Community Recovery: Observation of Gathering Spaces in GEJE-2011 Affected Areas

After the March 11, 2011 earthquake, the Japanese government and local municipalities made various decisions to rapidly recover the affected areas. Also, many people struggled with changes in living conditions, such as moving to temporary housing, adapting to newly constructed areas, and uneasiness in the recovery of livelihoods. Although the government suggested that local governments consider community recovery to speed up social capital recovery, there were not many leading principles to address the issue. Recovery of the economy and infrastructure were the top priority, and recovery of communities was mostly considered as housing recovery. This research aims to give directions to fill this gap by observing the recovery of gathering spaces to discover various approaches in the recovery of affected communities. Studying gathering spaces in different life stages is crucial since they are the backbone of the society and shape relations, communications, and disaster prevention for a resilient community. With a mixed methods research in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, this study observes different communities and their gathering spaces to evaluate the community recovery attempts and achievements regarding spatial planning and management in affected areas and distinguish strategies for a better community.