gardening, accompanying old people to the hospital, cooking and shopping, helping
people with meals and so on. Thus, it was possible to generate many more jobs in a
community business by assessing the needs of the 5,000 elderly people in the Nishi
Suma area.
The plaza project focused on the management of the ‘Inaba salon’ which
operated as a meeting place for community activities. Inaba salon was used for
community seminars, cultural classes, communication rooms, dinner parties and so on,
which were entrusted to the Danran as day-service community businesses by Kobe city.
The salon worked to meet not only the needs of the aged and the handicapped but also
those of working and non-working mothers.
The community network system focused on building closer networks with
other areas, promoting community bonds through an annual festival and cooperating
with the administration and NGOs/NPO. It was especially remarkable that the Danran
had entrusted community businesses at the salon in place of the administration. Since
2000, Nishi Suma town meetings were held annually and the members discussed
different problems and proposals. This created new networks and reinforced older ones
in the community.
Expanding the field of activities
In the Nishi Suma area, civic movements began with the main-roads problem before
the earthquake and were expanded to other fields through creation of sustainable civil
society.
It was important to strengthen people’s influence in the government’s
decision-making process. As the changeover from confrontation to cooperation
between residents and the administration happened, the voluntary EIA and its legal
moves played a crucial role. The EIA was implemented by residents for existing
highways and proposed main roads, with assistance from researchers, experts and
volunteers. The significance of this event is not only in the results of the EIA but in the
cooperation between researchers, experts and volunteers. Through the EIA, residents
gained indispensable experience in building an equal partnership with the
administration.
There was also cooperation in other fields. With the exception of the main
roads problem, cooperation between residents and the administration was achieved in
other government-sponsored proposals. The Tenjyougawa park renewal project is a
good example of this. The park was used as a storage place for construction materials
used by the Hanshin Highway. At that time, many residents regarded the park as a bad
environment in terms of sunshine, air pollution, noise and vibration. The majority of
residents wanted it to be improved into a real park for the sake of better environmental
quality. Through cooperation with Kobe city, the restoration work started. They built
a new assembly hall for the residents’ association to use as a meeting place for civic
projects. Now the Tenjyougawa park festival is held annually and growing numbers of
people attend. The main aim of the festival is to create new, closer human relationships
in the community and to provide a chance for local people to interact.
There has been a more equal partnership between people and administration.
The present state of community building and planning in the Nishi Suma area is at a
stage where residents can have an equal partnership with the administration and make
progress on community building and planning. At this stage, the issue is collective