Designing a sustainable future for

East-Asian peri-urban areas through

integrating rural greenspace

Makoto YOKOHARI The University of Tokyo

LaTrobe University, Bundoora, October 2013

Forest

(70%) Agricultural (12%)

Urban (8%)

370,000km2

1

10

100

1000

10000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2.27

169.6

2970.4

14.1

55.8 52.6 78.6

12.2

41.0

52.8 43.5

47.3 53.3

71.1 % hectors

Proportion of the land area for

agricultural uses

Average farmland size per farm

household

Small and labor intensive Japanese agriculture

Kanto, 70km N of Tokyo

http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/graph/20110311/43.html

Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake

January 17, 1995

Dead: 6400

Injured: 44000

September 1, 1923

Victims: 1,484,000

(58％）

Dead: 58,000

Burnt-down houses:

215,000（62％）

Burnt-down area:

3342ha（42％）

Great Kanto Earthquake

SOURCE: Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program, United Nations Population Division

Seismic hazards and mega-cities

Flood in Bangkok Bangkok (2011), Beijing (2012), Manila (2012)…..

D

isast

er

risk

s

Comprehensive Risk index

by Munich Reinsurance Company

Paris

NYC

Tokyo

Paris 25

New York 42

Tokyo

710

30 London

Need to develop a sustainable and resilient

planning concept suitable for areas prone

to natural disasters

What kind of a planning concept?

Cologne, Germany

16th century

Paris, France

16th century

Cities in medieval Europe

Greater London Plan (1944) and the London Green Belt

by Patrick Abercrombie

Urban Rural

Juxtaposition of homogeneous land units

Urban Rural

Inter-unit functional relations

SOURCE: Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program, United Nations Population Division

Seismic hazards and mega-cities

Loss of inter-unit

functional relationships

No way to survive?

Engawa Public? Private?

Container plants placed along roji (paths) in shitamachi Public? Private?

Agricultural lands in residential neighbor-hoods Urban? Rural?

Edo

Land use of Edo in the mid 19th century

More than 40% of the land area was for agricultural uses

Mixture of urban and rural land uses in the mid 19th century Edo

Night soil

Agricultural products Edo Farm

households

Edo: One of the most successful sustainable

cities based on the urban/rural land use mixture

1906

Kichijoji Mitaka

1937

Kichijoji Mitaka

Kichijoji Mitaka

1956

1998

Kichijoji Mitaka

Rural

Urban

What modern urban planning aimed…

Rural

Urban

What actually happened in Japan…

Chaotic?

Urban agricultural units providing food to neighboring urban land units

in emergency events

intera-urban

peri-urban

rural

international

intera-urban

peri-urban

rural

international

Food supply from intra- and peri-urban areas for redundant and thus resilient food supply

Agricultural lands with prime soil found in and around the urban core

railroad station

urban land use top

mid

low

Soil quality

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of a

gricu

ltu

ral la

nd

s w

ith

prim

e s

oil

an

d th

at o

f b

uilt

up

la

nd

s

Distance from the urban core (railroad station)

agricultural land with prime soil

built up land

R2 = 0.77

Multi-functionality / ecosystem services of agricultural lands in peri-urban areas

Bio-diversity conservation

Microclimate control (Reduction of summer heat)

Scenery conservation

Water retention

Heat

island

Farmland patches as “cool spots” in a residential neighborhood

Coverage ratio of paddy fields per unit (%)

Relationship between the coverage ratio of paddy fields and the

temperature differences between paddy fields and the urban core

2C

Peri-urban landscapes with various agricultural greens

A suitable planning concept for East-Asia

Who’s going to cultivate the lands?

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

1990 1995 2000 2005

Declining agriculture in Tokyo

household household

Subsistence

(46.3%) Minor

Sub-major

Major 15-29

30-49

50-59

60-64

Over 65

(52.8%)

Farm households (Tokyo Met) Farm households (23 wards)

Farm operation (Tokyo Met) MAFF (2006) Age of farmers (Tokyo Met) MAFF (2006)

2005 2005

MAFF (2006) Tokyo Met（2006)

Estimated demographic transitions of Japan

More than 25% of the population become over 65 within 20 years

Past Future (estimate)

Transitions in the population of Japan : 1955 to 2055

Shrinking population, shrinking cities, and shrinking

economy

Urban residents retired at the age around 60 willing to practice agriculture as their second life

Let them come out from their backyard and collaborate with farmers

Agriculture experience gardens

Nerima, Tokyo

Instructed by local farmers

Local “urban” residents working, not volunteering, as

semi-professional farmers on suburban farmlands

Group A Group B, Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Community

garden

Professional

farming

small large

Group A

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Community

garden

Professional

farming

Group B

Number of grown vegetables

small large

Size of farmland

Urb

an h

obby farm

ers

Pro

fess

ional fa

rmers

9.1

kg/m2/year

6.2

kg/m2/year

Peri-urban landscapes with a small-scaled mixture of fragmented urban and

agricultural land uses

May not be “beautiful” but “functional” to create sustainable and resilient cities

in East Asia

Thank you!