z Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

Perspectives in developing and managing social
infrastructure for the next generation
TERAKAWA Akira
Executive Director for Research Affairs andDirector of the Research Center for Land and Construction Management(Key words) National land management, construction management, development and management of social
infrastructure
1. Introduction
The Research Center for Land & Construction
Management (hereinafter “the Center”) is one of threeCenters set up to tackle cross-sector initiatives.
Through research activities based on the key conceptsof “national land management” and “constructionmanagement”, the Center’s mission is to support theplanning and proposal of policies related to housing
and social infrastructure development under thejurisdiction of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism(MLIT).
With the steady progress of population decline,
falling birth rates and population aging, together with
the increasing reality of limitation on resources, thetarget of research activities in the “national landmanagement” sector is to consider how Japan’snational land infrastructure should be developed andutilized as a foundation that supports a safe,
comfortable and vibrant national way of life.
Meanwhile, to develop and manage social
infrastructure smoothly and efficiently as a means ofnational land management, it is vital that we constantly
review all aspects of construction production systems.
Only by doing so, can we ensure and improve thequality of public works, as well as gaining the supportof taxpayers through a highly transparent andcompetitive procurement system. Research on“construction management” technology is an effort tothis end.
2. National land management and social
infrastructure development
As a new image of national land infrastructure, theNational Spatial Strategies (nationwide plans)
formulated on the basis of the National Spatial
Planning Act (2005) state that “As well as building
national land infrastructure in which diverse, wide-area
blocks can develop independently, steps will be taken
to form national land infrastructure that is beautiful andcomfortable to live in”.
A major task in achieving this is to cope with thenationwide increase in settlements whose sustenanceand existence is threatened by population decrease andprogressive aging. In many cases, these face a varietyof problems, including uncertainty over public
transport, healthcare, welfare and other livelihood
aspects, as well as loss of traditional local culture andabandonment of land. Since fiscal 2006, the Center has
promoted studies on the transformation of local
community functions in areas facing problems ofdepopulation, focusing on the importance of local
communities in promoting sustainable national land
management1). We plan to link this to studies on future
maintenance measures.
For example, encouraging the use of domestic
timber (including thinnings) in housing and social
infrastructure development serves to support theforestry industry and ensure the appropriate
management of forests. This, in turn, ensures that
forests properly play the role of retaining water andcontrolling sediment runoff, and that the prerequisites
for flood control and water use planning in the wholeriver basin are maintained. This also encourages
interregional collaboration between upstream anddownstream areas, culminating in firmly groundedregional development. Preparing and revising
standards with a primary focus on encouraging the useof timber has large potential as a trigger for theformation or maintenance of this kind of socially
positive cycle.
To form safe and beautiful national landinfrastructure while maintaining stable economic
growth, the development of quality social
infrastructure based on regional characteristics willneed to be promoted efficiently as a priority issue. On
the other hand, addressing maintenance and renewal
accompanying the dilapidation of existing social
infrastructure stock is also a pressing task. Inspections
based on individual facility characteristics, along withsystematic maintenance and repairs based ondeterioration prognosis, will be indispensable if we areto reduce lifecycle cost by increasing longevity. They
will also reduce the impact on the socio-economy
caused by fatal damage under the harsh natural
conditions peculiar to Japan, including earthquakes,
floods, tsunamis and high tides, sediment disasters andsnowpiles. To this end, based partly on the results ofpreliminary studies by a cross-sector stock
management research group inside the Institute , weaim to tackle the development of inspection andmonitoring technology for preventive conservation
management of social capital in a three-year plan
starting from fiscal 2010.

z Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

3. Ensuring and improving the quality of publicworks and construction management technology
Following the enforcement of the Act for Ensuring
the Quality of Public Works (2005), the Center isresponsible for analyzing issues in projects under direct
jurisdiction of MLIT, and studies on necessary
revisions based on this2). This work is linked to various
initiatives aimed at ensuring or improving the quality ofpublic works, including the Overall Evaluation Bidding
Method, the Integrated Design-and-Build Procurement
Method and the Construction Management (CM)
Method.
An important task is to revise the standards,
guidelines and others needed for accurate and efficient
supervision, testing and works performance appraisalin public works, while responding to the increased
sophistication of execution management technology(such as the full introduction of IT-compatibleexecution). This will enable us not only to obtainreliable outcomes with a high level of quality at theindividual works level, but also to establish systems
whereby companies’ track records and efforts areappropriately reflected in the process of selecting
suppliers.
We are also conducting research aimed at
appropriately deploying the unit price cost estimation
method (a method of cost estimation by multiplying theprice for each works unit division, including direct
expenses such as material costs and labor costs, andindirect expenses by the construction volume) andexpanding construction processes subject to trials. This
will not only reduce the cost estimation work load on
in-house engineers , but also promises effects that will
help to normalize transaction prices between contractor
and subcontractor in the construction market.
4. Summary
At the end of last year, the government’s Council for
the Formulation of Growth Strategy (chaired by PrimeMinister Yukio Hatoyama) presented the framework of
a new strategy for economic growth. The strategy
highlighted “Environment & Energy” and “Health(Healthcare & Nursing)” as sectors in which Japan
should show greater strength than other countries infuture, and “Asia” and “Tourism & Regional
Revitalization” as frontiers in which greater demandcan be expected in future. Strategic efforts are to bemade in six priority sectors, with the addition of“Science & Technology” and “Employment & HumanResources” that form the foundation for the others
mentioned above. Steps will be taken to create demandand secure employment, and the aim will be to achieve
real economic growth averaging more than 2% by
2020.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the work ofdeveloping and managing social infrastructure serves
to underpin all of these. Tourism packages that use
express coaches depend wholly on networks ofexpressways, while the “Super Sento” public baths now

booming as local health and leisure facilities could only
exist with social infrastructure for a reliable watersupply and water treatment. In many cases, social
infrastructure facilities, such as beautiful bridges anddam reservoirs harmonized with surrounding
environment, themselves have become tourism
resources. Moreover, to enhance a region’s wide-area
healthcare services, it is vital that plans should also
include the development of public transport
infrastructure.
Social infrastructure development through public
investment also plays a major role in promoting R&D
in science and technology. Namely, it incorporates
science and technology from almost every sector, notonly in developing new materials and works execution
technology, but also in monitoring and inspection
technology after the construction of facilities. The
result is that these are efficiently utilized for the publicwelfare. It should not be forgotten that social
infrastructure development projects led to the conceptof electronic government becoming a reality, throughthe electronic conversion of work processes in the formof electronic bidding, electronic delivery and others,
and the provision of road services using information
technology (e.g. the ETC system). These technologies
have the potential to contribute greatly to social
infrastructure development in Asia and all countries ofthe world.
Based on the problem awareness described above,
the Center would continue tackling survey and research
activities that support the development andmanagement of social infrastructure for the next
generation, in close collaboration and appropriate
sharing of roles with the Public Works ResearchInstitute, the Building Research Institute, the Port andAirport Research Institute and other relatedorganizations, as well as all departments within
NILIM.
References
1) H.Kawasaki, M.Suzuki, T.Monma, S.Ohashi:
Research on the sustainability of local communities,
Technical Note of NILIM No. 520, Feb. 2009(http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/tnn/tnn0520.htm)

2) A.Terakawa: Initiatives aimed at ensuring andimproving the quality of public works, FY2009 NILIM
Lectures, Technical Note of NILIM No. 546, pp.
135-150, Dec. 2009(http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/tnn/tnn0546.htm)