Abstract
During the periods of high economic growth, river environment in urban areas has undergone a remarkable change and lost the amenities, caused by the improvements are given priority to flood control and water use.
Recently, ensuring the amenity and healthiness in river environment that is regarded as important with the improvement of civil life. Thus, the conservation of ecology, improving water quality and water amentiry is promoting as political action.
This study purposed to obtain an expressly information for the planning of river improvement which towards a high quality life. For the purpose, we investigated inhabitant's consciousness of evaluating river environment as a living environmental factor by questionnaire survey, and attempted to explain the structure of inhabitant's consciousness as quantitative relation by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. In result, following acknowledgments were given.
1) There is a growing need for the improvement of river environment about water quality, water amenity and ecology, inhabitants recognize that rever environment is a part of the nature in living environment.
2) To confirmed flood control is the most important function that based on giving the largest priority (53.1%) to ‘flood control, ’ and to keep safety that is the most basic function.
3) According to that ‘environmental function’ is given priority (28.1%) in the second place, inhabitants have a need of the nature in river space. It also means that ‘conservation of ecology’ has higher priority (10.2%) compared with 15 items on same level of the hierarchy structure.
4) According to that ‘estimating ecological river environement’ is given the largest priority (41.0%) in alternatives, the conservation of ecology in river space has a direction that satisfies inhabitant's preference.
These results give suggestions a growing need to measure and evaluate ‘nonuse value’ of river environment.
