A Study on the Amount, Generation and Extinction of Vacant Land and the Future Uses of Vacant Land (Report No.106)
Summary
Vacant land lots are expected to increase with a continuous decline of
the population. While it is feared that this increase of vacant land might
have some adverse impacts in the areas, it has not been made clear how
we can mitigate these impacts, or how we can prevent them from realizing.
Against this background, this research tries to grasp how a vacant land
lot comes to exist and cease to exist, clarifies the advantages and the
disadvantages of the presence of the vacant land. It also discusses what
the new uses of the vacant land are, based on a perspective that sheds
a new light on the value of vacant land, rather than on a traditional perspective
that considers a vacant land as waiting some construction activity.
In this research, the term “vacant land” is used to include not only a parcel of land that is not currently used, but also a parking lot, a vegetable garden other than the farmland, and a material depot. This research focuses on the urbanization promotion areas in three metropolitan areas, namely Shutoken, Kinkiken and Chubuken.
Chapter 1 : Background, objective, outline and research methodology
Chapter 2 : A “macro-level” analysis of the generation of the vacant land
The generation of the vacant land is analyzed at a “macro-level”, such as a metropolitan area and a city. With the data of the Digital Map provided by the Geographical Survey Institute, the relation between the distribution of the vacant land and the distance from the center of an urban area, the land use properties, and the change of the number of the households are analyzed.
Furthermore, the City of Yokohama is taken as an example to study the
relation between the change of the vacant land rate and the distance from
a railroad station, the topography, the timing of the development, the
change of the population, and the change of the number of the households,
based on the data of the “Basic survey for city planning”.
In addition, a survey is made on the officials in charge of city planning
in three metropolitan areas in order to grasp how they find the location
of vacant land, the change of the amount of vacant land, and the problems
caused by vacant land.
Chapter 3: A “micro-level”analysis on the generation and extinction of
vacant land and on the advantages and disadvantages of the existence of
vacant land
10 districts are selected from areas of three distinct types (central city areas, planed residential areas, and built-up areas) in order to study the generation and extinction of the vacant land, starting from 1990. The house maps of 1990, 2000 and 2010 are compared to accomplish this study. The conditions of the all vacant parcels are checked on site.
Also, the change of the ownership of a land that is currently vacant is
made clear based on land-registry information, and the relation between
the ownership change and the current land use (being vacant) is analyzed.
In addition, surveys are made on the inhabitants of the areas and the
landowners of the vacant land, in order to grasp how they find the advantages
and disadvantages of the existence of the vacant land.
Chapter 4: Case studies of the new uses of the vacant land
A variety of cases that relate to vacant land are introduced both from abroad and in Japan. These include a new use of vacant land other than a construction use, and a new system or measure concerning the use of vacant land.
These cases are classified into categories from the viewpoints such as
the attribute of the vacant land, the type of the new value on which the
use of vacant land is based, and the stance in considering how to utilize
vacant land.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
Main findings of this research are summarized with some suggestion on
the future policies on vacant land along with the issues that need further
investigations in the future.
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