Supporters Network for Community Development "Machizukuri"
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29)Rokkomichi station south district

Yuko Arimitsu, Environmental Development Research Inc.

K-13, K-27, K-47

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Map of Rokkomichi station south district Chart of Machizukuri joint organization of Rokkomichi station south district History of Machizukuri joint organization of Rokkomichi station south district
　

　The Rokkomichi station south district was designated as an urban redevelopment district, and written opinions were presented and planning has been framed with participation of the residents. Particularly, a park with an area of 1 ha. planned to be constructed in the center of the district was controversial.
　The district was divided into four blocks and a machizukuri organization was established in each block after June, 1995. A machizukuri joint organization consisting of directors selected in the respective organizations was formed in July.

1) Until decision of site planning for the park and roads:

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Park and road arrangement plan decided by residents
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Plan of "Basic planning meeting / Environmental design sectional meeting"

(1) Recovery of a reliance relationship between the residents and the administration:

　At the time of the designation of land readjustment and redevelopment areas on the 17th of last March, the confidence of the residents in the administration was the worst. There were no constructive discussions about machizukuri between the residents and the administration. But the trust seemed to be half recovered at the time of start of the three machizukuri organizations and the joint organization on the 18th of June. After the start, a leaders' meeting of each block was held every week or every other week. These meetings consisted of approximately 20 leaders, 4 or 5 consultants and 3 or 4 administrative officials. This scale was small enough for the members to understand mutual human nature and sincerity. The meetings were convened on the initiative of the leaders, with technical support from the consultants (providing data, explanations, advice, etc.) with the administrative officials (executer of the project) speaking only when asked. Under such circumstances, it became clear that the project would proceed with sufficient consideration of opinions of the residents, and trust was gradually recovered. It also helped establish trust that the executer constructed 94 dwelling units as temporary housing for the project at the early stage (May, August and October) in the district so as to comply with a demand of the residents that they wanted to come back to the district as early as possible.

(2) A role of "a plan framed by a machizukuri organization (for distributed layout of the park)":

　Before the start of the machizukuri organizations, planning had been framed by "a -new machizukuri organization for Rokko south district" which consisted of approximately 50 residents and supported by Professor Kodama of Kobe University and students joining in his seminar. When a machizukuri proposal for an area of 5.9 ha. mainly regarding the size and layout of the park was discussed in the organizations, both the residents and the consultants regarded the planning framed by the society as one of substitutions. (Several members of the society took part in each block leaders' meeting.) Although the planning of the society itself was not discussed in the leaders' meeting, a plan for providing a small park in each block area was examined. As a result, the planning was not adopted for the following reasons: It was difficult to regard a square in a block area as public infrastructure like a park; and the price of land for the square was included in the price of a floor in a building constructed by the project, and hence, the plan could conflict with a general opinion of the residents that they wanted to have their shares in the expenses minimized. This plan was felt to have gentility, a human touch, an atmosphere of the residents' own making and warmth as compared with the decided urban planning. Therefore, the plan should be treasured as a town image as a longing of the residents, and the machizukuri proposal should be influenced by this plan.

(3) Arguing points on the size of the park:

　The administration thought that the minimum size of the park should be 1ha. because one of the objects of the project was provision of a local base for disaster prevention. In contrast, the residents thought that although the park was necessary, the size could be smaller, suitable for use by the residents of this district. Discussion continued on the size of the park for half a year until the end of the last year. The main arguing points in the leaders' meeting were: a. concept of disaster prevention possessed by the city; b. a relationship between the size of the park and a floor price of a redeveloped building; c. use of the park at ordinary times; d. use of the underground of the park; e. a relationship between the size of the park and a height of a redeveloped building; and f. how to deal with remaining apartment houses.
　On the other hand, an opinion that they preferred low- or medium-height housing to a high-rise housing was occasionally given. As a result, it was decided that the size of the park alone was not to be decided alone, but the height of buildings in the entire district was to be considered, and the following 6 substituted plans (models) were framed.

