Discussion regarding the usability of a river at the planning stage of the development of a riverside town (Kawamachi-zukuri)

Research of the commercial use of river environment

Abstract

We investigated the commercial uses of river environment and attempted to detect and categorize the usability of a river that will be applied and introduced to the development of a riverside town at the planning stage in order to discuss the design method of the public space. As a result, we found that the uses of public spaces along rivers includes 18% of commercial uses, which is the second highest behind parks (23%). The commercial uses accounted for 31% water-sport use, 21% of athletic use,13% tourist facility use, 11% of restaurant use and 10% of market use. This may suggest that the commercial use of a river environment is highly expected to support the improvement of the popularity and the appeal of the surrounding area.