Urban development in densely populated wooden residential areas

One of these problems is the problem of depopulation in cities. Until now, it was only recognized as a problem in mountainous and rural areas, but depopulation is also progressing in cities. According to the 2008 Housing and Land Survey report by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the total number of houses in Tokyo is about 6.78 million, of which the number of occupied households is about 5.94 million, and the number of vacant houses has reached about 750,000, and the number of vacant houses continues to increase. In addition, according to the "Disaster Prevention Urban Development Promotion Plan" announced by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2004, there are widespread areas in the Tokyo metropolitan area where wooden houses are densely concentrated, with the wooden building ratio being over 70% and the dilapidated wooden buildings built before 1970 being over 30%. As the residents age, we cannot expect a steady economic growth in the future, and the willingness to rebuild and remodel is declining in the deflationary economy. Dilapidated wooden houses, vacant houses, and a resident composition biased towards the elderly are major problems for local communities. In particular, in areas densely populated with wooden houses, the increase in elderly care for each other and elderly people living alone is making communication between residents difficult. Meanwhile, in a society with nuclear families, many elderly people live in their own homes, while young families with many members in households live in rented homes. The average floor area of privately owned homes is ^120.9m2, while rented homes are less than half that at ^45.9m2, far removed from social needs. To solve these problems, it may be effective to reconstruct these areas densely populated with wooden houses into an environment where people of all ages and genders can live together.

It is possible to create a town where everyone can live comfortably by not only supplying a large amount of housing by rebuilding and building high-rise houses, but also by improving the living environment by "reducing" and "removing" existing houses while preserving the familiar scenery and community of the town. By "reducing" old houses, we can strengthen their earthquake resistance and renovate them into high-quality houses such as barrier-free houses to extend their lifespan. In addition, by "removing" poor houses and greening vacant lots, we can reduce the density of wooden house-dense areas and help with disaster prevention. I remember that the neighborhood relationships in the town of the past were warm and cordial. By using vacant lots and reconstructing the town while preserving the atmosphere of the past, it will bring comfort to the hearts of modern people who are losing their hometowns, and the town will become barrier-free and disaster prevention capabilities will be improved, making it a town where the elderly can live with peace of mind. Furthermore, by developing vacant houses into rental housing and restructuring the town so that young people can move to a new home that suits their future life stages, it will be improved into a community where diverse generations coexist.

The useful life of Japanese houses, which have been repeatedly scrapped and rebuilt, is very short. According to the 2008 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism White Paper, the useful life of Japanese houses is about 30 years, which is much shorter than 55 years in the United States and 77 years in the United Kingdom. Assuming that the average life expectancy of Japanese people is about 80 years, Japanese people will have to rebuild their houses more than twice in their lifetime. There are not many people who can afford to do that, and it is a waste of resources. Wouldn't it be better to live a meaningful life in a house that can be lived in for 100 to 200 years instead? The used housing market in Japan still tends to expect capital gains on the land rather than the value of the building. To overturn this, it is effective to change existing houses into high-quality rental housing. A declining birthrate and aging population is not all bad. If the young and old work together to reform the structure of the city, the revival of a heart-to-heart community is not a dream.