YANAGAWA ADITHYA RAJAN, 470280515 MASTER OF URBANISM (URBAN DESIGN)
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Fig 01: Satellite View of Yanagawa Source: Google Earth
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CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 History of Ekimae 3.0 Urban Context 3.1 Urban form and structure 3.2 Access and Movement 4.0 Vision 5.0 Objectives 6.0 Design Approach 6.1 Ekimae commercial region 6.2 Heritage region 7.0 Design ideas 7.1 Way finding 7.2 Pedestrian bridges 7.3 Multiple use of car parks 8.0 Conclusion
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1.0 INTRODUCTION Yanagawa, a city located in Fukuoka prefecture in Japan. The city was a Castletown during Edo Era (1603 – 1867) with a well-defined castle site in the centre. The city is divided into two as inner castle town (Shirouchi) occupied by samurais or warriors and outer castle town (Yanagawa-Chiku) occupied by mix of merchants, artisans, labourers and monks. It was also known as a water town with extensive system of waterways made up of the moats, canals and canalised rivers. During this period, the well-connected waterways provided a network of movement using boats. This canals also used for drinking, washing, farming, recreational uses etc. During the Meiji Era (1867-1912), the modernisation has changed the character of the Yanagawa by demolishing the castle in 1872 and the inner moat was reclaimed. Yanagawa had retained most of their water networks which is now seen as the most distinctive and valuable heritage item with the tile of ‘Most complete Watertown’. Apart from water connectivity, today Yanagawa has other infrastructures such as Railway station and Highways. But the location of the railway station lies to the east of the castle town with no direct route to the town with canalised river being one of the main obstacles. Between the town and railway station it has a large impermeable band of land with main roads and shopping centres and other commercial blocks makes another challenge to connect. This report is focusing on the relationship between the Yanagawa-chiku and Nishitetsu Yanagawa station.
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2.0 HISTORY OF EKIMAE 1930
1950
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Fig 02: Morphological map of Ekimae Source: Yanagawa City Council
Ekimae is a large piece of land located in between outer moat canal of Yanagawa chiku and Railway station. From the maps shown as an illustration we can able to find the town’s growth after the opening of railway station in 1937. The Ekimae region (Railway Square) have changed a lot with adaptation of commercial and mixed-use buildings to improve economy. Today the Ekimae region is mostly impermeable with large blocks of commercial spaces and new main road which connects the city North-South and the Nishitetsu Yanagawa station is an award-winning building, where its significance of providing the good links to Yanagawa chiku is not been matched.
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3.0 URBAN CONTEXT 3.1
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URBAN FORM & STRUCTURE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
OPENSPACE
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Fig 03: Morphological map of Ekimae Source: Lisha Li, The University of Sydney
The Ekimae region is spatial analysed using four layers such as Built Environment, Natural Environment, Open space and Major transport connectivity. The Urban structure of the region can be studied using these layers where the built form is sparsely distributed in the region by giving more space for the open space (mostly as parking space). The natural environment is mostly seen in the North west of the study region. This region has Mahashira shrine and other shrines which makes this place as a heritage site which is a major tourist attraction. The site has the new main road which runs north-south direction. This analysis led us to identify the opportunities and constraints in the urban form and structure.
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3.0 URBAN CONTEXT 3.1
URBAN FORM & STRUCTURE
Opportunities
• Unique zoning type permits the diverse use of buildings with in the region • Creating potential development to improve the character of the local and glocal streets • The new developments can be provided to accommodate tourists • Making use of the abandoned commercial buildings in the Eastwest primary road. • Enhancing the vibrant character of the city • Use of the heritage site will create an impact on the local economy. • Creating day and night economy in the commercial zone. • The Railway square can be used as a space to glorify the uniqueness of Yanagawa • Making use of the large parking space for the multipurpose use like temporary markets or recreational space. • Improving the water quality of the canals • Improving the bio diversity in the region
Constraints
• Creating new developments without changing the existing character of the city. • Use of the canals as a Water based heritage • Balancing the building typology and its uses. • Less amount of green cover and water permeability • Reducing the characteristic difference between the east and west sides of the railway station Fig 04: Existing Zoning of Ekimae Source: Author
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3.0 URBAN CONTEXT
3.2 ACCESS AND MOVEMENT
The Nishitetsu Railway station is located east of Yanagawa chiku and it is considered as a major transportation node for the people and visitors. Within the catchment region of 600m radius the city has major landmarks and nodes for the public use. But the distance taken to reach those nodes are long due to the lack of connectivity. From the observation, most of the visitors or tourists take the route shown in google maps. By using the google maps, the user most often misses the direct connections to these landmarks and ends in the wrong destination routes. This is because of the lack of wayfinding elements in the region. With these understandings and observations we have identified the opportunities and constraints in relation to accessibility and movement. The picture shows the way finding board in the Yanagawa station.
