In areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, many museums and stone monuments were established to communicate the insights obtained from the disaster. As of April 2021, more than 200 facilities have been registered as “earthquake memorial facilities” by the government. However, most of these facilities are operated without guidance from the public. A comprehensive visitor plan is required to link each facility, and to effectively share disaster lessons. Accordingly, this study analyzed visitor access to earthquake memorial facilities, and clarified the geographical network connecting these establishments. It evaluated the accessibility of transportation for visitors, and considered ways of enhancing this network. To these ends, we created a list of earthquake memorial facilities that were constructed in the affected Tohoku region; we mapped these facilities using a geographic information system. A facility’s ease of access, as measured by the time taken to gain access, was analyzed on the basis of the distance between facilities, with transportation considered. The results were used to propose a network for an earthquake memorial facility. We also discussed the possibility of providing tours on the facility’s network, and discussed their relationships with transportation bases and other networks. For future use, we proposed a method for improving accessibility to each facility in the network.

This study clarified how people’s evaluation of the water channel landscape affects due to differences in landscape elements. To evaluate the success of the water channel landscape, a land-use maps of the areas around the water channels were created. After that the maps were used to classify land-use into eight types. In addition, the target water channels were classified into four types based on land-use around them and whether people could access them. Results showed that the land-use around water channels has an affect on how people view them. We also conducted workshops to clarify the relationship between the public impressions of water channel landscape as a familiar green space and landscape elements in residential areas. According to the participants, their preference for water channel landscapes of this type was based on three elements: the vegetation, revetment, and fences. Furthermore, it was clarified that these three elements created an atmosphere around the water channel and that this atmosphere played an important role in determining the impressions people have of the water channel landscape.

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In river management, it is important to consider the history and culture of a region, as well as the natural environment of the area. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the history of river usage. In this study, we focused on the common place in riverside space and clarified the history of the social role of riverside space based on land use change. For the survey, we used old pictures and topographic maps. The literature survey ascertained factors of land use change. As a result of the survey, we divided the common place in the target area into three groups: two forests and grassland, according to their land use in the early Meiji Era and altitude. Furthermore, land use change after the Meiji era in the target area differs from these groups. The common place close to the landside was deconstructed, due to the high demand of agricultural development and the influence of infrastructure improvement. Conversely, in the common place near the river way, a forest that was a common place remained until today because of the regulation of agricultural land development and abandoned cultivation. The remaining forest became a nature park, where rare creatures exist and people are in harmony with nature.

In this study, the amount of nature formed outside a river embankment due to people use, and the background around its formation is explained; additionally, the mosaic nature of that environment around the rivers in the Kanto region is also evaluated. Using a Geographic Information System to categorize the past and present vegetation type, this study examined the changes in the types of vegetation for each 100 m mesh. To evaluate the mosaic nature of the landscape, the riverside area was divided every one km according to the distance marker of each river, overseeing the extent of the nature formed by people use in that area. As a result, it was found that 45.1% of the natural environment formed due to people use existed outside the embankment in the target area. It is suggested that land-use in nature formed due to people use have changed because of the decrease of people's maintenance and flood. Furthermore, the nature formed by people use is mosaic represents 52.7% of the total region. This shows that the riverside area also has a Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes based on the nature formed by people use similar to Satoyama, which is associated with traditional human lifestyles.