Main entry:

Edgington, David W., 1950-

Title & Author:

Reconstructing Kobe : the geography of crisis and opportunity / David W. Edgington.

Publication:

Vancouver : UBC Press, ©2010.

Description:

xxii, 301 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Earthquakes and urban reconstruction -- Kobe and the Hanshin earthquake -- The planning and reconstruction response -- Protest, participation, and the Phoenix Plan -- Neighbourhood case studies -- Symbolic projects and the local economy -- Conclusion -- Appendices. Chronology of the ten-year reconstruction period in Kobe (1995-2005) ; National government relief and recovery measures ; Major reconstruction actions taken by local government in 1995.
Title and text in English; with some text in Japanese.

Summary:

Six thousand people died and hundreds of thousands lost their homes when the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit Kobe in January 1995. It was the largest disaster to affect postwar Japan and one of the most destructive postwar natural disasters to strike a developed country. Although the media focused on the disaster's immediate effects, the long-term reconstruction efforts have gone largely unexplored. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with planners, activists, and bureaucrats, David Edgington records the first ten years of reconstruction and recovery efforts and offers detailed descriptions of the geography of crisis and opportunity. Which districts were most vulnerable to quake and why? Did policy makers and planners exploit opportunities to revitalize the city and make it more sustainable and disaster proof? Edgington's intricate investigation of Japanese urban policy, local governance, and land use in stricken neighbourhoods reveals that Japan's particular style of urban redevelopment hindered rather than hastened its ability to rebuild a devastated city. An absorbing account of the largest urban-planning redevelopment effort in Japanese history and the disaster that caused it, Reconstructing Kobe offers real-world solutions to urban planners and policy makers and is essential reading for students and scholars of Japanese urban and planning history.

ISBN:

9780774817578 (pbk.)
0774817577
9780774817561
0774817569

Subject:

City planning Japan Kōbe-shi.
Kobe Earthquake, Japan, 1995.
Urban renewal Japan Kōbe-shi History.
Land use Japan Kōbe-shi.
Municipal government Japan Kōbe-shi.
Rénovation urbaine Japon Kōbe Histoire.
Tremblement de terre de Kōbe, Japon, 1995.
Urbanisme Japon Kōbe.
Utilisation du sol Japon Kōbe.
Administration municipale Japon Kōbe.
City planning.
Economic history.
Land use.
Municipal government.
Social conditions
Urban renewal.
Erdbeben
Wiederaufbau
Stadtsanierung.
Städtebau.
City planning Japan Kobe-shi.
Stadsplanering Japan Kobe.
Jordbävningar.
Kōbe-shi (Japan) Social conditions.
Kōbe-shi (Japan) Economic conditions.
Kōbe (Japon) Conditions économiques.
Kōbe (Japon) Conditions sociales.
Japan.
Japan Kōbe-shi.
Kobe

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 272874
Call No.: BIB 206257
Notes: pbk.
Status: Available