COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF BUILDING REGULATION BASED ON FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT AND ITS COMPARISON TO LAND USE REGULATION

Abstract

  This research investigated the social costs/benefits and applicability of a building regulation strategy based on flood risk assessment. The study areas are Osaka and Tokyo regions, both of which are the highest population density areas in Japan. The investigations showed that the social benefits of building regulations exceeded the costs in both regions and the total benefit for Osaka region was larger than that for Tokyo region. This result indicates that the building regulation strategy has a degree of applicability as a countermeasure for flood hazards and it is more effective in Osaka region than in Tokyo region. The building regulation strategy was also compared to a land use regulation strategy. The results showed that the total benefit of the building regulation strategy was larger than or almost same as that of the land use regulation strategy. It suggests that the building regulation strategy has the same degree of applicability with the landuse regulation strategy.