2022 Volume 28 Pages 57-72
Under the banner of ”Creative Reconstruction,” the 3.11 tsunami disaster area has under-went improvements to infrastructure such as road/land elevation, the construction of seawalls, the promotion of group relocation for disaster migration, and the building of public housing. Meanwhile, however, many tsunami flooded areas were designated as disaster risk zones and their residents have not been able to return to their land. Ten years have passed since the Great East Japan earthquake, and an altered landscape of “post-reconstruction” has gradually taken shape. Many of the sites, where people left for higher ground or inland areas, remain unutilized and lie in ruins.
Why and how did “Creative Reconstruction” lead to such an altered scene? It appears that reconstruction plans have prioritized gray infrastructure development under the name of the safety and nostalgia of former imperial Japan capital projects, and are “moving forward as if nothing had happened.” How do people view this transformation and what kind of future are they looking for? This paper focuses on a case study of an afforestation project in a ruined village in Kitakami Town, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Based on a discussion of “non-place” （Augé 1992），the paper will examine how “non-place” created by reconstruction was transformed into “place” through afforestation. Building green infrastructure is a soft technology featuring the restoration of healthy ecosystems and creating polyphonic spaces. This can be conceptualized as creative reconstruction carried out by residents acting against government led reconstruction.
