Seaside-Momochi, now an affluent residential area in the waterfront district of Fukuoka City, Kyusyu, Japan, was originally designed for middle-class inhabitants. This paper examines why the government of Fukuoka City changed the original concept of the residential development plan for Seaside-Momochi to cater for higher-income households.
At the initial stages of the planning process in 1984, the Fukuoka City government focused on the welfare of middle-class inhabitants. However, the government found it difficult to find buyers for the land due to a decrease in housing demand among the middle class, and the project was in danger of stalling. A few years later, land prices in the city rose in the context of a property boom. This suddenly increased the development potential of the Seaside-Momochi area, and several private housing companies became interested in the Seaside-Momochi development project.
However, the companies joining the project proposed modifying the original development plan to focus more on attracting affluent buyers. Despite this being a departure from its original intentions, the Fukuoka City government decided to alter the plan in order to avoid losing the development plan.
The government modified the original plans and land-sale strategies. This resulted in a development plan that focused not on middle-class inhabitants but on higher income households.
