Research & reports

小杉 理理子 · 日本不動産学会誌 34巻2号 p.108 · Japan

Introduces the Kamigo Neopolis machizukuri agreement between Yokohama City and Daiwa House Industry, reporting collaboration among residents, government, and the developer to regenerate a suburban detached-housing district through gathering spaces and community building.

一般社団法人まちにわ ひばりが丘 · まちにわ ひばりが丘 公式活動報告書 · Japan

A milestone report marking transition from developer-led (Daiwa House, Sumitomo Fudosan, Cosmos Initia, etc.) to resident-led governance at former Hibarigaoka Danchi, documenting operation of Hibari Terrace 118 with its shared garden and the evolution of machizukuri.

greenz.jp · greenz.jp · Japan

An in-depth feature by the social-design media greenz.jp interviewing Minna no Uen founder Yasutaka Kaneda, detailing his shift from architecture to farming and how he turned about 1,000 sqm of vacant houses and lots into a curiosity-driven community garden.

Ikuko Omi, Tôru Nakayama · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study documents the five-year process of establishing and developing civil agriculture organizations to enable suburban residents to participate in urban agriculture. It identifies various conditions necessary for success, including initial investment, cultivation training, farmland conditions, and sales. The study also clarifies the relationship with local government and farmers, and notes that members began developing their own agricultural techniques once the organization's operations stabilized, revealing diverse roles and issues within these groups.

Naomi Shimpo · Toshi keikaku hokokushu/Toshi keikaku houkokushuu · Japan (Tokyo)

This paper investigated the establishment and management of a community garden opened by an NPO on vacant land in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. Interviews and document analysis revealed that the garden was established to cultivate traditional vegetables to foster human interaction, and the NPO status was acquired to receive municipal subsidies and potentially resolve property tax issues. NPO status is considered advantageous for the economic stability of community garden operations.

Seiichiro Shiozawa · The Japanese Journal of Real Estate Sciences · Japan

This study examined the "2022 problem" in Japan, concerning the potential mass conversion of farmland designated as Production Green Space into residential land. It notes that these concerns have receded due to legal amendments and system establishment following the 2016 Basic Law for the Promotion of Urban Agriculture. The study suggests that future urban development should utilize urban farmland to increase regional value, proposing three key actions: establishing cooperation between urban farmers and residents, creating district-specific community development systems, and promoting appropriate land use.

Keshav Chandra · Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research · Japan

In Japanese agriculture, women's participation is progressively increasing, and there is a close relationship between attracting youth to agriculture and achieving food self-sufficiency. Urban agriculture is developing as a new trend in Japan. New trends such as organic farms, robotics agro, urban agriculture, and increasing women's participation are emerging, which can accelerate the pace of agricultural development in Japan.

Tomoko Imoto, Nobutaka ISHITSUKA, Cheligeer, Kiyohide Morita · JOURNAL OF RURAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMICS · Japan

This study investigated allotment garden use among child-rearing generations in Japan, identifying preferences for "free space (play area)," "staff to answer questions," and "events." A questionnaire survey of first-grade parents revealed a high potential demand for allotment gardens, with preferences for lower fees, play areas, cultivation guidance, and events. However, an analysis using a cross-effect model found a disconnect between preferences for garden use and food preferences, as those who buy domestic products generally did not value events, indicating a "food-agriculture gap."

Yen-Khang Nguyen-Tran, Ryo MURATA · Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ) · Japan

A study examining how variation in spatial qualities affects user experience in selected public rooftop gardens (RG) in Tokyo, Japan. It combined fieldwork and simulation to describe physical attributes across different environmental conditions and interpreted the resulting setting patterns through experience parameters, revealing tendencies of variation in each parameter. By connecting settings to experience, the study frames rooftop garden quality factors as a tangible and intangible relationship between "Space Affordance with Usage" and "Image of Identity."

Yumiko Fujiwara, Kaoru Matsuo, Shigeaki TAKEDA, Hiroyuki KAGA · Proceedings of The City Planning Institute of Japan Kansai Branch · Japan

A literature review and interviews with resident-led edible landscape initiatives in Japan examined the role of edible landscape in regional revitalization. Edible landscape was found to have taken on a comprehensive regional-revitalization role encompassing food security, educational effects, economic effects and community regeneration. Across the process from planting to eating edible plants, the edible theme appeared able to draw in collaboration with public bodies, businesses and resident groups beyond existing local community ties.

Ken Muramatsu, Akane Bessho, Takahiro Yamazaki, Akiko Iida, Makoto Yokohari · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study examined "Katte-Kosaku," unauthorized cultivation on the riverbed of the Hanami River in Chiba City, Japan, from a social well-being perspective. It found that the practice has a welfare function that improves the quality of life of socially vulnerable people, and that a certain number of people in the surrounding community tolerate the activity.

Machida D. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(8):1389 · Japan

A web-based cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling older adults in Japan examined links between community or home gardening and health-related indicators. Gardening with others was significantly associated with exercise habits, physical activity, vegetable intake and neighborly connections, and with higher subjective happiness and sense of purpose, supporting gardens as a means to counter isolation among the elderly.

