Winter Issue 2022 - 25

ULI Finds " Backbone
of Resilience " in
Tokyo's Response to
Natural Disaster
A Tokyo study finds
ancient institutions to be
as important as massive
investment in disasterprevention
infrastructure
in protecting Japanese
society from natural
catastrophes.
A ULI urban resilience study shows
how culture can contribute to
the resilience of a city by driving
mutual cooperation among residents,
supporting the high costs
of infrastructure investment, and
inspiring private developers to
accept and exceed some of the
strictest building regulations in the
world.
The study, In the Eye of the
Storm, looks at Tokyo's experience
in responding to centuries of natural
disasters-typhoons, floods,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tsunamis, and droughts. The city's
active neighborhoods-known as
chonaikai-are shown to provide
an enduring social nucleus around
which disaster preparation and
response can be organized. Matsuri
festivals reinforce community
ties while the festivals' disasterprevention
groups remain active
all year. Japan's volunteer fire
brigades, the shobodan, promote
awareness of local hazards and act
as local leaders in disaster prevention.
Tokyo's
investors and landlords
respond to the need for resilient
urban design with buildings that
generally exceed already high
official standards. Their emergency
infrastructure tends to serve the
wider neighborhood, creating a
self-contained bubble that allows
the neighborhood to continue to
function even if utilities and communications
links are cut during
a disaster. The report highlights
Mitsubishi Estate Group's development
of the Marunouchi, Otemachi,
and Yurakucho areas, the city's
primary central business district;
Mori Building Company's Roppongi
Neighborhood; and Mitsui Fudosan
Co.'s modernization of the historic
Nihonbashi business district.
Improvements in resilience
recoup their construction costs and
create opportunities. Completion of
the Greater Tokyo Outer Area Discharge
Channel allowed Kasukabe
City to evolve as a successful logistics
center, while the Yokohama
International Stadium was made
possible through the Tsurumi River
Detention Basin.
David Faulkner, president of
ULI Asia Pacific, says, " Japan has
responded to its geographical
vulnerability to natural disasters
with a cultural dynamic that has all
parts of society pulling together for
the common good. That includes
its major developers, inspired to
act as good corporate citizens and
setting high standards for others to
follow. Their flagship projects are
showcases of resilient design. "
The Japanese capital is Asia's
largest urban area, with 37 million
inhabitants, but also the third most
threatened in the world by natural
disaster. Tokyo's vulnerability
is due to geologic fault lines, its
exposure to extreme weather, and
its proximity to inland mountain
ranges and their fast-flowing rivers.
Tokyo has responded to its vulnerability
with the following:
Massive civil engineering campaigns
since the second half of
the 19th century and most recently
following the global financial crisis,
when government provided economic
stimulus through infrastructure
construction.
The creation of neighborhoodwide,
self-reliant infrastructure
around new development.
A national Building Standards
Act that provides minimum
engineering safety requirements
against fires, earthquakes, and
other natural disasters.
Extensive retrofitting: the 1995
Law for Promotion of Renovation
for Earthquake-Resistant Structures
requires buildings to be assessed
and, if necessary, structurally reinforced.
Rebuilding
or raising of fire
resistance levels in " priority development
districts " characterized by
tightly packed wooden buildings.
Disaster and evacuation training
drills held throughout the year,
including Disaster Prevention Day
on September 1, May's events
that focused on flood risk in river
basins, June's on landslides, and
December's on avalanches.
The automated, satellite-based
J-Alert warning system for imminent
earthquakes or flooding.
The report notes that 2017's
Typhoon Lan flooded just 202
homes; a similar level of rainfall
from a typhoon in 1991 flooded
more than 31,000.
This report is available to download
on ULI Knowledge Finder at
knowledge.uli.org.
CRYSTAL LO is a senior associate,
communications, with ULI Asia Pacific.
Five Leading Firms
Join Forces with ULI to
Fast-Track and Scale
Up Decarbonization in
Europe
ULI has kicked off a partnership
with several major real estate organizations-including
Allianz Real
Estate, Catella, Hines, Redevco,
and Schroders Capital-that will
support the built environment in
Europe on its urgent journey to
carbon neutrality. The project, titled
Fast-track to Decarbonisation: An
Integrated Roadmap for the Built
Environment, is part of ULI's focus
on decarbonization as one of its
global priorities.
Fast-track to Decarbonisation
aims to support the industry across
Europe to speed up and scale up
the decarbonization process by
analysing and consolidating the
real estate industry's approach to
net zero, assessing progress and
the impact of industry frameworks,
as well as identifying urgent gaps
and barriers that need to be
bridged. The anticipated output will
be a roadmap to enable the industry
to accelerate progress and presWINTER
2022
URBAN LAND
23
http://knowledge.uli.org
Winter Issue 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Winter Issue 2022
