Since the dawn of history, humanity has tried to manage risks through spatial transitions such as evacuation and residential relocation as a response to natural/human-induced disasters. This paper introduces special issue, presenting a framework proposed by de Haas that incorporates immobility, which attempts to understand complex residential mobility in modern era. It also highlights various studies that add the perspectives of collectivism and the inmigrants/ recipients to this framework. Through this special issue, the authors aim to develop and expand the future theory of residential mobility and resettlement choice.

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This paper focuses on three cases (Misato Town, Gotsu City and Daisen City) of “predisaster relocation, ” which is a recently implemented project to promote group relocation for disaster prevention before the loss of residences. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether sustainable relocation has been achieved, and to obtain suggestions for preventive relocation before the disaster. The degree of consideration for the financial burden of the implementation of preventive relocation projects differs from municipality to municipality, and in some cases, the decision on the relocation destination is made through consolidation, while in other cases, the relocation destination remains in the original village, so that sustainability remains an issue. In addition, some communities may be fragmented during the implementation process, which may be due to the difference between the number of households required and the extent of actual damage. In the future, it is necessary to consider a framework that incorporates the merits of individual relocation while adding long-term management and a wide-area perspective, rather than sticking to the framework of group relocation promotion project.

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This paper examines the relationship between post-disaster domestic migrants, recovery, revitalization, and community development in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Particular attention was paid to the “first wave of domestic migrants” who engaged in recovery support during the intensive reconstruction period (2011-2015) and then moved to the town. After relocating, they actively contributed to the recovery efforts, albeit with a sense of “restraint.” Specifically, they not only participated in recovery and revitalization-related projects themselves but also invited new domestic migrants to join them and mediated between various actors in and outside the town. Although their presence as leaders has declined due to changes in life stages, such as marriage and childbirth, as well as changes in the phase of recovery and revitalization, they are now reconnecting with each other, focusing on newly emerging issues in community development.

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A web-based survey was conducted to determine residents ' understanding of landslide hazard maps. Approximately half the residents could not correctly interpret landslide hazards on the map. The legend of the landslide hazard map is biased toward red and yellow tones, which may have prevented a proper reading of the landslide risk. The percentage of residents who used a smartphone to read the landslide hazard map was lower than that of residents who used a PC, suggesting that the small smartphone screen may make the hazard map more challenging to interpret. This study indicates that residents lack an accurate understanding of landslide hazard maps.

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This paper considers the significance and potential of using a workshop-based scenario development method from futures studies to pluralistically and critically explore future societies in the context of introducing weather modification as a largely unknown technology. Across three experimental scenario workshops, university students (n=148) envisioned future societies with advanced weather modification technology development. We identified six main and 16 sub-patterns from the scenarios created, then examined issues and concerns of participants from which scenarios arose. Lastly, we discuss the significance and issues of employing this kind of scenario workshop as a method for conducting citizen dialogues and workshops on the topic of weather modification.

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This study conducted a questionnaire survey to investigate the range of shapes considered as linear precipitation bands by students enrolled at Kyushu University and Yamaguchi University, using the aspect ratio of heavy rainfall areas. The results showed that approximately 80% of the students considered heavy rainfall areas with an aspect ratio of 4.5 or higher to be linear precipitation bands. This indicates that the students tend to identify more elongated heavy rainfall shapes as linear precipitation bands compared to the shapes (aspect ratio of 2.5 or higher) defined by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Finally, when comparing the results with the past occurrence ratio of heavy rainfall areas, it was found that the occurrence ratio of heavy rainfall areas with an aspect ratio of 4.5 or higher was only about 8% of the total.

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Records of historical disasters often contain information about events that can be difficult to understand empathetically today. Studying these events can bring to light hidden problems, which are problems that are rarely addressed in disaster education because of their unique characteristics. This study aims to create new disaster education materials that leverage the revealing effects of historical disasters based on visualization, restructuring of perspectives, and substitution and to develop an educational theory that contributes to raising awareness and facilitating discussion of hidden problems. In workshops using the materials created in this study, it was observed that the revealing effects stimulated discussion of hidden problems. Further improvements will continue to be made to the materials through transcript analysis of group discussions and continued collection of case studies of historical disasters.

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[in Japanese]

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