Hitomi Nakanishi

The achievement of net-zero emissions is a major governmental challenge to ameliorate the adverse impacts of climate change, and to reduce the health risks associated with poor air quality. In Australia, the transport sector is a major contributor to particulate matter and greenhouse gas emissions, especially in urban areas. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government recognises that one of the greatest sustainability challenges to achieving a carbon-neutral society with net-zero emissions is the transport sector because it contributes 60 percent of all emissions under its jurisdiction. The ACT is a suitable case study on climate change, energy policy, and transport emissions because its electricity is powered by renewable energy; its governance has included a continuous planning philosophy of integrating transport with land use. The methodology is based on identifying and summarising the international literature on net-zero emissions policy (n = 50), the relevant policy documents and reports by the Australian Government (n = 8) and by the ACT Government (n = 32). An appraisal of policy outcomes in the ACT is based on an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. In a car-dependent city (77% of trips by private transport), the most realistic policies for achieving net-zero emissions are to encourage, through fiscal incentives and regulations, the adoption of electric vehicles for buses and private cars, electric or hydrogen vehicles for the commercial fleet, and regulations to phase out petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles.

In this chapter, urban planning and infrastructure development of Japanese cities after the second world war, which has constructed urban systems of current Japanese cities, is examined. The Japanese cities had catastrophic damages due to bombing and lack of resources during the war. Five Comprehensive National Development Plans were developed in the following four decades to support post-war recovery, economic growth and balanced distribution of industry and infrastructure across the country. Enhancing disaster resilience and preparing for mega disasters were main themes in all National Development Plans. As a disaster-prone country, buildings and infrastructure have been designed and maintained to be tolerable to earthquakes, floods, tsunami and typhoons. In this chapter, it is explained how the focus of ‘disaster prevention’, ‘disaster reduction’ and ‘mitigation’ are shifted from infrastructure development to reinforcing individuals’ behaviour in preparing and acting to save their lives and help each other.

Disaster resilience is not just about building hard infrastructure and urban systems. It is also about capacity of residents and communities in coping with unexpected incidents, chaos and prolonged process of recovery. This chapter highlights how Japanese communities fostered social capital through their responses to natural hazards. Historically, small groups formed in each community played significant role in managing community-based infrastructure such as irrigation canals. The ‘gonin-gumi’ system (established during the reign of Tokugawa Government 1603-1867) is the origin of neighbourhood association which used to help residents to develop and share knowledge in dealing with disasters. In current individualistic Japanese society, many people do not belong to neighbourhood association. In this chapter, author discusses the transition of Japanese society, contemporary challenges and how social capital plays an important role in disaster recovery.

This concluding chapter points out that Japan’s challenges are: the state of the economy, the ageing of the population, the low birth rate and the imbalanced concentration of population and business in metropolitan areas. The author suggests that the core values of urban development should be a) disaster resilience as an essential element of society, and b) quality of life. Social capital strongly influences disaster resilience. She concludes that the current urban development that only seeks short-term economic profits is not producing resilient cities. Both urban planners and residents need to trial new and different approaches. The author emphasises that collaborative urban development which focuses on quality of life will enhance disaster resilience.

Japan has average 20 typhoons passing every year, causing heavy rain, floods and landslides across the country. Not all typhoons bring significant impact to communities and this makes many people not to prepared enough. However this perception needs to change. Looking at recent natural hazards, it is understood that all communities in Japan have risks of floods that threaten many people’s lives. In recent years, 2004 was one of the worst and a wake-up call that affected the driest city of Japan. Three typhoons that consecutively hit Japan brought huge damages to cities in 2004. In this chapter, focusing on Seto Inland sea area, where record-breaking storm surge largely affected urban systems, the author discusses the response of authorities and communities, the recovery process and measures to enhance preparedness. The author presents results of questionnaire survey and interviews with residents conducted in city of Takamatsu.

The record-breaking precipitation during the period of 28th June to 8th July 2018 claimed the lives of more than 220 people in the Western part of Japan. More than 30,000 houses were flooded and 11,000 houses completely or partly collapsed, in addition to severe damages to infrastructure. The Western Japan Flood 2018 has revealed that the awareness of the flood risks of residents are still low despite of the dissemination effort of hazard maps and repeated alerts. In addition, the maintenance of infrastructure revealed to be an issue. In this chapter, lessons are discussed based on archival analysis and fieldwork focusing on the impact in three prefectures.

This chapter sets the background of how the author started to engage in disaster research. She had an opportunity to visit the affected area of North East Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011, six months after the event. She was invited to do fieldwork in Ishinomaki, and since then, she visited the site every year. Until 2019, she had visited the site ten times to do fieldwork, questionnaire surveys and interviews with affected residents and the authorities in charge of recovery. She was often encouraged by survivors’ words requesting to spread the lessons to the world. A definition of disaster resilience in the built environment and a structure of the book is explained. It is noted that many scholarly references are cited but academic theories and jargons presented in this book are kept to minimum for wider audience.

In this chapter, the importance of social infrastructure such as social capital and networks are emphasised. The national government released the Japan’s new technology-led vision ‘Society 5.0’ in 2018. Society 5.0 is supposed to use more IoT and AI as an infrastructure to assist human activities wherever possible. It aims to manage both economic and social challenges in Japanese society. Disaster prevention and risk reduction is one of the core values that is further strengthened in Society 5.0. However, Japan is well behind other advanced countries in terms of digital transformation. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is widening of the gap between the wealthy and the low socio-economic groups further. The author suggests that a sustainable future will depend on how communities can evolve without losing their residents’ sense of belongings, sense of place and relationships and networks with neighbours.

On 14 April 2016, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the Kumamoto region on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The earthquake, initially announced as a main shock was in fact a foreshock. The main shock struck the area two days later, and it was magnitude 7.3 and occurred at midnight. Kyushu area is relatively less prepared to earthquakes, compared with other areas in Japan (e.g. Tohoku, where there have been mega earthquakes historically, including the 2011 disaster). This 2016 earthquake was a wake-up call for people and authorities in Kyushu, reminding them that they also should prepare for earthquake and tsunami as well as typhoons, given that the southern part of island is facing with Pacific Ocean. The unprepared local governments and communities in Kyushu struggled to manage the immediate response and expected long process of recovery. The local universities played a pivotal role in helping local governments and communities. In this chapter, the author focuses on collaborative actions of government, community and local universities in managing recovery.