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 What
would be the best definition of design? It is generally thought of in terms of making something--whether it is for aesthetic purposes or for practical purposes. Designers of clothes, industrial products, printed materials, buildings, or in any genre are usually
considered as professionals, whose jobs are to create something
new.
Is designing really only about making things that do not currently
exist?--this is what Ryo Yamazaki, a landscape architect, has been
questioning. For Yamazaki, it seems more important for the future
to work consciously to “make the best use” of what has already
been made but has not been fully utilized. Based in his office
in Kita-ku, Osaka City, Yamazaki continues to pursue his vision
through various pioneering activities that involve public spaces
such as parks.
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Yamazaki’s wide range of activities is not limited to
the communities within Osaka. “Hozumi Seizaisho (Sawmill)
Project” in Iga-shi, Mie, and “Sagurareru Shima (an island
to be explored)” at Ieshima Island, Himeji-shi, Hyogo,
are among his major projects that are currently taking
place outside his base city. Through these projects in
outside communities, however, Yamazaki has discovered that
people in Osaka “are generally pretty good at using public
spaces.”
In Osaka, as Yamazaki points out, people often grow green
onions and shiso basil in planting areas of public
streets. They also plant private garden bushes on the premises
of train tracks that run right behind their houses, or turn
street spaces in front of stores into community areas after
they have closed for business for the day. “People in Tokyo,
for example, seem to separate themselves from the public,”
says Yamazaki. “People in Osaka, on the contrary, rather
think that they are part of the public.” In other words,
Osaka locals forwardly assume (in a good sense) that what
the public has is what they’ve got, while being particularly
gifted to find a practical use for every corner of public
space. This may explain why unique, unexpected utilization
of public space is seen in Osaka, according to Yamazaki. |
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Having studied landscaping in the agricultural
department of his college, Yamazaki originally specialized
in designing parks and gardens and was not particularly
interested in how they were or could be used. His view
changed after he was engaged in a management support project
for the Arima Fuji Park, Hyogo, which inspired him to expand
his design works to include potential usages of space including
various community activities. |
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Yamazaki continues to explore potential usages
of public spaces while questioning what he could do about the
trend of a “shrinking city,” caused by the decreasing urban population.
Depopulation directly means the decrease in tax revenues for
the city, which may eventually cause financial difficulties for
the maintenance and management of public facilities. The increase
of public spaces with poor management could trigger the devastation
of the entire city. To avoid such an issue from happening in
the future, according to Yamazaki, community-based management
by local residents themselves is definitely indispensable.
Yamazaki reminds us that Osaka is a clear example of a depopulating community,
showing the fastest decreasing rate of population among large cities. The number
of unoccupied residential properties in many suburban areas is also increasing,
which may not be so obvious today but could certainly affect the destiny of the
entire community sooner or later. “I am concerned about what awaits suburban
Osaka in the future,” says Yamazaki, who himself was raised in the suburbs of
Osaka. He has already started some field work in these communities.
Yamazaki believes that it will become a serious issue in the near future to determine
how to rebuild the developed and overpopulated urban city into a smaller size.
The key to its success is how many proactive residents there are in the community
and who would increase its attractiveness and provide it with vitality. Here
Yamazaki finds the reason why he should focus on using what already exists rather
than making what does not. Yamazaki’s goal is to suggest a role model comprised
of citizens who can independently manage public spaces and bring vitality to
the community instead of leaving it in someone else’s hands. In that sense, Yamazaki
is a professional who designs the entire community. |
December 7, 2007
Text by Michi Komura, Osaka Brand Center
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| Ryo Yamazaki is the founder of studio-L and a landscape
designer for public spaces. He also designs various programs
to utilize developed public spaces and suggests project
management plans. Yamazaki continues his research at the
University of Tokyo graduate school on the theme of “landscaping
design in the era of depopulation.” He lectures at Kyoto
University of Art & Design, Kinki University, and Osaka
College of Technology, and is a chief researcher at Hyogo
Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute. Yamazaki
is the author of Masochistic Landscaping (Gakugei Shuppansha),
Urban Environment Designing (Gakugei Shuppansha), An Approach
to the Regional Promotion (IBC Corporation) and more. |
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 Hozumi Seizaisho (Sawmill) Project (Hozu-pro)
http://blog.canpan.info/hozupuro/ (Japanese only)
Based on Hozumi Seizaisho, a closed sawmill in the Shimagahara
district of Iga-shi, Mie, the project aims to open the place
to the public and create an area where local residents and
visitors from outside the community can communicate and become
friends via furniture making. Currently, about 50 participants,
including students and young business employees, are building
a small cabin where visitors may stay overnight.
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 Sagurareru Shima (an island to be explored)
http://www.npo-eden.jp/studio-s/main.html (Japanese only)
This project takes place on Ieshima Island, a small and remote
island of Himeji-shi, Hyogo. Each year, about 30 participants,
including students and young business employees from outside
the island, explore its community, find and report the local
attractions from the outsider’s viewpoint, and put them together
into a small brochure. Started in 2005, the third year’s
report on the project, which is currently being edited, focused
on the hospitality of local people.
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