Intergenerational Comparison of Evaluation Structures for Irrigation Ponds in a Hilly Area

― Case study of maintenance participants in Namegawa town, Saitama prefecture ―

Abstract

This study aims to construct the preference and non-preference evaluation structures, which consist of psychological-environment, judgement, and evaluation layer, of the maintenance participants for irrigation ponds, and to clarify those differences between the participants’ generation. Interview survey using the evaluation grid method was conducted in Namegawa town, Saitama prefecture, where many small valleys are formed in the Hiki Hills. As the results, the following items were extracted as the representative judgment items in evaluation structures: play, disaster prevention, landscape, illegal act, and water environments. Comparative analysis of evaluation structures showed that there were differences among generations in terms of the number of items, contents, and relationships between the layers. In particular, the number of items per person in the evaluation and the environment layer was significantly higher in the elderly group than in the mature group. These imply that the elderly participants evaluate the irrigation ponds from multiple perspectives and a wide spatial domain. The reason for such differences in evaluation structure was due to the influence of changes in their daily relationship with the Yatsu landscapes including irrigation ponds.