204｜Practice

Smoothly promoting urban development fortransportation through collaboration between
government and local organizations
1. Background and goals
For promoting urban development for transportation, there are a growing number of cases where localorganizations are created and these organizations work in cooperation with the government. However,rules have not been established regarding appropriate roles for each side, leading not only to insufficient
communication but also situations where the two parties fall into rivalry.
This project aims at deepening the discussion of considerations and methodologies for promotingefficient and constructive cooperation between local organizations and government in specific areas,
and thereby to obtain useful general knowledge.

2. Research content
2-1. Efforts toward consensus building in the Yanaka district
The Yanaka district in Taito ward, Tokyo, has a population of approximately 10,000 people. The district
is notable for containing many temples and wood houses from the Edo period and earlier. The district
faces traffic problems such as narrow streets that have become shortcuts for cars traveling at excessively
high speeds, as well as disaster prevention problems caused by stretches of wooden housing along narrow streets, resulting in the district being classified as a potentially dangerous area in terms of disasterprevention.
The most pressing traffic problem is the use of
the narrow residential roads of the district as shortcuts
for motor vehicles. This both increases danger to pedestrians and creates traffic-related problems such as noiseand vibration in houses along these roads. Time-based
restrictions on automobile egress have been establishedfor roads frequently used as shortcuts, but such regulations are often ignored. There have been other attempts
at improving the situation, but through traffic is a probFigure 1. Motor vehicles using residential roads
as a shortcut

lem affecting a wide area, and so far no definitive solution has been found.

Project Leader: Hisashi Kubota
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University

Smoothly promoting urban development for transportation through collaboration between government and local organizations｜205

Year

Initiative

GovernmentResidents

Core members
Problem recognition

Participatory traffic study“Uninvited” briefings
Prior consultation withgovernment to confirm
feasibility

Consideration of proposed measures in workshops
Application of participatory traffic simulation

Planning

Survey of residents’ opinions
in response to the traffic
environment and related policies

Content

Prior consultation withgovernment to confirm

Organization ofproblematic points

Multiple proposals of specific measures through workshops

feasibility
Prior consultation withlocal organizations to
spread knowledge

Consensus building

Survey of residents’ opinions
in response to specificproposed measures
Proposals compiled“Best efforts”
by mayor

Proposal submitted to the Mayor from the Town Planning Council
Pilot survey with resident participation

Development of government projects through resident participation(Urban development grant projects)

Preparation for
handoff of plan
to government

Figure 2. The consensus-building process of urban planning for transportation in the Yanaka district

The construction of large-scale apartments in the area has provided an opportunity for attempting tosolve these problems. Toward that end, the Yanaka Town Planning Council was formed with the goal ofconstructing a cooperative framework between government and residents.
(1) Proposed plan
To investigate each theme concretely in urban planning, in the summer of 2003 the Yanaka Town Planning Council established three groups: the Disaster Prevention Subcommittee, the Environment Subcommittee, and the Traffic Subcommittee. The Traffic Subcommittee was formed with the goal of investigating strategies for dealing with important traffic problems in consideration of the overall urban
development plan for the Yanaka district. The Traffic Subcommittee created a Yanaka district urban
planning workshop as a way of involving all district residents in considering methods for improving
local traffic problems.
The workshop was held 19 times between September 2003 and February 2006, providing a forum
for participants to learn about traffic problems and to discuss potential solutions. At the 14th and 15thworkshops, held in 2005, the results were presented of a survey that will be described below. Proposals
for solutions to local traffic problems were summarized into a document, and based on the results of theworkshops and surveys, the residents of the Yanaka district requested cooperation from the mayor ofTaito ward in improving the traffic problems.206｜Practice(2) Consensus building
For the purpose of consensus building between the government and residents regarding solutions to thetraffic problems, two questionnaire surveys were performed in 2004 and 2005. All residents of juniorhigh school age and older in the Yanaka district were included. A follow-up questionnaire survey wasalso conducted, targeting a sampling of households that did not respond to the initial survey. The questionnaire investigated awareness of traffic problems among residents in the Yanaka district.
Overall, what do you think about the current system, in which the local Town Planning Council
first considers proposals that are then implemented as specific ward projects?

0%

LegendN=384

10%

No answer

6.5%

20%

30%

I think it is good40%

I think it issomewhat good

40.4%

50%

60%

I haveno opinion

70%

I do not think
it is very good

34.9%

80%

I do not think
it is good at all

90%

100%

I do not know

10.9%

3.1%
1.8% 2.3%

Figure 3. Resident survey results(3) Handoff to government
The workshops and resident questionnaires resulted in two proposals for methods to take the first step
toward improving traffic: installing physical devices on roads to lower vehicle speeds, and finding ways
to improve enforcement of current traffic restrictions.
From this, a pilot survey with resident participation was performed, in which speed humps wereinstalled along two residential roads in the district
between February 17 and March 3, 2007. Speed humps
are humps intentionally installed on roads to lower
automobile speeds.
At the same time, handmade mobile bollards(barricades such as those used during road construction) were installed to prevent the entrance of automobiles into residential streets. The handmade bollards
Figure 4. An experimentally installed rubber
speed hump. Such experiments allow area
residents to experience and evaluate impacts
and effects. Noise and vibration is suppressed by
the speed hump’s sinusoidal shape.

were installed between February 20 and 23, 2007, andthe mobile bollards were installed between February 20and 22.
Resident questionnaires indicated a 70%
approval rate for speed hump installation. Only 30% ofSmoothly promoting urban development for transportation through collaboration between government and local organizations｜207

residents responded “I think it isgood” or “I think it is somewhat
good” regarding the bollards, but
this does not necessarily indicate
dissent; most responses were “noresponse,” “no opinion,” or “I
don’t know.”

3. Conclusions

Figure 5. A traffic bollard produced based on ideas from children

Obtained knowledge includes theimportance of specific acknowledgment by residents themselves regarding place-setting for discussions, information sharing, barrierfree participation, and resident organization activities; the desirability of government and resident organizations coexisting for as long as possible for a smooth handoff to government; and the fact thatorganizations for discussion do not function as organizations for building consensus.

4. Future outlook
The implemented residential street safety features have spread nationwide; one example is the “Zone 30”
initiative, which establishes zones within which the speed limit for all roads is 30 km/h or less. New
devices are also being tested including “rising bollards,” which were installed in 2013 as a social experiment in Niigata City and also considered in the Yanaka district. Residential streets are an important target for further promotion of traffic safety in Japan, and as such require further safety measures andresearch.