For the last 30 years, Japanese planning has been
undergoing a shift in emphasis towards preserving the
environment and more recently, towards involving people
in the decision-making process. These shifts have
run parallel to a continued interest in greenway planning. In addition, recent changes in Japanese society
mean that the planners of such greenways are faced
with a number of growing concerns.
The following study aims to examine a growing concern
for greenspace planners in Japan. This is achieving
a balance between security, i.e. the fear of crime, and
the needs of the environment. In the following we trace
the historical development of greenspace planning in
two case study areas, describing the context and the reasons
behind the planning of the greenspaces.We show how this context determined how these greenspaces
were planned and that planning for the fear of crime
was not a concern at the time.We then describe the results
of a study that show the factors that affect the fear
of crime in present-day greenways. We discuss these
results arguing that the future of greenway planning in
Japan is to achieve a balance between fear of crime and
the environment by encouraging public participation.