Role of Civil Society in Sustainable Urban Renewal (Machizukuri) after the Kobe Earthquake

Aleksandrina V. Mavrodieva, Ratu Intan F. Daramita, Arki Y. Arsono, Luo Yawen and Rajib Shaw
Additional contact information
Aleksandrina V. Mavrodieva: Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 5322, Japan
Ratu Intan F. Daramita: Ministry of Public Works and Housing, South Jakarta 12110, Indonesia
Arki Y. Arsono: Agriculture, Foods, Marine and Fisheries Agency of Bantul, Bantul 55714, Indonesia
Luo Yawen: Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 5322, Japan
Rajib Shaw: Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 5322, Japan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: ‘Machizukuri’ is translated by most commentators as ‘place or city making’ and mainly refers to the direct participation of citizens into urban planning and construction. The present paper discusses the concept and evolution of machizukuri from a social movement to ‘soft-infrastructure’ at city level, focused on serving community needs in post-disaster settings. The 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe is chosen as the main case study, in order to review the role and process of machizukuri in disaster management in the context of urban renewal. This is followed by a discussion on the possibility of replicating this model in other contexts and the challenges which machizukuri and similar bottom-up groups are faced with in ensuring their sustainability. The paper argues that the culture and personal engagement of the citizens, and the commitment of national and local governments to cooperate with civil society groups, are essential in this process. Finally, the study suggests that the utilization of this concept has proved that there are undeniable benefits in engaging civil society in decision-making processes and initiatives, with the ultimate aim to create communities capable of overcoming the catastrophic consequences of disasters.

Keywords: machizukuri; civil society; grass-roots innovation; sustainable mechanisms; disaster response; urban development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/335/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/335/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:335-:d:196711

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().