Abstract
We can see a lot of vacant houses not only in country side but also in central urban area in local cities, so, “Vacant house problem” should be solved as an urban design issue. On the other side, we have a new possibility to improve living environment by utilizing vacant houses by local government or NPOs. In this paper, we report a participatory method of making community plan includes utilization of vacant houses in Tsuruoka city, Yamagata Prefecture.