Connecting Local Resident Ideas to the Future

Oya Coastal Beach Revitalization and Urban Development Project

The Oya coast (Kesennuma, Miyagi) was a beautiful section of beach with white sand and green pines and attracted over 60,000 visitors annually. It suffered massive damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake (75 dead, 946 buildings damaged [48% of the area]) however, and the beach, which was a symbol of the area, suffered a major setback due to the tsunami and subsidence across a wide area.

　

Due to jurisdictional differences, the Oya coastal levee cannot be set back toward the land side of the area, so it was initially planned for installation on the beach. However, residents wanted to rebuild the beach, so they planned their own workshop, invited experts, and submitted a proposal of their ideal image of the area to the government. The government made arrangements with the Oya coast authorities and relevant government agencies, working with the locals while regrading the national route in order to move the levee further inland.

　

For six years beginning in 2016, we were involved in the Oya coastal development project in design and orderer support. We kept the viewpoint of the government in mind, doing our best to incorporate as many of the requests from locals as possible in our designs and talking with locals and relevant organizations. We made various arrangements such as using the hinterlands and considering the landscape, rebuilding the beach, and providing orderer support after the design was completed.

　

Our collaboration with locals during the project led to high praise from various parties, resulting in winning not only the 2nd Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Green Infrastructure Award (Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Division), but also the Japan Nature Conservation Award in 2017, and the Zenken Award in 2022.