The first generation

This book describes the history of machizukuri and how the term has evolved to acquire its current meaning. From the 1960s to the 1970s, machizukuri rose as an opposed force to traditional urban planning. This chapter describes the gradual accumulation of experiences, which became the first foundation for contemporary machizukuri. The first generation of practice originated in anti-kogai (pollution and public nuisance) movements, from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. In this context, machizukuri was promoted through coordination of residents, local governments, and experts, who developed formal participatory methods and systems to face diverse social and urban problems. At the time, the word “machizukuri” also embraced the different actions that originated independently from a particular district or area aiming at rebuilding democracy within the Japanese cultural background. Here, the development of principles, justified goals and methods, democratic systems, and procedures that could consolidate such novel initiatives was of utmost importance for the first machizukuri generation.