In studies on the dynamic aspects of ethnic urban territories in North America, geographers tend to view those territories as principally residential areas and the segregation and desegregation processes of the ethnic population have been central to their concerns. However, many other aspects such as the urban redevelopment processes which change the complex nature of ethnic urban territories, the built environment of those territories, and the role of each ethnic group involved in various urban processes have tended to be overlooked. This paper is an attempt to examine the nature and the processes of redevelopment in an ethnic urban area and the changing features of its built environment, taking the example of the International District (ID), a complex Asian ethnic enclave, which is located on the southern fringe of the downtown area of Seattle, Washington, U. S. A.
In the ID, the urban redevelopment processes started in 1972 and forty eight projects have been completed up to the present. Through these processes the built environment of the ID has been changed to a certain degree. Old residential buildings have been renovated and many new businesses have been created. However, it is noteworthy that the ID has retained some basic traditional characteristics as an Asian ethnic territory as late as the 1990s. First, many buildings in this area, particularly in its core area, are still old; most of them were constructed in the early decades of the twentieth century, and their exterior features have been conserved carefully through the rehabilitation works. Second, approximately eighty percent of the businesses in this area are considered to be Asian ethnic businesses, and most of them are small owner operated shops involving family members. There are few branches or franchises of larger mainstream businesses. Third, the ID has retained its character as a residential neighborhood; there still exist thirty three residential buildings and over 2, 164 dwelling units are available. A total of 1, 852 residents were counted within the boundary of the ID in 1990 according to the Census Blocks Data, and almost half of them were Asian or Pacific Islanders.
An important background of the above tendencies is the nature of the redevelopment processes in this area. The main purpose of the redevelopment has been preservation and development of residences for low income, elderly Asian people as well as revitalizing the smallscale ethnic businesses. In the ID, namely, the community based redevelopment processes proceeded from the beginning of the redevelopment planning to the early 1990s. However, it should be noted that some large-scale non-community based projects such as the Union Station Project, the Uwajimaya Village Project, and several market-rate housing projects are now proceeding in the ID. Those projects will transform the nature of this Asian ethnic enclave in the near future by creating a large new business space as well as gentrification of this area.

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The formative processes of Holocene strandplain ridges in the Kujukuri coastal plain have been frequently discussed. The ridges were indicated by land use which was shown on the old large-scale topographic maps called “Jinsoku-sokuzu”, the Rapid Survey Map during the middle of the Meiji period, around 1883. It is concluded that six groups of strandplain ridges developed in this coastal plain.

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