REALIZATION PROCESS AND COLLABORATION IN THE “EVERYONE’S DREAM CHANNEL” PROJECT IN SUGINAMI WARD, TOKYO AS URBAN STREAM REVITALIZATION

Abstract

 Revitalizing urban streams that do not hold people’s interest requires constant collaborative efforts by local actors. This study aims to clarify the process of and collaboration involved in the realization of the “Everybody’s Dream Waterway” project in Zempukuji Park, Suginami Ward, Tokyo. The realization process consisted of four stages: 1) long-term fostering of local actors through studying and experiencing the river, 2) conceptualization of a shared vision triggered by efforts to bridge multiple actors, 3) planning and discussion prompted by project implementation, and 4) establishment of a community-based organization and an operational arrangement facilitated by an agreement over a set of principles concerning a shared management scheme. By applying the concept of “bridging” as an analytical framework to understand the collaborative efforts, and by analyzing the process from perspective of convening, translation, cooperation, and mediation, the article explains how the urban stream restoration project was realized through the collective action of the community, which was made possible by the existence of a bridge between citizens and schools. The bridging work created a space that spurred the collaboration between the stream restoration movement as a civic activity involving a diverse range of local actors and the ongoing river-based curriculum at elementary schools.