Abstract
In Japan the first notable modernization in bridges started in 1910's in the main city planning projects. The bridges were designed with careful study as one of the important elements of modern Westernized urban space which planners aimed to build. In this paper the author surveyed bridges in Osaka City before World War II and reports the cases which can be highly valued from the urban design point of view. The main results are as follows;
There were a few cases in which bridges were designed in a set of other urban elements that were large buildings facing the bridge, a pedestrian street along the river side and the Nakanoshima park in the civic center.
The arrangement of the arch bridges, which were regarded as the best form to build beautiful urban space, reflected not only the geological conditions but also the importance of the location.
The aesthetic ideal in bridge design had shifted from the decorative and rather classic beauty to the simple and polish one based on structural form as advance in engineering technology and realization of economic efficiency.
