市民が主役の復興まちづくりと自治の理念

抄録

Minamisoma City, which has an area of 398.5 square kilometers and is located in the northern Hamadori region of Fukushima Prefecture, was founded in January 2006 through the merger of Haramachi City, Kashima Town and Odaka Town. Those municipalities share cultural traditions, such as the Soma Nomaoi Festival, held for more than 1000 years, as well the Edo period financial reconstruction, called “Houtoku Shihou.” The Abukuma Mountains, which extend for 150 km from the south of Miyagi Prefecture to the north of Ibaraki Prefecture, are located to the west of the city, providing abundant natural resources.

Minamisoma was intricately and severely damaged not only by the earthquake and tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake, but also by the nuclear accident occurring at Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Minamisoma formulated a fundamental autonomy ordinance before the earthquake struck. This paper aims to illustrate the concept of citizen autonomy in Minamisoma by comparing the ordinance with recent community planning.