Abstract
This study aims to identify the relationship between the characteristics and location of provisional public open spaces in Tokyo's 23 wards. To characterize the existing open spaces we classified them according to the following properties: landownership, area, and type of open space facility. We identified that the location of these open spaces reveals a pattern. In residential areas of low urban density the sizes of these open spaces vary, and the ratio of private landowners is comparatively high. In area of high urban density, municipalities have less choice over the type of these open spaces they wish to preserve for a park. They tend to buy land for preservation in an ad-hoc way when budgets permit and when land becomes available. In area of mixed land-use a variety of different land-owner and area characteristics exit, and the ratio of large scale is comparatively high. Up to now research has only concentrated on the problem of preserving land for parks in areas of high density. However it is also important to concentrate on areas of low density and mixed land-use to understand the effectiveness of the different techniques used for preserving land.