(4) A process to reach an agreement of the residents:

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Combination of the size of the park and the type of the building
　Each block leaders' meeting took a vote for the 6 plans. Although the number of those supporting the first plan (where the size of the park was 1 ha. with mixed low, intermediate and high-rise buildings) was the largest, almost as many supported the third plan (where the size of the park was 2,500 m2 with a mixture of low, intermediate, storied and high-rise buildings). The members of the leaders' meetings decided that they could not bear the heavy responsibility for concluding this problem, and each block had a residents meeting in the middle of November last year. Although the meets were held in each block, they were attended by only 20 to 25% of the residents. The problem was regarded as too significant to be decided by the small number of attendees, and a questionnaire on this problem was sent out to all the residents and the answers were collected in the middle of December. The response rate was 40 through 50%. The proportion of those approving a park with a size of 1 ha., including those who think it unavoidable for the necessity of disaster prevention, was 56 through 85%. In the Fuka-Bi-5 and Oh-Bi-4 blocks, the plan of the 1 ha. park was decided as at the first leaders' meeting in January this year, and the plan was submitted to the residents meeting on the 11th of February. In the Sakura-5 block, since there arose an idea that the Ministry of Construction seemed flexible about 1 ha. size, and they also had to discuss the future layout of infrastructure, the residents meeting was held on the 17th of March slightly behind the other blocks. After the residents meetings, the joint organization was held in the evening of the 17th of March, where the machizukuri proposal agreed by the residents was decided.

(5) Decision of a project plan in Block 2 (including former Main Rokko B and C buildings and Nihon Seimei building):

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Project plan in Block 2
　In this block, Main Rokko B and C high-storied buildings constructed by an urban remodeling project in 1973 leaned to one side by approximately 3 degrees after the earthquake. Decision hadmade to be replace them with another urban redevelopment project. Immediately after the block was designated as a redevelopment area, a management society of the owners of subdivided parts of these buildings began working with the executer of the project to attaining earliest rebuilding. On the 2nd of April, they selected consultants. Committees began to meet every other week to plan the new facility and to consider how the various participants property right would be adjusted. Thus, they dealt with various problems regarding temporary shops, construction of temporary housing and pulling down dangerous parts of the buildings. In the middle of October last year, basic planning was decided in a leaders' meeting, which was submitted to an owners' meeting on the 26th of November. Thus, the planning framed by the leaders' meeting was approved. The executer held a project explanation meeting on the 4th of February this year, where a floor price was announced. Then, the project plan was opened to public inspection from the 20th of February to the 4th of March, and the project plan was decided on the 28th of March. During this time, the management society was disbanded and "a Fukada-4 south machizukuri organization" was established on the 24th of March. Since this block was not directly related with the planning of the park, which was the most significant problem for the other three machizukuri organizations, the project plan was thus decided. This decision was accepted with great concern (does this mean they liked it or they did not like it, or that they though it was important) by the other three organizations as a standard floor price for redeveloped housing in this district, and played a significant role for promoting the project in the future.

2) Project development in the future:

(1) Current action of the organizations:

　After the decision of the layout plan of the park and roads, the organizations will discuss the entire planning for the district of 5.9 ha. on the following points: In which block should main infrastructure (such as public utility facilities and commercial and business facilities as a core) be constructed; and how should residential buildings be laid out (i.e., how high they should be, which direction they should face, and will they be rental housing or subdivision). At present, a questionnaire is to be set out to residential and commercial rightful persons, so as to grasp their opinions. At the same time, the leaders' meetings are to make an inspection of high-rise housing. The joint organization will reach some conclusion on the overall plan by the end of June, and basic planning for each block will be pondered over in each block organization thereafter. The target is to decide the entire project planning by the end of this year.

(2) Establishment of "a basic planning meeting" and its relationship with the machizukuri organizations:

　A basic planning meeting was established in order to solidify the basic concept of the entire planning of the executer so as not to make the plans of the four blocks conflict with one another during the discussion of the entire planning by the residents (machizukuri organizations). In particular, the basic planning meeting promotes a further discussion on the concept for designing the environment of the entire district, a keynote to housing supply, a keynote to commercial planning, and the like. The basic planning meeting consists of 4 men of learning and experience, 11 administrative officials and 7 consultants. The basic planning meeting and an environmental design sectional meeting is with professors. An interim report will be give at the end of April.
　If the project planning for the block 2 is decided and management disposition planning is decided by the end of this year, the first rehabilitation in the Rokkomichi station south district will be started next spring. A first building to be constructed would be as high as 33 stories, and hence, the construction wouldl take about 3 years. Occupancy would begin in 2000. This seemed too long, so the executer and the consultants have started to consider whether or not low- or intermediate-storied housing requiring less time could be constructed, so that at least some occupants could move in earlier. Practical solutions to implementation problems will need to be found from now on.

