Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 216-224. / This thesis attempts to present the structure of Japanese towns as the connection between physical amenity and use, and the meaning of spatial structure as it is formed and textured by the people who inhabit it. This is organized into four sections, the first, a discussion of Japanese culture and worldview as it relates to a sense of space. This section develops a framework and conceptual model for the later parts: a presentation of six towns in different parts of Japan; an analysis of these places as town, house, and street as they rela·te to this conceptual/ cultural model; and, the development of a language of form and structure of one of these towns through a series of design explorations. / by Patricia A. Seitz. / M.Arch.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (v 2., leaves 309-325). / The study examines the architectural preservation program as it has developed over the past century in Japan, and demonstrates how relics of the past have been manipulated and re-interpreted by individuals and communities seeking to define a modern identity. The study chronicles the development of preservation practice from a national perspective, followed by a local historical analysis of the town of Tsumago in Nagano Prefecture. It is proposed that a nativist and modernist construction of the common Japanese house has had a special place in the history of the modern movement in Japan which influenced the conceptualization, study and preservation of traditional architecture over the past century. Also, the legal tools and field practices of both the national preservation program and the grass-roots district preservation movement have been tied to ideological and political concerns which have affected building designation, restoration, and public presentation. The most important example of the grass-roots district preservation movement in Japan is Tsumago-juku in Nagano Prefecture, the first example of such a movement in Asia. It is demonstrated that Tsumago's place in the formation of Japan's modern national identity was of primary importance to the success of its preservation effort. Restoration work there resulted in important national legislation and created a conflict between the "living tradition" of local carpentry and community vs. professional preservationist. This centered on the nature of architectural tradition and definition of authenticity. As a result of the preservation effort, the town's history and traditions have been re-invented to suit the needs of the present, and its material historicity has been compromised in the name of a greater authenticity in the building process. Yet the modernist ideal of a structurally "honest" and materially "natural" Japanese house has made the acceptance of preservation intervention problematic in the architectural community, further demonstrating that the way old houses are preserved is as much a reflection of the architectural and political ideology of our time as they are a portrait of the past. / by Cherie Wendelken-Mortensen. / Ph.D.

This study is concerned with Japan’s National Capital Region Development Plan. How to modify the capital plan and some of the correlative land policies of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to more fully protect regional air and water quality is the problem dealt with in the study.

This thesis discusses changing priorities in urban infrastructure in Japanese cities especially due to emerging pressures such as ' internationalization', the shift to ''knowledge-intensive industries', and the search for a higher urban 'quality of life'. Case studies are presented of four major projects under way in metropolitan Nagoya during the early 1990s, which the author visited as part of field studies under taken in 1994. These are: 1) The Chubu International Airport, a national infrastructure project; 2) The Aichi Cultural Center and the International Design Center Nagoya, address the issue of 'culture" and are regional infrastructure projects; 3) The Shidami Human Science City, which was designated in the 'City's New Basic Plan' as a priority project to upgrade the city's economic infrastructure. The research findings suggest that in the 1990s, Nagoya was indeed moving towards a new urban development strategy based around these major infrastructure projects.

This thesis discusses changing priorities in urban infrastructure in Japanese cities especially due to emerging pressures such as ' internationalization', the shift to ''knowledge-intensive industries', and the search for a higher urban 'quality of life'. Case studies are presented of four major projects under way in metropolitan Nagoya during the early 1990s, which the author visited as part of field studies under taken in 1994. These are: 1) The Chubu International Airport, a national infrastructure project; 2) The Aichi Cultural Center and the International Design Center Nagoya, address the issue of 'culture" and are regional infrastructure projects; 3) The Shidami Human Science City, which was designated in the 'City's New Basic Plan' as a priority project to upgrade the city's economic infrastructure. The research findings suggest that in the 1990s, Nagoya was indeed moving towards a new urban development strategy based around these major infrastructure projects. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate