Proceedings of the General Meeting of the Association of Japanese Geographers

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This study examines the impact that loss of economic functions (as a result of business site trends and analysis) and decentralization have on urban spaces in the formation of low-density expansive-type urban areas. The results were analyzed from various questionnaires, inter-view surveys for enterprise and a field survey were carried out in Takamatsu city financial district.
The vacancy rate of office buildings in Takamatsu is growing at an alarming rate compared with other key cities, and the run-down, shabby appearance of the downtown area has become a serious problem. This situation is attributed to a number of factors: fewer businesses are locating in the downtown area, the emergence of autonomous regions where three bridges now connect the island of Shikoku region to the mainland, the migration of businesses to the suburbs, and deterioration of access to the downtown area coupled with an improved network of roads and access to suburban communities. Because Takamatsu's urban activity has tended to stagnate as the city has developed in an expansive pattern and there is concern that this will invite further deterioration at the heart of the city, we believe it is essential to develop a centralized core where diverse economic and business functions are concentrated and to focus investment on the existing downtown area rather than on infrastructure development of outlaying suburban cities.

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Rock surface temperature measurements using a radiant temperature machine were carried out for sandstone columns of the first gallery of Angkor Wat on 25 August 2005. In the morning and afternoon of the day, large maximum temperatures (50 degree C) were observed on column surfaces facing to east and west. Maximum temperature differences between the morning and afternoon reached approximately 18 Degree C on the column surfaces. Although there is a small possibility of thermal stress fatigue at sandstone columns, small temperature rate (2.5 degree C h^-1) suggests that thermal shock of columns is improbable.

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The natural environment of cities can be understood based both on present and past natural environments, as well as the formation process of present situation. And, we will reconstruct historical water environment in the city. Historical reconstruction of water environment focuses on historical data, such as old documents, old maps, art pictures and photographs.
The general water environment of the city would be clarified not only by water quality and loading amount in the river, but also by volume of water and water level in ground water. From this viewpoint, I reported on well and its use for the historical reconstruction of water environment. I have focuses on the descriptions and landscape in this research in Tokyo (Edo).

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