Osaka City Center River Accessibility Evaluation and Changes in River Improvement Methods

Abstract

In this study, which focused on rivers in Osaka’s city center, we sought to find effective ways to improve urban rivers in future projects by evaluating current river accessibility and making clear changes in past river improvement project methods. We found that the accessibility rate for rivers in the center of Osaka city still remains at approximately 40 percent. Approximately 60 percent of river promenades (which provide river access) were constructed as part of area-wide improvement projects before 1996, such as large-scale park development and land maintenance. This shows the importance of ensuring access to the river in urban infrastructure improvement projects. We also discovered that since 1997 river access has been secured in river improvement projects, and that such projects have become diverse. Especially since 2011, partially thanks to projects conducted independently by Osaka Prefecture, the number of connected promenades with easy access to rivers has been increasing.