Amid escalating housing prices and rent burdens in megacities such as Shanghai, young people are moving from city centers to suburbs; in response, Shanghai is expanding youth-oriented housing. This study analyzes youth apartments in central Shanghai, comparing land-use zoning and nearby facility characteristics. Key findings: no clear link between sites and construction-time zoning; low facility counts limit types and basic services, while high counts cluster commercial and transport facilities, with some cases lacking parks and schools; high counts do not ensure even near- or mid-range distribution. Overall, even in central locations, facility numbers and spatial patterns remain markedly uneven.

Based on building surveys and interviews in traditional heyuans of Shiping ancient town, this study examines their contemporary transformations in terms of living conditions, ownership, and spatial/functional changes. The study finds that large families have shifted to nuclear families, with a mix of Han and Hani people. Ownership has become more complex, with multiple co-owners and increasing government purchases, resulting in a growing number of vacant heyuans. As da-za-yuan progresses, shared-space redecoration becomes difficult, while residents focus on creating private areas in their own rooms. Extensions are often added within courtyards, though those to main courtyards remain restrained.

In an era when social inclusion is becoming increasingly tenuous, off-site activities conducted by public art museums can be regarded as community initiatives that foster new social connections through a shared interest in art. This study aims to clarify the current state of such off-site activities, focusing in particular on those that utilize outdoor spaces surrounding the museums. By examining the characteristics of these activities and how they make use of adjacent outdoor spaces, the study seeks to gain insights into planning public art museums that can function as new hubs for community engagement and activities within local communities.

This study examines the spatial characteristics of extended learning commons in Japanese universities by analyzing the unit spaces that constitute them. The unit spaces are investigated from two perspectives : spatial composition and furniture arrangement. Spatial composition is classified into 6 types based on circulatory and visual openness, while furniture arrangement is analyzed in terms of furniture type ( 6 groups ) and cluster scale ( large, medium, and small ). By clarifying the relationship between these unit space characteristics and the spatial types of extended learning commons, the study elucidates their spatial configuration and attributes.

Using a nationwide online database, this study identified 37 local ordinances categorized as “other ordinances” pursuant to Article 3.1.3 of the Building Standards Act. Comparative analysis revealed variations in the types of buildings covered and regulatory content, reflecting differences in local approaches to balancing safety and preservation. Since the 1990s, the system’s scope has expanded to include modern heritage and disaster relics. These developments suggest that the progressive development of cultural property, landscape, and historic-townscape frameworks has facilitated closer coordination between cultural heritage and building control administrations.

This study aims to support the use of immersive virtual environment (IVE) simulations for landscape and architectural design, by investigating the validity of its presentation of naturalistic risk in outdoor environments. We conducted a comparative experiment with 20 participants in Daiba park and its virtual UE5 replica, analyzing verbal protocol using the Belief-Desire-Intention framework. Results reveal key divergences in risk relevant responses: a lowered perception of failure, amplified risk and reward perception and increased impulsive actions. Spatial mapping of responses identified the precipice; an element of the IVE that distorted cognitive estimates of risk affecting compliance and navigation.

This study clarifies the practice of residential planning based on the neighbourhood unit concept in Japan during the early postwar period. First, it elucidates how the neighborhood unit theory was interpreted within several postwar planning standards. Subsequently, the study examines the details of residential area plans for 15 districts developed under the Phase 1 Residential Land Development Project of the Japan Housing Corporation, which began in 1955, from the perspective of applying the six principles of neighborhood unit theory. These plans featured unique planning approaches and progressive initiatives that used the neighborhood unit theory.

This paper examines implementation realities and institutional challenges of parklet-based road space reconfiguration in Japan’s introduction period (2016–2021) through comparison with San Francisco’s Shared Spaces program. Based on interviews with stakeholders across all 11 documented cases and design document analysis, three findings emerge. First, most were authorized as temporary experiments yet built as permanent sidewalk extensions. Second, safety and accessibility standards varied widely without uniform guidelines. Third, financial sustainability depended on municipal subsidies rather than operator revenues. These contrast with San Francisco’s codified permit system enabling sustainable adoption through clear standards and cost-recovery mechanisms.

