2020 年 5 巻 1 号 p. 75-82
Closed schools are increasing in local municipalities due to the decreasing birth-rate and aging population in Japan. On the other hand, the importance of re-utilization and conversion of closed public facilities including schools has been widely noticed recently. Changing the existing use of public facilities into another or selling for private re-development is the general approach of re-utilization and conversion. This paper focuses on the “art-oriented re-utilization and conversion” (AORC) of closed school facilities to promote rural tourism by reusing them as a gallery or art object instead of deconstructing the existing school facility. This paper picks up two local towns in Niigata Prefecture, Japan which are the venues of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (ETAT). Many closed school facilities have been re-utilized for the ETAT since 2000. This paper analyses the strategy of AORC of closed school facilities in ETAT, clarifies their operation mechanism and evaluates the features and effects of each kind of AORC of closed school facility in ETAT based on case research and analysis. Finally, some implications and recommendations for the future strategy of AORC of closed school facilities are concluded.
