NEW ALTERNATIVES FOR PUBLIC HOUSING IN JAPAN - FROM HOMOGENIZED SEGMENTATION TO SELECTIVE DIVERSITY

摘要

Although the diversity of Japanese society has been increasing due to population aging, income differentials, and the pressure of foreign labor, the public housing strategy has remained standardized. Additionally, the recent Japanese public procurement crisis might discourage planners from adopting innovations to meet the needs of the changing society. This paper describes possibilities based on three actual projects, which we conducted recently in Sendai, Japan. These projects are based on the idea that there are new alternatives incorporating various types of space to encourage activation of communities. However, the effectiveness of such alternatives may be dependent on project scale, as well as on the necessary consideration of long-range urban planning issues.