Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to study the relationship between changes in the social systems and in the spatial form of the urban open space in the transition era from Edo to Tokyo. Since the social estate system was the fundamental system of Edo society, each social estate group had its own systems and organizations to solve social problems, such as security or fire defense. The urban space of Edo which was controlled through each social estate group tended to manifest itself in separated and distinctive space. But a number of open spaces in Edo, such as Oukan, Hirokoji, Hasizume, Hiyokechi, Keidai, were not suitable to this system and spatial form.Such open spaces were used and effectively controlled by all social groups.In this thesis, I focus particularly on the discriminated estate groups, including Goumune and Hinin. They lived and earned their living in Edo's open spaces and played an important role in Bakufu's open space security system. The Meiji government abolished the discriminated estate groups in 1872. This abolishment meant the collapse of the social system of Edo which was constituted by the social estate structure. At this point, for the first time in Japanese history, the police and fire defense systems had jurisdiction over the entire urban open space. These new systems demanded a unified and accessible open space in Tokyo. The government removed all the obstacles on the streets like Kido, Jisinbanya, Kidobanya, Hiningoya. The roads and bridges were widened and flatted. This open space form created a spatial network which allowded city-wide access for police and fire defense systems. This thesis concludes with an analysis of the reciprocity between the change of the social systems and the transformation of the urban open space shape.
