The history and future directions of greenways in Japanese New Towns

A number of societal changes such as an ageing population and a lack of economic prosperity mean that Japanese greenway planners will be faced with a number of new challenges in the coming decades. These societal changes will be particularly dramatic in the Japanese New Towns, which were constructed in the late 1950s. Some of these New Towns marked a departure for Japanese planning by including a network of greenways, which were planned to provide pleasant corridors for pedestrians and bikers. Around 30 years have passed since these areas were developed; today the greenways in these New Towns have become corridors with dense and rich greenery. Such matured greenways, which were supposed to provide an amenity for local residents, have increasingly come to be regarded as a cause of fear of crime. To try and mitigate this, trees and shrubs along the greenways are now closely trimmed or even removed. However, such mature vegetation along the greenways may be regarded as a feature that maintains the history of the town. Such vegetation is also expected to provide ecological corridors that accommodate wildlife species which were abundant in the rural areas surrounding these New Towns. Within the context of proposing an optimum management scheme for Japanese greenways, the following study aims to explain and discuss how the fear of crime on greenways can be prevented whilst maintaining their ecological and historical functions. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.