Beyond the Edge: Australia's First National Peri-urban Conference La Trobe University October 2013

1. LaTrobe University, Bundoora, October 2013
Designing a sustainable future for
East-Asian peri-urban areas through
integrating rural greenspace
Makoto YOKOHARI
The University of Tokyo

2. Urban (8%)
Agricultural (12%)
Forest
(70%)
370,000km2

3. hectors
%
71.1
80
70
53.3
52.8
47.3
43.5
41.0
60
50
2970.4
10000
1000
169.6
55.8 52.6
100
40
14.1
30
20
78.6
12.2
10
2.27
10
1
0
Proportion of the land area for
agricultural uses
Average farmland size per farm
household
Small and labor intensive Japanese agriculture

4. Kanto, 70km N of Tokyo

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

6. Great Hanshin Awaji
Earthquake
 January 17, 1995
 Dead: 6400
 Injured: 44000

7. Great Kanto
Earthquake
 September 1, 1923
 Victims: 1,484,000
(58％）
 Dead: 58,000
 Burnt-down houses:
215,000（62％）
 Burnt-down area:
3342ha（42％）

8. Seismic hazards and mega-cities
SOURCE: Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program, United Nations Population Division

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

10. Disaster risks
Comprehensive Risk index
by Munich Reinsurance Company
Paris
25
London
30
New York
42
Paris
NYC
Tokyo
710
Tokyo

11. Need to develop a sustainable and resilient
planning concept suitable for areas prone
to natural disasters

12. What kind of a planning concept?

13. Cities in medieval Europe
Cologne, Germany
16th century
Paris, France
16th century

14. Greater London Plan (1944) and
the London Green Belt
by Patrick Abercrombie

16. Urban
Rural
Juxtaposition of homogeneous
land units

17. Urban
Rural
Inter-unit functional relations

18. Seismic hazards and mega-cities
SOURCE: Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program, United Nations Population Division

20. Loss of inter-unit
functional relationships
No way to survive?

21. Engawa
Public? Private?

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

23. Agricultural lands in
residential neighborhoods
Urban? Rural?

24. Edo

25. Land use of Edo in the mid 19th century
More than 40% of the land area was for agricultural uses

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

27. Night soil
Edo
Agricultural products
Farm
households
Edo: One of the most successful sustainable
cities based on the urban/rural land use mixture

28. 1906
Mitaka
Kichijoji

29. 1937
Mitaka
Kichijoji

30. 1956
Mitaka
Kichijoji

31. 1998
Mitaka
Kichijoji

33. Urban
Rural
What modern urban planning aimed…

34. Urban
Rural
What actually happened in Japan…

35. Chaotic?

36. Urban agricultural units providing food
to neighboring urban land units
in emergency events

37. international
rural
peri-urban
intera-urban

38. international
rural
peri-urban
intera-urban
Food supply from intra- and peri-urban areas
for redundant and thus resilient food supply

39. Agricultural lands with prime soil found in
and around the urban core
Soil quality
top
mid
low
railroad station
urban land use

40. Percentage of agricultural lands with prime soil
and that of built up lands
agricultural land with prime soil
built up land
R2 = 0.77
Distance from the urban core (railroad station)

41. Multi-functionality / ecosystem services of
agricultural lands in peri-urban areas
Microclimate control (Reduction of summer heat)
Scenery conservation
Water retention
Bio-diversity conservation

42. Heat
island

44. Farmland patches as “cool spots” in a
residential neighborhood

45. 2C
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

46. Peri-urban landscapes with various agricultural greens
A suitable planning concept for East-Asia

47. Who’s going to cultivate the lands?

48. household
household
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
MAFF (2006)
4000
Tokyo Met（2006)
3000
2000
1000
0
1990 1995 2000 2005
Farm households (Tokyo Met)
Major
Sub-major
Minor
Farm households (23 wards)
15-29
30-49
2005
Subsistence
(46.3%)
Farm operation (Tokyo Met)
MAFF (2006)
Declining agriculture in Tokyo
Over 65
(52.8%)
2005
50-59
60-64
Age of farmers (Tokyo Met)
MAFF (2006)

49. Estimated demographic transitions of Japan
More than 25% of the population become over 65 within 20 years

50. Past
Future (estimate)
Transitions in the population of Japan : 1955 to 2055
Shrinking population, shrinking cities, and shrinking
economy

51. 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

52. Agriculture experience
gardens
Nerima, Tokyo
Instructed by local farmers

53. Local “urban” residents working, not volunteering, as
semi-professional farmers on suburban farmlands

54. Size of farmland
Group A
Group B, Group C
Group E
large
small
Community
garden
Group D
Group F
Professional
farming
Number of grown vegetables
Group F
Group D
Group C
large
small
Professional
farming
Group A
Group E
Group B
Community
garden

55. Urban hobby farmers
kg/m /year
9.1
2
kg/m /year
6.2
Professional farmers
2

58. Peri-urban landscapes with a smallscaled 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!