‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

Reconstructing residential spaces for anaging society with a low birth rate anddeclining population
OTAKE Ryo,Director of the Housing Department(Key words) Prolonging service lifetime of housing, existing stock renewal, environmental adaptation, stable housing
for the elderly
1. Population decline, falling birth rate, aging, andhousing Population decline, the falling birth rate, and aging
have brought Japanese society to a major turning point
as the twentieth century gives way to the twenty-firstcentury. Of course, these problems existed at the endof the previous century, but they are accelerating in
the new century, when their impact on housing
problems will be massive. Housing responds to its
occupants, and the housing situation is greatly
impacted by trends in population and household
numbers. The falling birth rate and aging of society
force us to respond to the shortage of housing suitedfor households with children and for elderly people.
We must take action to deal with a society which hastaken a sharp turn in a new direction since thetwentieth century.  To begin with population decline, the challenge
facing housing policies in the last half of the twentiethcentury was how to tackle a soaring population and its
concentration in the large metropolitan regions. And toensure that the required quantity of housing wasconstructed, a Five Year Plan for Housing
Construction was enacted eight times under theHousing Construction Planning Law. In a society witha falling population which we are approaching, it will
be necessary to effectively utilize the existing housing
stock rather than construct new housing (the numberof new housing starts peaked in 1972 at 1.85 million,
but last year was down to 775,000). So the challenge
is to effectively use the growing number of empty
homes (13% of all dwellings in 2008) instead ofabandoning them.  With regard to the falling birth rate, regardless of
the improvement of the housing situation, the level ofhousing for families with children remains low (thetargeted housing floor area level achievement rate isan average of 57% for all households, while it is 40%
for households with children.) Welfare facilities for
elderly people have been extensively provided, but thesupply of housing adapted for occupancy by elderly
people is still low, and far behind the levels in Europeand North America (The percentage of all elderly
living in housing adapted to their needs is 8% in
Britain and in Denmark, but only 1% in Japan). As
these figures show, shortages of housing for families
with children and elderly people are now conspicuous.  And the falling birth rate and aging of society haverevealed problems with services necessary to support
people’s daily lives. The swing to nuclear family
households continues as single-person households andsmall households are still rising, and the ability offamilies to provide mutual support for all theirmembers as they did in the three-generation
households of the past has reached its limit. At thesame time, communities have been diluted, making it
difficult for people to satisfy their needs in theirneighborhoods. The mobility of elderly is now
restricted. In residential areas, not only housing, but
all functions and services needed for daily life must beensured. 
2. Recent trends in housing measures Housing policies have been transformed in response
to growing awareness of such circumstances whichappeared about 10 years ago. The Eighth Five Year
Plan for Housing Construction which started in 2001prioritized the stock and adopted a postureemphasizing the market place, in response to thetransition from a growing society to a mature society.
This has long been called the “switch from quantity toquality”, but in the past it promoted a good quality
flow. It has now switched to the formation of afull-scale housing stock. And to encourage effective
use through the smooth cycling of the housing stock,
the provision of an environment for the housing
market was considered necessary.  In 2006, the Basic Act for Housing was enacted,changing the planning system from the Five Year Planfor Housing Construction to Basic Plan for ResidentialLife, further clarifying the policy of omitting new
housing construction from our targets. In 2001, theElderly Housing Law was enacted, positioning thesupply of elderly housing, and then revised in 2009,
establishing the Plan for Stable Housing for ElderlyPeople.
 Now, more than ten years into the twentieth century,
the population has begun to decline, bringing us
face-to-face with brand new circumstances. Housing
policies must include measures to deal fully with theseproblems. The revision to the Basic Plan for
Residential Life enacted by the Cabinet in March ofthis year incorporates the following points. ձ A percentage of approved long-term superior‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

housing was set as a goal to form a good quality stock
which can be used into the future.
ղExpanding the scale of used home distribution andthe renovation market was set as a goal to effectively
use the existing stock.
ճ“The provision of services to support security” inliving environments was announced and a percentageof homes for elderly was set as a goal.

3. Initiatives by the National Institute for Land andInfrastructure Management In response to new trends under such a housing
policy, the NILIM is undertaking research activities totackle challenges necessary to support the enactmentof plans under this policy.
(1) Prolonging service lifetime of housing andimproving its performance The service lifetimes of houses in Japan are short.
In recent years, the average age of demolished houses
has been only 27 years. A long-term superior housing
system to build good housing, maintain it scrupulously,and use it carefully for a long time has established,
and in response to this, the NILIM has undertaken“Development of Multi-Generation Use SuperLong-Term
HousingandHousing
Land
Formation/Management Technologies” (from 2009 to2011).  To ensure conditions necessary to maintainsoundness of housing for a long period of time, somesuccesses have been achieved including a method ofevaluating the variability of divisions between
dwellings in apartment buildings, a method ofplanning long-term management of condominium
apartment buildings, a collaboration method to ensure
good living environments, guidelines to the use ofhealth monitoring technologies to improve
management, guidelines to the design andmaintenance of wooden detached houses, safetymeasure technologies for housing ground, and amethod of evaluating the performance of the body inorder to improve existing apartment buildings. (2) Recreating and cycling the existing stock Japan’s used housing distribution and renovation
markets are not as mature as they are in Europe andNorth America. Used housing accounts for only 13.5of housing distributed, and the percentage of funds
invested in housing directed to finance renovations isonly 27.2% (both are more than half of the levels in
the U.S. and Europe). In order to overcome one
problem behind this, namely people’s greater
uncertainty about their performance than about newly
built housing, a performance evaluation system anddefect insurance system for existing houses has been
established, and in response, we have begun“DevelopmentofPerformance
Evaluation
Technologies for Existing Houses for Used Housing
Distribution and Stock Reuse” (2011 to 2014). An
efficient performance evaluation method for existing
housing, including clarification of state ofdeterioration, has been established and is beingreflected in present inspection standards, etc. (3) Adapting to the environment surrounding theexisting housing stock As global environment measures, it is necessary tostop and reverse the increase of the cost of resident use
energy, which tends to rise faster than in other areas.
The environmental performance of new housing issteadily improving, but measures directed at thesoaring existing stock is needed. Thus, “Developmentof an Energy Consumption Evaluation Method
According to Category Of Housing” is in progress(2010 to 2012). The existing housing stock is
categorized by years since construction and the energy
consumption of each is evaluated, verifying theeffectiveness of measures taken to use less energy, andthis is reflected in energy saving standards for existinghouses. (4) Ensuring safe housing for elderly people
 In order to deal with the soaring number of
one-occupant elderly households and married couple
households (predicted to be 24.7% of all households in2020) and shortage of houses for elderly people, thesupply of housing with services linked to nursing andmedical care to support the lives of elderly people will
be encouraged. In response, the NILIM is undertaking“Research on Methods of Providing New Housing toIncrease Residential Security for Elderly People”(2011 to 2013). The aim is to establish guidelines toplanning housing for elderly people according to thediverse physical and emotional states of residents, andguidelines to the reduction of barriers inresident-owned homes according to the diverse
physical and mental states of the elderly, and measures
to deal with dementia.

4. Future challenges
 As we face an unprecedented age of declining
population, falling birth rates, and aging of society,there are many challenges which should be the objectof future research: reducing the scale of urbanneighborhoods, planning better residential districts,
and the role of the local community in child-rearing
and nursing care. (Reference document)
Housing Land Subcommittee, Panel on Infrastructure
Improvement   Documents No. 24 to 34  Basic Plan for Residential Life (National Plan)