In recent years, with the social situation surrounding the city changing drastically, community development is being promoted by restructuring and reusing road spaces in urban areas through width reconstruction, area reconstruction, and multipurpose use.
In 2011, the Law on Special Measures for Urban Rehabilitation was revised, the “Special Provisions on Road Occupancy Permission Standards” and the “Urban Convenience Promotion Agreement” were established, and the motivation for utilizing road space increased.
Under such circumstances, a social experiment (hereafter, PL experiment) for reorganizing the road space by setting up a parklet (hereafter, PL) was conducted in October 2019 on Kosei Street in Okazaki City.
The PL is a place to create bustle and relaxation by setting up tables and benches using the roadway.
The objective of this study is to verify effects of the PL experiment.
This study is comprised of the request survey, the traffic survey, the attitude survey, and the accumulation survey.
The results are as follows.
Fig. 3 shows the outline of the workshop, and Tables 1, 2, 3, and Fig. 5 show the results of the workshop. According to the request survey using questionnaire, it was found that participants were looking for rest facilities and eating and drinking spaces that utilize road space such as PL and open cafes.
Figs. 9 shows the outline of the traffic volume survey, and Figs. 10 and 11 show the results of the traffic volume survey. According to traffic survey using video cameras, the installation of parklets could reduce weekday bicycle traffic, weekday morning car traffic, and holiday car traffic.
Table 5 shows the outline of the attitude survey, and Tables 6, 7, 8, 9 and Fig. 11 show the results of the attitude survey. According to a attitude survey using questionnaires, users were satisfied with the use of the parklet, and the notices increased interest in the city.
Tables 10, 12 and Figs. 13, 14 show the outline of the accumulation survey, and Table 11 and Figs. 15, 16, 17 and 18 show the results of the accumulation survey.
According to accumulation survey using video cameras, setting up a device for viewing information, such as a whiteboard or bulletin board, was effective in encouraging the act of viewing information and promoting short-term retention. On the other hand, installments for relaxing in various postures, such as boxes and toys with different heights, and installments that induce play are clearly effective for promoting conversation and long-term stay by parents and children or friends while playing.