This study analyzes cases designated by city planning decisions up to the 1970s, before the standardization of the Specified Block System (Tokutei-gaiku), to examine the spatial characteristics of Effective Open Space (yūkō-kūchi), the functions expected of it, and how they were evaluated. Diverse spaces—plazas, sidewalks, pilotis, sunken gardens, rooftops, indoor through-passages, bridges and voids—were often treated as Effective Open Space. Diagrams suggest inconsistent links between spatial characteristics and category names, with evaluation multipliers ranging from 0.25 to 2.0. Some documents envisioned cross-block pedestrian networks, but these have not become institutional objectives or realized outcomes.

This study investigates co-creativity evolution in site planning through two 1970s Tsukuba campuses, focusing on schemes, spatial implementation, and temporal maturation of environmental values. AIST established standardized planning; collaboration between planners, ecologists, and managers bridged design and maintenance for ideological continuity. NIES adopted an interpretive model incorporating “designed experiments” where an interpretive translator fostered biodiversity, enabling researchers’ later rediscovery of ecological values. Both integrated forests as symbolic platforms for ongoing professional interaction. These findings demonstrate that matured environmental stocks possess inherent power to envision and drive further co-creative engagements beyond the initial design.

This study identifies challenges faced by local governments regarding private advertising materials in relation to safety and landscape preservation. It aims to clarify the obstacles encountered when providing guidance or taking action against such materials. While authorities proactively identify such signs through patrols, determining whether they qualify as private advertising materials proves difficult. Furthermore, while guidance is provided based on laws other than the Outdoor Advertising Act, such as the Landscape Act and the Road Traffic Act, it has become clear that authorities struggle to address private advertising materials whose owners cannot be identified.

This study examined relationships between the formation of leaders and specific places in community development, focusing on a park and a community hub in Koga, using an analytical approach that shifts the perspective. The results revealed that the transmission of place information to leaders and their perceptions of the place—how they understand it—influence the formation process of leaders. It also became clear that the place itself undergoes transformation through the activities of these leaders. These findings represent new insights into relationships with place in leaders that had not been clearly established in previous research.

In the tsunami areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake, it became a “general rule” to construct seawalls to prevent tsunamis that occur about once a century. This rationality is explained by coastal engineering and the government’s mission to achieve safety as the main actor. Kerobe in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture chose no seawall for continuing as a fishing community and allowing all residents to resettle more safely within the village. This was an “exception” reflecting the will to improve safety through continued environmental memory and human relationships. A “general rule” that ignores this point cannot be said to improve safety.

This study compares BIM-enabled electronic permitting and model/data checking across seven foreign cases (Singapore, Norway, Korea, Australia, Estonia, New Zealand, and the UK) using a three-layer framework: institutional design, operational practice, and technical implementation. Cross-case analysis identifies four implementation archetypes, ranging from mandatory IFC-based submissions with rule-based automated compliance checking to early-stage pilot programs. Based on the typology, we identify foundational conditions for institutional design: traceable submission management, automated data-quality validation at submission, and a clearly bounded scope of automation with defined accountability.

From the castle drawings and the floor plans of the keep, it is evident that Odawara Castle Keep was a three-tiered layered tower structure. The Kanei-period version featured railings and balconies, with the lowest tier divided into two floors. The lower section is also divided in the Hoei-period version, but the first floor is lower than in the Kanei version, and features Hahu and Haridashi. Given that the model of the keep and the “Tatejiwarizu” also show the lower section divided and include Hahu and Haridashi, these are thought to represent the Hoei-period keep.

Examined the dating of historical events related to the origins of “Hafu-Deiri”/bargeboards lawsuit and “Myou-Chu” from well-known sources, and considered the timing of Hafu’s licensing system and SETTAN type farmhouse of the Edo period. As a result, it was thought that these system and farmhouse were established from the end of the 16th century, when the Taiko land survey was carried out, to the end of the 17th century, when Myou-Chu, who were armed villagers, transformed into an idealistic status. These conclusions was in good agreement with the chronological view arrived at by previous scholars.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of Okura-syo which were used for Kaimai owned by Kumamoto Domain. The yard “Okome-yamatoko” which keep straw rice bag was attached to Okura-syo. First, the nature of site, spatial structures and storehouse that “Tsubata-sanso” has in common was clarified. Second, those were compared with the Okura-syo of other regions. Next points were extracted as characteristics of “Tsubata-sanso”. Two types of Okura that span direction differed: A small number of Okura: Dispersing of space that is formed in front of Okura. The cause was drastic rationalization of Kaimai by Kumamoto Domain.

