On the Earthquake-Proof Renewal of the Underground Shopping Centers

Utilization of underground space in Japan

“…The ''underground shopping malls" here do not simply refer to ''places where there are shops and passages in the basement" such as a shopping mall in the basement of a building on private land and shops attached to railroad facilities. As declared by the 1974 notice of the Central Liaison Council concerning Underground Shopping Centers titled the ''Basic Policy toward Underground Shopping Centers" and the five-government-office notification ''Treatment of Underground Shopping Malls" of 1980, an ''underground shopping mall" in an administrative sense is an ''underground facility integrated with underground footpaths provided for public purposes and shops, offices and other similar facilities built on such footpaths (including an underground parking lot if attached) that are linked to roads or station square areas provided for public purposes" (Kishii, 2011a(Kishii, , 2013(Kishii, , 2014Tatsukami, 1986).…”