Housing / Urban Development Integrated with Flood-Control Reservoirs in Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce two integrated urban development projects in Japan that take full advantage of flood-control reservoirs: the Tetsugakudo Park Collective Housing Development Project and the Koshigaya Lake Town Project. The former project – implemented cooperatively by the Tokyo metropolitan government in charge of river management, Shinjuku and Nakano wards (in Tokyo) responsible for park management, and the Urban Renaissance Agency, a housing project developer – set a significant precedent for threedimensional river use by realizing the three-dimensional integrated development of a flood control reservoir, a park, and collective housing. The Koshigaya Lake Town Project, launched as a drastic storm water management measure for a low-lying area often plagued by flooding, has achieved a sustainable coexistence between the waterfront environment and the urban living environment, with an artificial flood-control reservoir as the core for urban development. This project is fully committed to environmental coexistence through the optimal use of local environmental resources, with the cooperation of the central government, Saitama Prefecture and Koshigaya City.