The Kobe Fieldwork, conducted at the beginning of November 2023, aimed to examine the town planning mechanisms implemented by the city government to protect diverse communities and strengthen their resilience. Upon arrival, we commenced our visit to Mount Rokko, observing the city’s development since the 1995 Earthquake. Our exploration included the recovery process and a visit to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial Museum, which featured a guided tour and a movie screening.
The following day, we delved into the history of the foreign settlement quarter and explored the local farmers market, renowned for its innovative approach to connect producers, consumers, and people from various backgrounds. The market, held every Saturday in a picturesque park, provided us with the opportunity to conduct interviews with over ten food stand operators, discussing their contributions to local farming, food security, and different recovery initiatives, as well as the establishment of local farm networks and distribution channels for wine, cheese, beer, and of course, vegetables. Additionally, we learned about collaborative workspaces, the utilization of akiya (vacant homes) for various purposes, startup promotions, and local tourism initiatives.
The field trip concluded with a comprehensive tour of the Kobe harbor development, which included visits to the Tadao Ando Children’s Library, the Kiito Design Centre, and the Atoa Complex, along with the newly developed Tooth Tooth Food Market and the iconic Kobe Sign. The Kobe Fieldwork provided the participants with a broad spectrum of experiences, from historical sites and cultural landmarks to insights into disaster management and recovery strategies. More fieldtrips will follow in 2024.
Looking Back and Looking Forward: Community and Justice in Crisis
The Pacific Rim Community Design 2023 Sendai took place from 16-18 September 2023. At Day 1 all participants visited Futaba, a town erased by 3.11, the Futaba Disaster Museum and listed to the major and how the town tries to recover. He showed us around the derelict city hall where the time stood still and displayed the time of the event: 14.46pm at 3.11. Afterwards we had the opportunity to see one of the local elementary schools and how also here time stop suddenly when the triple disaster hit. Parents were able to pick up belongings some 7 years later, but some never did as the memory must have been too sad.
From former 6500 residents just 100 returned (09.2023) or moved here (e.g. newcomer) since the lifting of the evacuation order on 30 August 2022. Many areas near the destroyed coastal areas are mainly planned for work/shopping but not living or residential purposes (even though around the new JR Futaba station (which is located along the Joban line) new low rise housing is constructed at the moment, offering affordable and subsidied houses and apartments for rent).
Also many (new) companies settle in the area, some are still under construction, attracting even more companies as 70 percent of the construction cost can be covered by public funds. Newcomer who plan to settle in the town can receive 200man/ 16.000 Euro, returnees cannot receive this, which leads to more inner conflicts and shows how complex the situation is. Thanks to all who organized this tour, it was a very inspiring to see the development, even though the town might never recover fully.
On day 2 we visited the Tomioka Archive museum, its impressive installations which featured items which were collected from private homes (70 percents of the items on display) including clocks, calendars but also a wrecked police car which reminds the visitor of the tragedy of the triple disaster which caused so many death, not just immediately but also many years later (the Futaba museum mentioend a number of a total of 2337 disaster related death in Fukushima by 31 March 2023). Minachan who is working as story teller for a local NGO eventually joined us on a bus tour around Tomioka showing us the former shotengai (central shopping street), schools, station buildings and even the fundament of her own house which is she now rebuilding in Tomioka.
After lunch we visited the Tomioka winery which started 2014/2015 to plant vines to better use the area and create something for future generations. Three school friends (who are now in their 50s) came together, used their own land and funds to start the procedure and continue to realize the project with the help of crowdfunding and many volunteers to finally to suceed to produce 500 bottles per year (as of 2022). Most of the bottles go to the crowdfunders, volunteers and all people involved but they have high hopes to be able to sell wine very soon to the general public. More about their initiave can be found here: https://tomioka-wine.com/
Our final stop brought us to Namie Cafe and the Ocafe, which is the initiave of a former residents and other women to tell the stories of 3.11 and their survivor.s Oka-san rebuilt and opens her house as cafe to all who want to know more about the disaster which especially hit Namie town but also many other local communities so hard. We listed to three kamishibai stories, narrated by three amazing women who work effortless to create a local network to which we should listen to and learn from so that such disaster will not happen again. If you are in the area, give them a call, surely they are welcoming you: https://ocafe-utuwa.mystrikingly.com/
On monday all participants came together at the Tohoku Universitie’s International Research Institute of Disaster Science – IRIDeS together to discuss their impressions, listen to different researchers and finally to poster presentations who featured many new ideas. Many thanks to all the organizers for all the efforts, energy and time as they took months to prepare this event, lets not just talk but realize how to create livable communities.
Ocafe is growing 1000 Sakuratrees to give to schools and other groups
A recent fieldwork trip brought us to New York City, where we had the chance to walk and discover different neighbourhoods, present our recent research about global cities and creative clusters to a small audience and make new connections for upcoming projects.
What a fascinating city, which was hit hard by the pandemic, yet always seems to be able to rise like phenix out of the ash. So many facets, faces and feelings, so many communities, creativity and connections were made.
Some interviewees stated during our fieldwork that the people need a thick skin to survive in the city, especially people which belong to the creative sector. Is that the case also in other cities like Tokyo, London or Paris, and what does that mean for their daily life, practice and creative work? Many questions which we hope to answers with more in-depth data.
More can be found on the research and project website
After a general introduction and weekly theoretical lectures covering topics such as urban renewal and gentrification, students learned a toolset of fieldwork techniques such as city walks, visual mapping, observation, and interviews. To better get to know the community, the students took ten walks around Jimbocho. First interviews were conducted in October (which was also published in the Nikkei Shimbun in December 2022), and a list of people we want to interview in the future was created.
In the second stage, the students began to discuss the usage of local parks, highways and skyscraper rooftops, etc., and began to create their own research questions. . To consolidate these topics, Kanda Jimbocho’s Mock-up Model was built.
Phase mapping: Canberra: Understanding the city through the scales of urban relationships
Public spaces in central residential neighbourhoods: workshop 3: excellent talk and introduction to Canberra: Understanding the city through scales of urban relationships by PhD candidate Viktoria Holmik
On 13 October 2021 Viktoria Holmik was leading the discussion on the future of Canberra/ connectivity/ roles of green spaces/ mega events/ global futures/ identity @ausjapanfoundation @architecture_uc, Many thanks for the great talk and we look forward to the next steps. #ucbuiltenvironment#citymapping#publicspace#urban#豪日交流基金#canberra#gardencity#postcovid19
More on: https://www.facebook.com/City-Milieu-102215982017149/
Dr. Imai will present together with Dr. Zdenka Havlova (University of Tokyo) results of the ongoing research project Urban Change and the Tokyo 2020 at the Workshop City of Tomorrow: Urban Innovations and the Tokyo 2020 Games, organized by the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies of the University of Duisburg-Essen. The presentation which is entitled The Transformation of Tokyo’s Fish Market’s Idetity: Tsukiji, Toyosu and the Tokyo 2020 Zdenka Havlova (University of Tokyo), Heide Imai (Hosei University) will shed light one cenral question: How are the mega events like the Tokyo 2020 reflected in ordinary spaces, sights, smells, and sounds of Tokyo, or in other words how is the macro shaping the micro cosmos of the city?