Fig 05: The way finding board in the Yanagawa station.
Fig 06: 600m catchment map
Source: Valonia, The University of Sydney
Source: Author
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3.0 URBAN CONTEXT
3.2 ACCESS AND MOVEMENT
Opportunities
• Improving the connectivity between the streets • Making use of existing street elements for wayfinding • Creating a new pedestrian routes to connect with Merchant town • Improving the public transport facility • Investing in public domain to encourage the active transportation system • Improving East-West pedestrian connectivity near railway square • Exploring innovative parking solutions • Reducing the walkable time by providing easy connections • Reducing the car dependency with the tourists.
Constraints
• The large open spaces of parking lots will make the pedestrian movement in free form • Not using or lack of way finding elements • The presence of Railway line • Wide canal in the western edge of the Ekimae region • More usage of cars • Dead ends in streets due to the private ownerships
Understanding the current identity of Yanagawa by analysing its physical characteristics, key destinations, and the movement of people throughout the area led to the vision and identification of objectives and ideas. NORTH
Fig 07: Public transport and pedestrian connectivity map Source: Author
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4.0 VISION “YANAGAWA WILL CELEBRATE ITS CULTURE AND HERITAGE BY FOSTERING ITS LOCAL ECONOMY WITH MORE CONNECTION TO MOVE AROUND THE CITY WITHOUT LOOSING ITS CHARACTER AND ATTRACTIVENESS”
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5.0 OBJECTIVES
IMPROVING WELL CONNECTED MOVEMENT
CELEBRATING CULTURE AND HERITAGE
• Identifying the missing links and creating multiple connections to the main nodes of the region for easy connectivity • Providing new linkages for the transportation • New pedestrian bridges across the canals to connect to the merchant city • Promoting the community shuttle services
• Promoting healthy lifestyle • Promoting the hidden character of the city • Improving the sense of place using street elements • Improving the interaction between locals and tourists • Educating the visitors about the heritage and cultural significance of the place
DEVELOPING A STRONG ECONOMY
CREATING ACTIVE PUBLIC SPACES
• Promoting day and nighttime economy in the Ekimae region • Developing the visitor economy • Promoting local transport systems such as punts and community shuttles
• Activating the carparks as an multi-usage space • Improving the frontages of the abandoned or closed commercial buildings • Better use of the canals • Increasing the number of users in the public spaces by activating the hidden links and supporting it by wayfinding.
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6.0 DESIGN APPROACH 6.1
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EKIMAE COMMERCIAL REGION
The design approach for Ekimae region is created by focusing on two different scales of the urban structure. In this the scales are classified based on their use, i) Commercial Region which includes the shopping centre and nightlife area; ii) Heritage region which includes the Mahashira shrine. The Ekimae commercial region is located as a catalyst to connect the old merchant from Saikumachi to the railway station. As a constrain, this place lacks in connectivity to connect with the residential areas located in the Yanagawa-Chiku. The commercial activities in the region is a boon for local economy with great night time economy and food places around the railway station. But this place also needed of activation of commercial streets to have day time economy which is informed during the Ekimae merchant association meeting. The Economical input for the Ekimae commercial region is achieved by good connectivity to the neighbourhoods, activation of existing commercial streets and promoting cultural significance of the region. This region has large parking lots which will be a opportunity to have public events and markets. In this we take an account of aging population in the city and number of tourists come by cars, so we are not mentioning to remove the car park completely to create a public space. On a note to constraints, this site has a lot of large parking lots, narrow streets & dead ends and poor street character due to abandoned commercial buildings. DESIGN ELEMENTS Key design ideas to achieve the solution for the above site are, • Way finding using signages, billboards and manholes • Multiple use of car parks • Activation of night life region to accommodate the day time economy • Pedestrian bridge over the canal in the western end of the site • A subway to connect the east and west of the station • Increasing the public transport frequency • Creating public art to educate the cultural significance of the place
Fig 08: Large car parks
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Fig 09: Narrow street with poor street edge 2 3 1
KEY PLAN
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Fig 10: Dead end streets
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New connections from Ekimae commercial region, AA – Pedestrian bride over canal to connect Primary NS road to Yanagawa archive building BB – Connecting Shopping center and Yanagawa Heritage region CC– Connecting Railway station and boating office using the parking lot DD– Subway connection to improve the connectivity between East and West side of the Railway station.
