Abstract
This study aims to identify the role of public body in managing and regenerating existing estates through comparisons of practices in UK and Japan. Through examinations on historical contexts of the changing role of public housing sectors, the study focuses on the review of Housing Action Trusts (HAT). HAT is the temporal non-departmental organization which takes over most run-down existing council housing estates to regenerate through holistic approaches. The holistic approaches include not only physical rehabilitations but also reconstructions of community through the higher degree of tenants' participations. The research team made case study about Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust in east London. The case study identified, through field surveys, the organization structure of HAT, the scope of holistic activities by involving tenants, and the process of regenerations. In addition, it investigates on the procedure of finding permanent landlords of the estates under the need of introducing private finances due to the lack of public subsidy from the government. The case study suggests the potential of the higher level of tenants' participations would improve sustainability of existing public housing estates from the aspect of physical rehabilitations and from community regenerations. It implies that the expected role of public housing sectors has been changing from a ‘service provider’ to an enabler' . These empirical knowledges can be represented by the idea of ‘RSL (Registered Social Landlord)’ and by ‘LHC (Local Housing Company)’ . RSL and LHC are allowed to receive public funds and private finances. In this context, ‘public’ means neutral' , ‘non-profit’, and ‘representing body of regional common interests’ together with the ‘receiver of public funds’ . The study made a comparison of process of regenerating existing public housing estates in Japan and in HAT, by identifying three major parties of projects; Tenants, consultants and public bodies as project owners and as landlords. The comparison proves that there are similarity in the benefit of tenants' participations. However, even in progressed Japanese projects, tenants' participations are not formalized and owe to personal efforts by officers. It is expected that the lessons obtained in this study would contribute to the formalization and the systematization of users' participations in the managements of existing housing estates in Japan.
