Urban Abandonment and Housing Vacancies in Japanese Local Cities: A Case of Kyo-machiya, Traditional Wooden Town Houses

Today many historical buildings including temples, shrines, Kyo-machiya (traditional wooden townhouses), and western-style buildings of the prewar period can still be found in Kyoto. They are architectural heritages that help shape the city’s historical urban landscape. However, the number of Kyo-machiya and modern western-style buildings has recently begun to rapidly disappear as a result of ongoing urban development and property modifications. To preserve these important historical buildings, the Kyoto city government has established several measures including the new Kyoto Landscape Policy 2007 based on the three large-scale surveys for the city center, conducted in 1995–1998, 2003–2004, and 2008–2009. These surveys, called the First, Second, and Third Kyo-machiya Community-building Surveys, have greatly contributed to the better understanding of the overall situation Kyo-machiya the city government. The Kyo-machiya survey data, as well as the Kyoto City Policy for conserving the good urban landscape of Kyoto, can facilitate the exploring of the relationship between the vacancy and the demolishing of Kyo-machiya.