Abstract
The land use control for natural disaster prevention has not sufficiently developed so far in Japan while a unique system in this field has been established and in operation in France for nearly 30 years. The characteristics of the French system are found in (1)its disaster-prevention-specific planning system independent of standard city planning system, (2)regulation by practical zoning harmonized with actual land use, (3)comprehensive land use control combined with regulation, insurance and risk information disclosure, and (4)direct intervention by the central government. It is still evolving putting more emphasis on ex ante disaster prevention measures. By clarifying this French system as a whole, the authors try to induce policy implications to improve the Japanese disaster prevention policy utilizing land use control.
