KEYWORDS: Regional characteristics, topographic restriction. hillside city. port city built on steep slopes.
ABSTRACT
From long ago, Japanese harbors were located in inlets and back bays where wave conditions are quiet, and cities developed around these harbors. Japan, how ever, is a highly mountainous country, and in many areas steep slopes press right down to the coast. This geology influenced the form of towns and cities. In port cities that developed along coasts bordered by steep slopes, narrow stepped roads connected the harbor with the surrounding community. This presented problems in terms of disaster evacuation and countermeasures, as well as various restraints on the daily living environment. In addition, these harbors now suffer difficulties in that they lack sufficient backlot space for storing containers, which have become the mainstay of modern high-speed, high-volume transportation systems. Some of these harbors thus now suffer from decline of trunk industries and loss of population. To revitalize these harbor cities, a balance must be struck between the port area and the surrounding community. This basic research was designed to clarify the characteristics of harbor cities built on steep slopes, and to suggest directions for revitalizing them. The results identified distinct differences between these and harbor cities with more flat land.
