Scrap and build – Report#1

Last week I had the first visit in the Ichikawa-Government. There I am going to make an internship (one day per week) in the city-planning-office.

I had to introduce myself, even by the Mayor, Mr. Chiba.

During the visits and a short trip around Ichikawa-city, I had some interesting discussion about “Identity”. My new colleagues wanted to know, what the meaning for me about this theme is. And the second time in two days, I heard the term “scrap and build”.

Firstly I was shocked! “Scrap and build”, I could not imagine that this can exist. The meaning is destroying whole quarters to make place for new quarters. It is a totally place-identity-change.

An example is near the train-station of Ichikawa-city. Two big towers are still under construction. Before the realization made a whole quarter place for these new buildings.

In Japan exists a special law for the theme “Scrap and build”. I will learn more about this theme in my actually internship.

Of course I know an explanation for this praxis in Japan. This explanation is to find in the culture and history of Japan. Also in the topography of Japan, the reason for the shortage of place.

For example the shinto-shrine “Jingû” in Ise. Built 2000 years ago, it should have got the same face since at that time! The cause is that the shrines are rebuilt periodically.

The European buildings are built for long time. The Japanese buildings are built with not so “decomposition-resistant-materials”. The most popular material is wood. The Japanese build after 20 to 30 years a new building. We have also to consider, that Japan the land of earthquakes and tsunamis is. So I think that destroy and rebuild is natural in Japan.

About shortage of place: Japan is as big as Germany. But Japan has 50% more inhabitants. And 80% of Japan is highlands. So the aggregation is extremely high. The building land is expansive. The Japanese must build tall.