Post-disaster reconstruction in the rural-urban fringe following the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

Although many studies have been conducted since the Great East Japan earthquake, most have focused only on recovery processes in particular affected areas. However, southern Miyagi Prefecture belongs to the rural-urban fringe of the Sendai Metropolitan Area; hence, disaster reconstruction in this area is closely related to the urban system and long-term land development. Based on these ideas, this paper explores the interaction between wider social trends and the disaster reconstruction process. The results indicate that disaster reconstruction in this area was an extension and acceleration of existing social trends such as “selection and concentration” and “intensification of agricultural competitiveness” as a whole. However, there is a unique agricultural land-use system and related community organization rooted in the peculiar history and environmental conditions of this area. Existing disaster reconstruction policies do not pay sufficient attention to such historical contexts, which has caused several conflicts and problems. Disaster studies should pay careful attention to such tensions between wider political trends and local historical contexts while focusing on land-use changes.