A Study on the Relationship Between Landscape Changes and Landscape Perception of Residents in Yashio-city, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

There are many areas in Japan lacking substantive landscape resources and that only recently have begun public landscape planning. Using Yashio City in Saitama Prefecture, Japan,as an example of such an area, the present study examines the relationship between landscape changes and the perception of the residents. First, the landscape composition and subsequent changes following the early Showa period were clarified, based on the daily lives of the residents. Then I grasped visual elements and sites contained landscape perception of the residents. Results indicate that three types of characteristic landscapes existed. The paddy field landscape in the northern Hachijo zone was well recognized by the residents, while neither the field landscape along the Nakagawa riverside, between Nichome and Minamikawasaki, nor the old Shimotsuma highway landscape, from Igusa to Yashio, was recognized.