Landscape Planning for Resilient Cities in Asia: Lessons from Integrated Rural–Urban Land Use in Japan

Abstract

Rural and urban landscape components have traditionally maintained a clear separation in the morphology of European cities. In contrast, the historical landscape of Edo Japan consists of mixed rural and urban land uses, due in part to a period of relative peace that rendered contained and fortified cities redundant. Despite European and Japanese cities having very different historical drivers of their resultant urban forms, modern landscape planning discourses in both regions have shifted toward a common aim for a clear rural–urban separation. However, prevailing socioeconomic factors (associated mainly with farmers’ rights) that have sustained the mixed urban–rural pattern of Japanese landscapes resulted in a partial uptake of the modern landscape planning morphology. Instead of labeling the resultant “chaotic” urban–rural mix characteristic of modern Japanese landscapes as a “failure,” one could instead draw lessons for a better future. The initial motivator for separating the rural from the urban landscape in modern landscape planning was to limit chaotic urban expansion. However, there has been increasing recognition that cities of today have to be resilient to new challenges, such as the increased instances of extreme events. This chapter makes the case that a city with an integrated rural–urban landscape is ideal for increasing urban resilience to natural disasters. The historical Japanese landscape could, ironically, function as an urban-planning model that ensures the functional connectivity needed for food security and simultaneously ensures the provision of adequate, accessible green spaces.