Yoshida S., Yagi H., Kiminami A., Garrod G. · Sustainability 11(10):2887 · Japan

The study analyzes the sustainability of multifunctional peri-urban agriculture through the lens of farm diversification and farmers' entrepreneurial attributes. It identifies the characteristics of advanced, highly diversified farm businesses and discusses factors supporting the persistence of peri-urban agriculture in Japan.

国土交通省 都市局 公園緑地・景観課 · 国土交通省（MLIT）報告書 · Japan

A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism casebook compiled to advance both compact urban structure and the 'coexistence of cities with green and agriculture'. It catalogues urban-farming and green-space initiatives — including resident-participation rooftop gardens, allotments and farming-led town-making by private developers and municipalities — and provides the policy backdrop for developer cases.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 都市局 · Japan

A national casebook organising interim uses of low-/under-used land (event space, gardens, greenery) until development advances, including cases like Kawasaki's planned-road 'Kisetsu-no-komichi' and Yokohama's soil-storage reuse.

東急不動産株式会社 · 東急不動産 プレスリリース資料 · Japan

Completion materials for Tokyu Fudosan's Branz Nerima Nakamura Minami condominium, planning resident-only 'Hagukumi Garden', a kitchen lounge, and compost-chair food-waste cycling in partnership with Agrimedia for food education and garden community.

世田谷区 · 世田谷区 農業振興計画 · Japan

Setagaya's ten-year agricultural promotion plan adopted in 2019, setting basic policies and concrete measures for municipal urban agriculture including citizen farms and contact farms using the Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, agriculture-welfare collaboration and sixth-industry support.

横浜市 環境創造局 · 横浜市 都市農業推進計画 · Japan

Yokohama's urban agriculture promotion plan, linked to the Midori Up programme, organising policies and results for publicly supported citizen farming infrastructure including diverse citizen farms, cultivation experience farms, harvest farms and Megumi-no-Sato districts.

練馬区, 東京都都市整備局 · 練馬区 農の風景育成地区計画 · Japan

Nerima's landscape conservation plan for Minami-Oizumi and Takamatsu under Tokyo's Agricultural Landscape Conservation District system, positioning ward allotments, experience farms, farm stands and food-education events as integrated public farmland conservation and revitalisation.

In Sook Jo, Jung Min Choi · Residential Environment Institute Of Korea · South Korea; Japan

A case study investigated 8 community gardens in South Korea and Japan through field surveys and in-depth interviews with managers to develop a sustainable community garden management program. Findings indicated that active participant involvement is crucial, spatial layout and management should foster community, and different elements are important at each management stage. Early planning should consider maintenance elements, and governance should be participation-based, with measures needed to attract new participants due to aging populations.

ハジメ イシカワ, Hajime Ishikawa, 初 石川 · KeiO Associated Repository of Academic Resources (Keio University) · Japan (Tokamachi, Uji, Kamiyama)

This research aimed to establish a method for discovering, verbalizing, visualizing, and evaluating the "living scene" created by residents as a base for local identity and a local resource, and to clarify its sharing method. In 2020, in collaboration with local residents in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, and Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, the study practiced verbalizing and sharing regional landscape elements through the production of landscape field guides. In Tokamachi City, private house gardens were measured and field guides created, while in Uji City, open spaces, green areas, and waterways were mapped, and community garden designs were proposed. In Kamiyama Town, fieldwork was abandoned due to COVID-19 countermeasures, and interview surveys were conducted using media such as telephone and email.

Ryo Iizuka, Kei Ota, Toshio Kikuchi · Journal of Geography (Chigaku Zasshi) · Japan (Kodaira City)

This study explored the growth and sustaining strategies of urban agriculture based on diversified agricultural management and interactions with urban residents, using Kodaira City, Tokyo Metropolis, as a case study. Analysis of previous literature, public survey data on the spatial distribution and classification of agricultural management patterns, and interviews with farmers revealed interactions between farmers and urban residents. In Kodaira City, interactions exist between farms and urban residents based on agricultural management, with distinct patterns influenced by local characteristics. These interaction styles prevent excessive competition, attract stable customers, and enable sustainable management.

Mitsuhito HOSAKA, Takeshi Sato · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan

This paper reviewed research trends on urban farming in Tokyo, focusing on public benefits of Tokyo's agriculture and farmland, agricultural business management, and the effects of urban farmland policies like the Amendment of Productive Green Land Act. The research identified the necessity for sustainable academic research, improved databases for quantitative analysis, and economic evaluation of intensive agricultural production technology.

Benjamin N. Klaiman, Clayton LeRoy Besch, Connor Robert Lepage, Sean Patrick Duffy · Digital WPI · Japan

This student project focused on the Gojo Rakuen area in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, recording the function of each building, interviewing business owners, and producing a map of streets, buildings, greenery, and pedestrian flow. It concludes that changes such as increasing lighting, attracting more shops and services, and repurposing underutilized lots into bike parking or community gardens could help draw people back to the area.

Jiménez-Antillón, J., Calleja-Amador, C., Romero-Esquivel, L. G. · Resources (MDPI), 7(4):84 · Global (Costa Rica; Japan-origin method)

A field study placing the Kitakyushu-origin 'Takakura' composting method—widely diffused in Surabaya, Indonesia—as small portable boxes in university offices and workplaces in Costa Rica. Processing food waste from 45 staff over six months, it shows that low-cost, citizen/workplace-scale fermentation composting is viable.