Since the Nankai Megathrust Earthquake and Tokyo Inland Earthquake are predicted to occur in the near future, disaster prevention have become urgent issues in urban planning in Japan. Therefore, municipal governments in Japan are required to implement disaster prevention systematically by making use of green and open spaces. In this study, the authors analyzed the role of the “Green Master Plan (GMP)” in disaster risk reduction through 72 case studies. As a result, it was revealed that there are a lot of GMPs which refers to the disaster prevention, while their specific measures vary a lot depending on the past disaster experience and geographic condition. It was also found that a lot of GMPs designate green and open spaces like urban parks as evacuation sites for mega earthquake or large fire. As a conclusion, the authors pointed out the future tasks for the landscape and urban planning in Japan in order to enhance the role of green and open spaces in disaster prevention.
