Land Characteristic and the Assessment of Development Impact Indicated by Tree Vitality on the TAMA Hills, west of Tokyo

Abstract

In suburbs of large cities, hill areas have been developed for new towns. These developments, however, brought some problems such as the destruction of eco-system and the increased risk of disasters caused by a large scale of earth work and by unsuitable constructions.
The purpose of this research is to establish housing planning methods adaptable to the natural environment in hilly areas. With those methods, it is expected that impacts of building construction on the natural environment are minimized.
The research consists of two parts as following;
1) Surveys of the ecological environment in the developed housing communities.
2) Impacts analysis of construction on the ecological environment with the indicator of tree vitality.