2020 Volume 32 Pages 47-61
The inner urban areas tend to be de-populated and the buildings in such areas become older except in the center of city areas where the new high-rise buildings were rebuilt. It is said that the method of renovation would be effective as the provision for the declination of the local areas. This paper aims to examine how the renovation movement contributes to the decline of the local areas (“being spongy”).
Nakazaki-area is located near the north center of Osaka City (Umeda-Chayamachi area), and is filled with old wooden row houses. Since 2000, this area has been in the public eye, because of the agglomeration of the “renovated” old row houses. They are now used as shops selling the goods or clothes, cafés, and so on. Our research included interviewing the shopkeepers and visitors in this area with the help of questionnaires in 2011. This survey showed that many shopkeepers and visitors were female, aged around 20-30 years, and were attached to the atmosphere of this area as being “old fashioned, snoot and artistic.” Y. Shimomura (2017) called this tendency aestheticization of old buildings and inner urban areas.
From the viewpoint of the built environment, the method of renovation prevents the increase of unutilized lands and buildings. But all landowners and residents in this area do not accept the effects of the renovation movement favorably, owing to “over-tourism.” Thus, this paper shows that the rebuilding of the local areas, mainly by renovation, is not always effective.
