The Effectiveness of the Close Residential Relationship for Urban Redevelopment in Japan

Around large Japanese cities, such as Tokyo and Yokohama, suburban residential areas were developed during the 1960s and 70s as receptacles for a new urban working population. In recent years, however, the physical deterioration of buildings in these areas has led to their more general decline, and their residents have started to face challenges related to aging. Despite these conditions, many residents resist moving from familiar areas where they have lived for many years. This means that simply redeveloping them with new structures may not offer the best solution. To understand life in these suburbs, this report considers the importance of a “close residential relationship” between family members of different generations. Such an alternative condition represents a change from the big, multigenerational households that formerly pertained in traditional Japanese culture. And this new approach has been promoted recently by local governments and developers as a way to improve the quality of life in suburban regions. The report analyzes how the daily lives of residents of one suburban area have changed as a result of the area’s recent redevelopment, and it documents how maintaining a close residential relationship has proven beneficial during this process.