Formation of Third Place by Evacuees from Nuclear Accident: Case Study of Wide Area Residents’ Association of Tomioka Town, Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture

Abstract

This paper conducted a questionnaire survey of evacuees (residents of public-funded rented housing, home buyers, etc.) from Tomioka Town, who were displaced because of the nuclear accident in Fukushima in 2011. It aimed to understand the characteristics of the wide area residents’ associations as the “Third Place” by examining the relationship among the neighborhood association before and after the disaster, the neighborhood association at the evacuation district, and wide area residents’ associations. It was revealed that wide area residents’ associations could function as a relative Third Place, because the evacuees had a weak connection with the places they live in after evacuation, although they continue to have strong links with the neighborhood associations in the places where they lived before the disaster.