[O-08] Poster presentations by senior high school students

[O08-P54] Public Awareness of Informal Green Space and Possibility of Its Use: A Case Study of the Takanodai District in Yotsukaido City, Japan

*Yuta Kawaguchi¹ (1.Ichikawa High school)

The greening movement is one of the activities in the Sustainable Development Goals adopted at the 2015 UN Summit in which we can actively participate,contributing to health and well-being,sustainable cities and communities, and combating climate change. The purpose of this study was to identify public awareness of informal green spaces and their potential use in the Takanodai area of Yotsukaido City, Chiba Prefecture, where I live.The background of this study is that I saw many vacant lots in the Takanodai area when I volunteered with my parents in the community association when I was a child. When I thought about how to make effective use of these vacant lots, I came across the idea of informal green spaces. Informal green space is defined as naturally occurring vegetation that is not intentionally planned or managed. First, we surveyed the Takanodai area using fieldwork to determine whether or not informal green spaces exist.The results of the fieldwork in the target area confirmed the existence of four main types of informal green spaces. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that 133 residents responded to the questionnaire. The demographics of the survey respondents were almost 1:1 male to female ratio, and their ages ranged from their teens to over 70s. When asked whether the four informal green spaces found during the fieldwork were green spaces or not, more respondents agreed with the statement only for the vacant lots than disagreed with the statement.Therefore, in this study, we decided to investigate the potential of informal green spaces by focusing on the vacant lots that were perceived as the most green spaces. 90% of the residents said that they had vacant lots nearby, and about half of them had taken walks or played sports in them and wanted to make use of them. An example of effective use of vacant land that is increasing in Japan today was cited as the "Kashiwa Garden System "established in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture. The "Kashini-wa System, "which began in 2010, is an effort to protect and increase the amount of greenery in Kashiwa by turning vacant lots around us into"community gardens"that can be used by everyone in the community. However,one of the disadvantages of the "Kashinowa System" is that there are few advantages for those who lease land. This is because most of the landowners in the Kashinowa system lease their land free of charge.Therefore, we proposed a "vacant land bank" in this study. This system allows people to deposit vacant land with the local government for a certain period of time and receive a portion of the crops grown on the land as "interest. This vacant land bank system is divided into four processes: (1) the community association contracts with the landowner for the land, (2) the community association and local residents cultivate vegetables and fruits, (3) the produce is sold at agricultural direct sales centers, etc. and (4) a portion of the produce is returned to the owner along with land maintenance and management. The difference between the casiniwa system and a vacant land bank is that a vacant land bank is a kind of agribusiness and profitable.The benefits of a vacant land bank include [1] the ability to make effective use of land that has not been utilized and receive a return gift. [2]the ability for young and old to interact in an aging society along with the revitalization of local activities, and [3] One brand crop of Takanodai area can be produced]. The three main reasons were as follows.The possible disadvantages include (1) crop failure due to weather,insects,etc., (2) relatively high initial costs for vegetable seeds and seedlings, etc. The following were mentioned. Our future goal is to contribute to the creation of a healthy and comfortable city to live in, as stated in Goal 11 of the SDGs, by verifying activities and their effects as citizen activities, including the demonstration of a vacant land bank.