2022 Volume 28 Pages 73-88
Can the emergence and expansion of “green infrastructure” in Japan, which seeks to draw out and utilize the multifunctionality of nature, be seen as a major shift in the social debate on infrastructure? How will environmental sociology respond to this change and fulfill its role as an academic discipline in society?
This paper answers these questions by undertaking three tasks. The first is to decipher the Japanese development of green infrastructure. From the perspectives of research and policy history, it is clear that the development of green infrastructure can be interpreted as a confluence of research and practice with a regional planning orientation involving landscape architecture and ecology, environmental policy in river and port projects, and the development of nature restoration projects and disaster prevention infrastructure. Second, the paper attempts to explain green infrastructure through environmental governance system theory as a basic theory of environmental governance. In so doing, the effectiveness of the model of “environmentally harmonious accumulation” based on the key concepts of “circulation,” “accumulation,” and “technology” is examined. Third, it is posited that the lack of a comprehensive policy of land use planning in Japan could be a countervailing force to the potential of green infrastructure.
Green infrastructure attempts to solve the inherent complexity of infrastructure projects taking into account, and without simplifying, their complexity. If this hypothesis is correct, then, environmental sociology has a role as part of a “green infrastructure science”platform based on a deep understanding of the relationship between the environment and society.
