the street in the east-west direction. They also had autonomous governance, and each unit was also self-guarded by small doorways at the intersections of the streets, at the boundaries.

3.2 Spatial alteration caused bymodernization

Osaka was a leading city in the early period of mod-ernization and industrialization, and the streetscape of Senba, its historic urban centre, has lost its tra-ditional appearance, and become a modern central business district. However, Senba still sustains an old Machiwari developed about 450 years ago.

The map of present-day Senba confirms that the old block pattern has been preserved, together with the sewage system that is still functional and now used as rainwater drainage. However, the site pat-tern is getting varied (Fig. 11): although typical Machiya lots with narrow frontages can still be seen in each block, their number is decreasing. Although some of the lots were consolidated to form wider frontage, the sewage system works to retain the primary block division into two parts that is still fundamental for the neighbourhood units.

During the rapid economic growth, drastic changes in the urban landscape occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, and business owners rebuilt small build-ings with shops or offices and work places on the ground level and housing above (see Fig. 13) within the Machiya-sized lots. In this case, the appear-ance has changed completely, from a traditional design to a modern one – but the urban mixed-use function and the site pattern were preserved. The streetscape has been regenerated retaining the historic concept of continuous façade, though based on the newly designated building line, with the spa-tial restriction by the Machiya-sized lot.

High-rise office towers have also been built since the 1970s, and they have always provided large open spaces along the street with setbacks (see Fig. 13) that are often related to the incentive system used to attract large developments. The local planning authority provides the incentive by agreeing to deregulate the FAR (floor area ratio) on condition that greenery and open space for pedes-trians are developed along the street. This incentive system and the setback deregulation promote the merging of lots for larger redevelopments.

The transformation of the site pattern in Senba has taken place. However, the fundamental Machiwari con-cept is preserved in the present map of the city centre.

Fig. 9

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Spatial Transformation and Sustainability of the Block Structure of Historic Urban Centres in JapanHisako KOURA

Fig. 10 Osaka in the 17th cen-tury. (Source: “History of Japanese cities 1: space”, University of Tokyo Press, 1989: 182)

3.3 Effects of Machiwari

Modern redevelopments were inevitable for major cities and urban centres such as Senba, Osaka, since Machiya, a two-story wooden structure, can-not accommodate modern urban functions that demand a specific space design and much larger spaces than Machiya can provide. This is unique in the wooden architectural culture, and cities have undergone radical changes in building types dur-ing the modernization, and Senba is no exception.

Though most of the buildings in Senba have al-ready been redeveloped, the fundamental spatial structure of the Machiwari has been retained. The Machiwari can control the size and shape of the indi-vidual lot and the layout orientation on the site, and also, even now, it restrains the excessive merging of lots. The stability of Machiwari is effective for mak-ing new developments adjust to the local context.

Machiwari is a significant historic resource that prescribes the urban spatial structure, and the neighbourhood units based on Machiwari can be identified by the name of the place on the map,

even though the neighbourhood units do not func-tion like they used to in the old days. Machiwari in Senba still has the potential to organize the spatial structure of the block.

4. ALTERATIONS AND PRESERVATION OF SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN THE HISTORIC URBAN CENTRES

An examination of the transformation process of the historic urban centres in Kyoto and in Senba, Osaka, reveals that Machiwari and the urban hous-ing prototype, Machiya, are the key indicators for appraising historic spatial value.

Machiwari are usually long-lived even though the buildings change. In both Kyoto and Senba, the original grid-pattern block structures have been maintained to this day. And neither historic urban centre has ever undergone any large-scale land read-justment – even during the modernization period or the restoration phase after World War II, when most of the major urban centres underwent reconstruc-tions of street patterns during the restoration phase.

Fig. 10

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Räumliche Transformationen und Nachhaltigkeit der Blockstrukturen historischer japanischer Stadtzentren Hisako KOURA

Fig. 11 Machiwari means the devel-opment concept how to lay-out the blocks and decide the site pattern. It varies in each cities even though the general concept is common. Here the case of Senba.

