HISTORICAL STUDIES IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

In Japan the first notable modernization in bridges started in 1910's in the main city planning projects. The bridges were designed with careful study as one of the important elements of modern Westernized urban space which planners aimed to build. In this paper the author surveyed bridges in Osaka City before World War II and reports the cases which can be highly valued from the urban design point of view. The main results are as follows;
There were a few cases in which bridges were designed in a set of other urban elements that were large buildings facing the bridge, a pedestrian street along the river side and the Nakanoshima park in the civic center.
The arrangement of the arch bridges, which were regarded as the best form to build beautiful urban space, reflected not only the geological conditions but also the importance of the location.
The aesthetic ideal in bridge design had shifted from the decorative and rather classic beauty to the simple and polish one based on structural form as advance in engineering technology and realization of economic efficiency.

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The Central Park in New York City is the fist municipal urban park in U. S. A., established in 1858. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the role and influence of the Central Park from the point of view of the historical development of landscape architecture in U. S. A.
The following four points have analysed in this paper. First; the establishment of the Centeral Park caused a nation-wide municipal urban park movement and many big parks and park systems were created as infrasturcture of the city planning. Second; the planning concept of the Central Park was to create a wide pastoral scenery, within highly developed Urban environment, for the park was regarded as lungs of city and also it had a great contribution to citizen's recreation and welfare. Third; To accomplish the above ideal, the technique of civil engineering took a great role, especially on the thorough drainage system, and the separate road system. Fourth; New professional, “Landscape Architecture” was created from the construction of the Central Park.

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Studies on flood control techniques of the Tokugawa era have been done from the Meizi period up to the present time. Previous studies concluded that river improvements during those days were conducted by two largest river improvement schools, namely “Kantouryu” and“Kisyuryu”. However, this conclusion and some other conclusions that were obtained through the scarcity of literatures are doubted by recent studies. Besides, these conclusions describe only the policy, and do not, in any way, report the details of flood control techniques during the Tokugawa era.
This study traces the Tokugawa era through written laws promulgated by the Tokugawa Shogunate in connection with flood control techniques. Thus, a thorough investigation of the flood control techniques during the Tokugawa era through these written laws is a primary objective. Results obtained from this study will then be useful in supplementing existing literatures describing flood control techniques of the Tokugawa era.

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Richard Henry Brunton was a foreign engineer hired by the National Government of Japan in early Meiji era. On the 8th of August, 1868, he arrived at Yokohama from England in order to construct lighthouses in Japan. His activity in Japan did not only cover lighthouses' constructions but it also covered a wide range of occupation, e.g., city and port planning, railway and telegraph construction, etc.
On the 6th of June, 1871, Brunton surveyed the mouth of the Shinano River in the Niigata district. The mouth of the Shinano River had been used as a port since the early history of Niigata. In 1858, the treaty of amity and commerce was concluded between Japan and America. This treaty advocated that Niigata Port, as a treaty port, would be opened to foreign trade from 1868. However, due to the sand obstacle at the mouth of the Shinano River, trade did not flow very smoothly. The purpose of Brunton's survey, therefore, was to remove this natural sand obstacle, thereby making a new plan for a Niigata port.
This study is aimed at researching into the contents of Brunton's survey in Niigata. Results of this study clearly show that Brunton was a pioneer in devising modern flood controls in the Niigata district.

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