3) Machizukuri proposal - infrastructure layout planning in each block:

　When the layout planning of the park and roads was decided in the joint organization, the park was determined to have a size of approximately 1 ha. The final plan would depend on the infrastructure layout of each block in view of the opinions of residents of the remaining apartment houses. To achieve this, the three block organizations held many the leaders' meetings and residents meetings in order to reach an agreement.

(1) A method for reaching an agreement (narrowing planning down):

　The three organizations adopted different methods but all of them made efforts to reflect the opinions of the residents as far as possible.
　+ After narrowing the infrastructure layout planning down to one plan in the leaders' meeting, the resultant plan was publicized through the residents meeting and the machizukuri news. A questionnaire was set out on the plan, and the result of the questionnaire was approved and decided in the residential meeting. (Oh-Bi-4 block)
　+ After explaining the four plans (I am not sure which 4 plans, did they come out of the leaders meeting described just above this?) in meetings individually held in current sub-blocks, and the four plans were then narrowed down to two plans in the residential meeting. The final decision was made by using mail voting. (Sakuraguchi-5 block)
　+ The residential meeting (three times), meetings individually held in current sub-blocks (three times) and the machizukuri news (four times) were repeated, so as to make the plans known to the residents and to answer their anxiety and questions. The final decision was made in the fourth residential meeting by voting. (Fuka-Bi-5 block)

(2) Arguing points in the process for reaching an agreement:

　Anxiety about high-storied housing. The residents had preferred low-rise housing facing the south. It was explained that the building is unavoidably high-rise when the floor-area ratio is determined by the floor price.
　The number of dwelling units facing the south was increased.

4) Impressions working as a consultant of the machizukuri organization:

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Site plan by each organization
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Model
　I had participated in the rehabilitation planning in Rokkomichi station south district since immediately after the earthquake. I was present at an explanation meeting for the residents held by the city on the 5th of March, 1995, and was selected as a consultant in the owners' meeting of the Main Rokko B and C buildings, which were pulled down, on the 26th of March. The three machizukuri organizations were established (on the 18th of June), and I was selected as a consultant of one of them, the Fuka-Bi-5 block, and met the leaders on the 1st of July. Since then, I have worked closely with the residents of the Rokkomichi station south district. This relationship will continue from now on, and now on the occasion of decision of the machizukuri proposal, I will describe the process so far, from the viewpoint of the consultant.

(1) Change of attitude of the residents:

　First stage: Until the establishment of the machizukuri organizations - They were offended by the suddenly announced plans and they could not listen to the administration due to the distrust. Such emotional opposition could be gradually removed through several explanatory meetings held by the city, and the good sense that they should have discussions with the administration came back.
　Second stage: Until the approval of the 1 ha. park - They were skeptical that they should accept the park in a scale unnecessary for their community alone in the name of the urban planning. They wondered what they could get instead, and sought a compromise. First, the shape of a park was changed from square to a racket-shaped and there was a possibility of decreasing its size. In this stage, they got experience with participating in the machizukuri process, and framing the proposal.
　Third stage: Until the decision of the machizukuri proposal - They felt at the mercy of the administration, and their anxiety continued. They decided that their demands and wishes could never guaranteed if a stress was put on early rehabilitation alone. They shelved their impatience toward the rehabilitation and engaged in an endurance contest with the administration. As a result, the size of the park could be decreased from 1 ha. to 9300 m2 in order to increase the number of the dwelling units facing the south, and the administration announced that a floor price of the rebuilt housing would be determined in consideration of a cost amounting system as well as balance among the blocks and would be released at an early stage.
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