Fig. 12 Original Machiwai of Senba (left map) is conserved in the present block struc-ture (right map). (Source: “History of Japanese cities 1: space”, University of To-kyo Press, 1989: 182)

Although the urban buildings in Kyoto and Senba have been renovated and rebuilt over time, the lot size, narrow frontage and long depth, restricted the buildings to the Machiya form, and collective comfort within the block was secured. In Senba, the original lot size was bigger than in Kyoto and big enough for a small building, so the rebuilding proceeded rapidly in the 1950s, losing the historic features of the streetscape. Moreover, compared with the urban block in Kyoto, split by Machiya into four different parts/neighbourhood units, the block in Senba is divided into two parts by the sewage system, so it was been much easier to consoli-dated the lots into larger lots in a good shape fit for large developments (Fig.3, Fig.11).

Kyoto is a major city, but the pressure of urbaniza-tion and development has been relatively low, and transformation has advanced moderately because Osaka took on the major role of industrialization. Only around the year 2000 did people realize the urban alterations caused by the development of condominiums. The local authority tightened regulations regarding height, volume and design

control, but various types of buildings have re-cently replaced Machiya, and open spaces along the street by setbacks have become critical re-garding the sustainability of historic context. The change of building layout very much affects urban spatial structure.

Machiwari is the framework of urban spatial composition and Machiya is an urban build-ing prototype for realizing collective comfort in high-density environments, and it also generates coherence in the townscape. Changes to tangible qualities, such as the replacement of Machiya in the urban space are substantial and obvious so that they are easily noticed, while the intangible frameworks of the urban space such as Machiwari and the neighbourhood units with autonomous local rules are easily neglected even if they pre-serve the original historic value of the urban landscape. In this sense, Senba still maintains its historic framework, and can be considered to be a historic urban centre with a modern ap-pearance, as long as the Machiwari is preserved (Koura: 2011).

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

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Spatial Transformation and Sustainability of the Block Structure of Historic Urban Centres in JapanHisako KOURA

Fig. 13a Small bui ldings on the Machiya-sized lot. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Fig. 13b Large scaled office build-ings on the site developed by merging Machiya-sized lots. (Source: Hisako Koura)

Hisako Koura

Professor of Kobe Design University, Doctor of en-gineering, majoring urban design and planning.

Prior to coming to Kobe Design University, Koura worked as the planner of the private planning consulting office mainly for Planning Division of Osaka City gov-ernment during 1884-1992, and then worked as the associate professor of the Graduate School of Engi-neering, Osaka University during 1992-2015. Recent research interests are cul-tural landscape and spatial planning.

The certificated urban and regional planner in Japan and is designated as the committee member of the landscape planning in the several municipalities.

Contact:koura-h@kobe-du.ac.jp

5. EVOLUTION AND CONSERVATION

All historic urban centres have undergone altera-tions, with differences in speed, quantity and quality depending on various conditions, when they were confronted with the economic, social and cul-tural necessities of the time. Spatial alterations in Japan had been moderate until the modernization introduced in the late 19th century, which brought about drastic changes in Japanese cities. The first legal urban planning system was established in 1919 to promote modernization and industrializa-tion by restructuring the road and transportation system to deliver the large industrial land use and economic development – but it did not contain the concept of spatial control and urban design.

Machiwari is an original urban design and imple-menting tool in Japan, and is closely related to urban land use allocation and building layout, and has functioned as a kind of control on spatial structure, until the property market became the dominant factor in urban development in 20th century. Like Senba and Kyoto historic centres, recent develop-ments that seek only to make a profit on the market, are a threat to the special local conditions.

Now that the economy has stagnated in most of the cities in Japan, and depopulation has started, the land use intensity is going down, and the need for a shrinking strategy has come up for discus-sion. The planning concept and tools for growing no longer work. Now, development management needs to develop means to control spatial altera-tions when revitalization is taking place. When we are looking at how to establish a planning tool for development management, a historic context of the place is a reliable place to start. The remaining Machiwari could be the key setting for redesigning the historic urban centres.

The 2011 UNESCO recommendation on the historic urban landscape (UNESCO: 2011) accepted that continuous urban alteration is a part of the con-servation concept, which is a significant change. It stated that the historic urban landscape approach considers cultural diversity and creativity as key as-sets for human, social and economic development, and provides tools to manage physical and social transformations; as well as to ensure that contem-porary interventions are harmoniously integrated with heritage in a historic setting, and take into account regional contexts. As mentioned in the rec-ommendation, physical transformation is the nature of the built environment. Strategic management for integrating alterations into the historical local context will be required, generate the character of a place, while conserving its historic resources.

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Fig. 13a Fig. 13b