Adapting to conditions

Japan’s planning system is very different to what is currently used in Australia and in particular Victoria, because Japan lies on a tectonic plate line it is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. These natural disasters are a very important element of their planning system, compared to Victoria, where severe storms, flooding and bushfires are the only natural disasters that affect the planning scheme. When compared to Australia, Japan does not seem to exhibit the same history or historic planning, due to the severity of the natural disasters they experience. Historic buildings do not exist in the same form as they do in Victoria and their history is kept through traditions and generations of families rather in the form of a monument or building, this is because of the natural disasters, if they were ever to have any historic buildings they would have been destroyed during an earthquake, therefore causing more emotional damage to the community. 

The natural disasters have also affected the way the country plans for its future, with the recent construction of a levy along the coast that has been designed to slow down tsunamis, raised new housing estates to be above the flood level and evacuation hills have been built in particular locations for residents to go to in the event of an emergency. The levy that has been built along the coastline blocks access to the beach and the local communities who live along the coast have had to sacrifice a vital recreational place that was previously a tourist attraction and a place of recreation for the locals. Australia has had to develop well structured fire plans and in particular communication with remote locations to allow those who might be in the line of fire to evacuate, planned burning is a frequent occurrence that helps prevents bushfire

Nicole Grey