Characteristics of landscape settings of “Hiyori-yama” as local resources in port towns

Abstract

A comprehensive survey was conducted to discuss landscape characteristics of “Hiyori-yama (HY)” in coastal area of Japan, where historically served as a hilltop observation space for weather and sea traffic. Defining “landscape settings” as prospect feature from a viewpoint and public accessibility to its vicinity, 73 cases across Japan were analyzed by visibility frequency and visible area analysis using GIS(ArcMap) and old topographic maps. The results are as follows: (1) While there is a wide range of absolute values of visibility, the setting of a HY tends to be a place with relatively high visibility to both of sea and land, compared to its surrounding area. Especially, major port town tend to have HY with higher simultaneous visibility to both of sea and land. (2) In above 85% cases, central historic area of the port town can be seen from the top of HY. (3) HYs with higher visibility to both of sea and land tend to be publicly accessible places, for instance, shrines, temples, or public parks. These results suggest some perspectives for evaluation and revitalization of HY as local resources for future port towns.