The Relation with the Institutional Change of Social Relief System and the Spatial Change of the Urban Openspace at the Transition Era, Edo to Tokyo

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to study the reciprocity between the spatial change of the urban openspace and the institutional change of the social system which were observed in the transition era, Edo to Tokyo. Since the social estate system was the fundamental system of Edo, the social relief system of Edo had worked within the each social estate groups on general principles. The poor who were in the openspace had to be initiated into the social estate groups that had the activity of life mainly on the openspace like Goumune, Hinin etc. The Meiji government declared the abolishment of the social estate system in early Meiji era. The poor on the road, included who belonged to the ex-social estate groups of the openspace, began to be eliminated from road and began to be accommodated spatially. The public parks of early Meiji era had the aspect of this spatial accommodation. As the conclusion of this thesis, the institutional change from the accommodation by the social estate groups to the spatial accommodation had the reciprocity deeply with the spatial change of the urban openspace.