This range of articles investigates the history, characteristics, and especially the relatedness between the architecture and the police policy before the World War II in Japan.

In this second part, the aim is to connect the history of Japanese diplomatic architectures with the police policy in Kando(east Manchuria), by analyzing the Japanese diplomatic architectures in the 20th century in Kando as objects, including the first and second consulates in Kando, Juzijie, Toudaogou, the second consulate in Hunchun, and the first consulate in Maoershan.

This paper analyzes the structural planning concepts reflected in the roof trusses of Kazuo Shinohara’s First Style wooden houses, focusing on four houses (House in Komae, Umbrella House, House in White, and House of Earth) examined during recent restoration projects. In each house, the roof load was intended to be converted into axial forces and transmitted to the supporting structures. The roof truss members were intentionally composed of slender timber, with forces being transferred via metal joint fittings. Shinohara’s structural planning concepts were realized with the support of the structural engineer Ichiei Tsuge.

This study surveyed 136 vernacular minority dwellings in the Duliu River Basin, classifying sectional types into 8 types and 14 subtypes based on structure and frame system, showing that Continuous-column/Chuandou-bent type dominates, followed by Segmented-column/Chuandou-bent type. Chronologically, the Segmented-column form is older, while the Continuous-column type spread after Han construction techniques were introduced about 200 years ago. Regionally, Segmented-column structures prevail upstream, whereas Continuous-column structures prevail mid- and downstream. Overall, sectional types correspond more closely to geography than ethnicity, reflecting cross-ethnic technical fusion and regional adaptation in the basin’s building culture.

The purpose of this paper reveals the development of Taniguchi Yoshiro’s environmental perspective by focusing on his descriptions about “environment”. His environmental perspectives were categorized into six types, and the development of his thinking was traced through these categories. As a result, Taniguchi’s understanding of the environment encompasses multiple dimensions that are recognized as being complexly intertwined: a hygienic perspective, consideration for the natural environment, and an emphasis on the comprehensive beauty of urban life and beauty as a mental landscape. A shift toward an “environmental” perspective was identified in pioneering architectural design, which subsequently expanded into preservation activities.

This study investigates the surface design of contemporary Japanese houses with simple shape, focusing on compositional and material aspects. Drawing on 239 works published in Shinkenchiku and Shinkenchiku Jutaku Tokushu, it classifies exterior and opening layouts (“surface composition”) and examines material expressions in terms of homogeneity and transparency (“surface character”). Comparison reveals chronological tendencies: since the 2000s, building forms and surface compositions have tended toward simplification, while surface characters have diversified with textured and irregular materials. These overlapping trends of simplification and diversification illustrate the evolving strategies of architects in shaping the surfaces of contemporary Japanese houses with simple shape.

This study examines architect Jun Itami’s architectural theory with a focus on the elements of light, color, and material, which he regarded as fundamental to the expression of beauty. The objective is to gain deeper insight into the spatial essence he sought to achieve through an analysis of his theoretical framework. The findings indicate that his ideas were shaped by his observations of Korean landscapes, architecture, and objects, his experiences in Europe, and his interest in human perception. At the same time, he developed distinct design concepts within each of these categories and explored their application in architectural space.

This study forms part of research that characterizes and identifies the architectural theory of Fumitaka Nishizawa (1915-1986) through his articles. Keywords were sorted and examined from the viewpoint of hierarchy of meaning, and the conceptual structure was organized into four levels. The first level of the conceptual structure consists of 【Architecture】, 【Garden】, and 【Relationship between Architecture and Gardens】. This study clarifies the conceptual structure and content of 【Relationship between Architecture and Gardens】in his architectural theory.

This study focuses on ethnic enterprises operated by Japanese Brazilians and analyzes their development by positioning them within the process of transformation of the urban spatial structure of Ōizumi Town. In parallel, it examines the spatial characteristics of “Brazilian Plaza,” a representative example of ethnic enterprises that has maintained a close and continuous relationship with the Japanese Brazilian community. Through these analyses, the study clarifies the spatial factors that allowed segregation to emerge relatively smoothly in Ōizumi Town and that supported the formation and long-term stabilization of an ethnic town.