A worldwide introduction of renewable energy has been required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Concomitantly, this has caused conflict between renewable energy development and local communities over landscape changes. This study aims to clarify the factors of conflict and find a way of conflict management. A case study on Japan is used, where a solar rush occurred due to the feed-in tariff (FIT) system. We analyze the public reasons to worry about renewable energy and the spatial characteristics of its locations. A socio-spatial approach is used by first utilizing a qualitative survey based on questionnaires and interviews with the local governments to understand the awareness regarding the issues, and then utilizing a quantitative survey on the location changes to solar power by using GIS. The results suggest that there were links between local governments’ concerns and the location of solar power concentration. These results show that conflicts over renewable energy are not unavoidable and may be managed by local governments that can act as intermediaries with sufficient knowledge of the local communities.

Allotment gardens (AGs) are widely used in metropolitan areas around the world to offer agricultural opportunities to urban residents. However, there are not enough individual plots for residents to rent for urban gardening, and research on AGs from a city-wide perspective is ongoing. In addition, AGs have a long history in Tokyo, yet few international studies on the current situation of AGs have addressed Asian cities. Thus, this study intends to analyze the provision of AGs and its influencing factors in Tokyo. Using ArcGIS combined the 472-points dataset created by geo-coordinate mapping with urban GIS data to reveal spatial characteristics in four dimensions. Results demonstrate that most AGs are in the urbanization promotion area; most municipalities have AGs; AGs are concentrated within 20 to 30 km from the center of Tokyo; the AGs’ clusters are located at the municipal boundaries. We conducted multiple regressions to determine the influencing factors at the municipal level, with the provision that AGs are related to population density, land price, and the ratio of productive green space. The policy implication of this study is that policymakers need to consider the siting strategy of AGs based on spatial characteristics of AGs.

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Ishinomaki city was damaged by the tsunami at the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the flooded area was the largest among the disaster cities. In Ogatsu, all of the centers of the town became the place that people cannot live, so population significantly decrease. The purpose of this research is to clarify the migration of the inhabitants in Ogatsu. We analyzed the living situation of temporary and permanent of the 618 households who lived in the old center of the Ogatsu area. Through this research, we have revealed the following things; The Ogatsu area could not secure the residence within the district because it was difficult to obtain temporary housing within the same area. Among the 618 households, the Ogatsu district occupied 11.2% in the temporary period and 12.5% in the permanent period. Although the residents of the Ogatsu area moved to the outside during the temporary period, they intend to reside again. But for the households who could not return, large-scale housing complexes in the Kahoku district took on them. We want to clarify the difference in residential trends due to the presence or absence of designation of disaster hazard area.

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