Perry Athanasopoulos
Housing and Planning in Post-war Urban Japan
Dealing with the
ramifications of World War II, Japan was confronted with an incredibly
difficult task of rebuilding the country on multiple levels including
economically, politically and most importantly, physically. The task of
physically reconstructing the war torn cities of the nation from rubble was
twofold, with the pressing need for housing its surviving residents and the
essential, yet somewhat less pressing, need of local infrastructure. Hiroshima
and Tokyo both present interesting cases on how a large scale disaster and the
destruction it causes can change the priorities in cities in regards to
planning, in particular, the priorities of its citizens and their well-being.
Since even before the
war ravaged Tokyo, “the housing needs of the Japanese urban population during the period
of industrialisation and urban growth have never been adequately met” (Dore,
1958, p. 40). This issue came to the forefront of the Government and planners
thoughts in the 1930’s, after the rapid growth of the urban population highlighted the
need for a larger quantity of housing and an overall increase in the quality of
accommodation. This led to the first intervention of the government in relation to housing with
the introduction of schemes and provisions, in order to boost the rate of
production, which unfortunately had little effect in providing the grand scale
construction program which was required (Dore, 1958).
The housing problems
that Tokyo faced were further exacerbated during the war in 1944-45, with “more
than 2 million”
houses destroyed by bombing and a further 500,000
destroyed by authorities to create crucial fire-breaks, culminating in the loss
of approximately a sixth of the nation’s houses (Dore, 1958). Supplies to
reconstruct these lost houses were economically unavailable, therefore
residents were forced to fend for themselves creating their own informal
housing. Despite the lack of funding, the houses were eventually built by 1952,
with over 50% of the then-current dwellings built since the end of the war 7
years earlier (Dore, 1958). However, the effects of the war certainly showed,
with estimates suggesting that only 76% of housing met the Japanese Governments
minimum requirements (Dore, 1958). The struggles of restoring the lost houses
from the war, with the continuing need to provide new dwellings for the
swelling urban population accentuates the problem of the housing shortages in
Tokyo. Dore (1958) states that 53% of households in Shitayama-cho area are
overcrowded, however also claims that the Japanese population considered
crowded sleeping to be “more pleasant than isolation in separate
rooms” and hence was not seen as a primary priority by authorities (Dore,
1958, p. 49).
Pre-war Hiroshima had a
population of about 400,000 inhabitants by 1939, and was largely characterised
as a military, academic and industrial city (Norioki, 2003). Urban Planning had
already been contrived in Hiroshima following the City Planning Act 1919 with
particular regard to roads, forming a road network in grid pattern of east-west
and north-south streets (Norioki, 2003). This all changed on the fateful
morning of August 1945 when a “major part of the city was reduced to ashes”,
becoming one of the 200 cities affected by American bombs (Norioki, 2003, p. 87).
Norioki (2003) claims that within two kilometres of the hypocentre of the
blast, all buildings apart from a few reinforced concrete buildings were
destroyed completely and ultimately 90% of the city area was affected by the
blast in one way or another.
Hiroshima’s
damage was not only contained to a small radius around the hypocentre, with the
effects of the blast destroying houses fairly distant from the centre.
Approximately 60,000 of the 76,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by the
atomic bomb resulting in a housing and planning crisis (Norioki, 2003).
Plans and proposals to
reconstruct the city came from both planning officials and members of the
general public, however due to fiscal constraints in the war-ravaged country
only those backed by official planners and the aforementioned Planning Act of
1919 materialised (Norioki, 2003). Furthermore, it was decided that Hiroshima
would install three big parks, four green areas, a large new cemetery (for the
bombing casualties) and 32 smaller parks into the open spaces created by the
destruction of houses (Norioki, 2003). Whilst it was incredibly progressive of
planners to incorporate goals for parks and green areas, it was “difficult
to keep this land free at times when large numbers of people were looking for
space to erect new houses” (Norioki, 2003, p. 94).
Much like what was
occurring in Tokyo at the same time, despite their world being dramatically
altered “the citizens began reconstruction as quickly as possible” by
building small informal houses
where their old house may have been or in new cleared locations, without legal authorisation (Norioki, 2003, p. 90). The plans for big parks ultimately had a large impact on households that reconstructed in the allotted area, with the government proceeding to compensate owners by mandating a land readjustment scheme before acquiring the land, however the complete removal of houses did not eventuate until 1959 (Norioki, 2003).
where their old house may have been or in new cleared locations, without legal authorisation (Norioki, 2003, p. 90). The plans for big parks ultimately had a large impact on households that reconstructed in the allotted area, with the government proceeding to compensate owners by mandating a land readjustment scheme before acquiring the land, however the complete removal of houses did not eventuate until 1959 (Norioki, 2003).
Ultimately, the Second
World War and the destruction it caused placed a great strain on the natural
order of life in Japan, leaving its cities in chaos and ruins. All planning
problems that were perceived before the outbreak of war were greatly
exacerbated by the end of fighting in 1945, with the large scale destruction of
infrastructure and housing impacting quality of life for residents. Moreover,
Japan was forced to rebuild its cities as well as cope with the long lingering
effects of the war simultaneously, providing headaches for governments and
planners particularly with prioritising and the allocations of already scarce
funds.
References
Dore, R. P. (1958). Houses and Apartment Blocks.
In City Life in Japan: A Study of a Tokyo Ward (pp. 40-52). London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Norioki, I. (2003). Reconstructing Hiroshima and
Preserving the Reconstructed City. In C. Hein, J. M. Diefendorf, & Y.
Ishida (Eds.), Rebuilding Urban Japan After 1945 (pp. 87-107). London:
Palgrave Macmillan.
terorvictims.com
(2012) Hiroshima Before and After the atomic bomb blast. Retrieved on
1/5/2015 from http://www.teror-victims.com/uploaded_files/151421/1/1a.jpg
Encyclopedia of Safety
(2010) Houses are being reconstructed in Hiroshima amongst the rubble of
destroyed houses. Retrieved on 1/5/2015 from http://survincity.com/2010/07/2nd-world-war-the-period-after-the-war/
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