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Fig 11: Proposed connectivity map of Ekimae Source: Author
KEY PLAN
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6.0 DESIGN APPROACH 6.2 HERITAGE REGION
The heritage region is in the north western part of the Ekimae region. This space has various shrines such as Mihashira shrine and Yanagawagokuku Shrine with in the region are notably one of the important tourist destinations in Yanagawa. It also a heritage region with the high cultural value. The constraints for this region are not having strong connectivity links and no direct link to enter Kyomachi and to the shopping centre in the Ekimae region. This scale has large tree cover and green open spaces which supports the local community to organise their social and cultural events during the festival time. The site has the weak pedestrian connectivity route due to the poor quality of roads and canals. The canal system along the south end of this region makes the visitors to stop by. The site has the green open space and parking lot which can be used as the multi-purpose space to have popup weekly market and outdoor sporting activity space. DESIGN ELEMENTS Key design ideas to achieve the solution for the above site are, • Way finding using signages, billboards and manholes. • Multiple use of car parks and open space • Pedestrian bridge over the canal in the western end of the site • Increasing the public transport frequency • Creating public art to educate the cultural significance of the place • Improving the use of public bikes to move around the city. • Creating economy out of punts.
Fig 12: Poor quality of canals
Fig 13: weaker connection
Fig 14: Fencing
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B Fig 15: Shrine Entrance
New connections from the Heritage region are, AA – Connecting Shopping center and Yanagawa Heritage region BB – Pedestrian bride over canal to connect Heritage region and Kyomachi.
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Apart from new connections, this place has other few which is needed to be activated for the benefits of improving active transport.
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A Fig 16: Proposed connectivity map of Ekimae Source: Author
KEY PLAN
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7.0 DESIGN IDEAS 7.1
WAY FINDING
Way finding is one the main design element which has been discussed in this report to define the movement and accessibility of the users. The ideas which are shown as a reference can be incorporated in Yanagawa without changing the character of the town. The city has beautiful manholes as a part of their character which made to select these to be a tool to provide the way finding. The fig 17 is shown as example to use the street furniture to provide different signage. The fig 18 is a conventional manhole way finding in Seoul which shows the directions to the landmarks. The fig 19 is a new way of branding tool which will provide the direction and distance to the commercial outlet and provides income to the council.
Fig 18: Manhole design at Seoul, South Korea Source: www.2.bp.blogspot.com
Fig 17: Examples of using the way finding signages at different street furnitures
Fig 19: Manhole to find the commercial outlets
Source: www.visualcomm.com
Source: http://www.yankodesign.com
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7.0 DESIGN IDEAS
7.2 PEDESTRIAN BRIDGES
The connectivity between the Ekimae and Saikumachi or between the temple complex and Kyomachi is very limited due the presence of the wide canalised river between them. From our analysis we found that the new connections should be provided to improve the accessibility between residential area to commercial/heritage area. The pedestrian bridges shown as a reference are feasible to create a huge impact with low budget to execute. The pedestrian bridge from Miro Rivera architects (fig 20) is very much applicable for the over bridge connection between shopping centre and Yanagawa Archive building. This design looks attractive by using metal and wood for construction, this kind of design will retain the character of Yanagawa and creates an impact in movement. The other examples are very conventional and similar kind of designs are in the inner town of Yanagawa.
Fig 21: Wooden pedestrian bridge Source: www.natureofcities.com
Fig 20: Pedestrian bridge design by Miro Rivera Architects Source: www.archdaily.com
Fig 22: Wooden walkways Source: www.architizer.com
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7.0 DESIGN IDEAS
7.3 MULTIPLE USE OF CAR PARKS
In ekimae region, most of the open space is covered by the car parks. By observation we find that more than 50% of the car parking lots are empty. These car parks can be used for multiple use such as a place for the weekend markets, cultural activities or even allowing small local business to setup the kiosk. The images which are provided as a reference are more easy way to use the car parks for multiple use. These design ideas can be applicable only for temporary use because of the growth of old age population and the need of parking space during the festivals to accommodate the tourists cars. The large car parking space in front of the shopping centre can accommodate weekend markets and small kiosk due to the presence of commercial buildings around it. The open space and parking lot in the heritage region can be used as a space to conduct the cultural or social events. Fig 24: Parking lot turned as a cultural space Source: www.pintrest.com
Fig 23: creation of Public space Source: www.architizer.com
Fig 25: Small Kiosk at the Parking lot Source: www.neckarcoffee.com
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8.0 CONCLUSION Yanagawa as a place which lacked in various urban elements such as connectivity, active transport, public transport, lack in showcasing their culture and heritage significance and wayfinding. This design approach has made us to identify the major constraints and created a way to solve it using the design ideas. The design approach is created by focusing the different scales of the urban structure which created the link to connect. The design ideas which are shown as a reference are selected to achieve the output without losing the character of Yanagawa. It was a great experience to learn new culture and providing the design solutions for the Ekimae region. I wish to see some of our design ideas to come to reality such as manhole way finding and major connectivity links over the canalised river from shopping centre to Yanagawa Archive building which leads to the Saikumachi and creates a huge impact in the movement of people in future.
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