Gentrification, Machizukuri, and Ontological Insecurity: Bottom-Up Redevelopment and the Cries of Residents in Kamagasaki, Osaka

Abstract

Redevelopment plans and neighborhood change unfolding in Kamagasaki, Osaka’s declining day labor ghetto, present stark examples of gentrification in contemporary urban Japan. Mayor Tōru Hashimoto (2011–2015) initiated the Nishinari Special Ward Initiative in order to transform Japan’s largest concentration of poverty, homelessness, and welfare recipients, into a destination for families and tourism. Specific decisions about how the neighborhood would change were to be made by the local community through a transparent and inclusive process of community building (machizukuri). A critical juncture in this process involved a series of open meetings with 35 community leaders representing diverse and, in some cases, opposing views, who debated redevelopment decisions. Despite these efforts to be inclusive, the meetings were dominated by representatives of neighborhood associations, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, governmental bodies, and research experts. Ethnographic research in Kamagasaki shows that distancing from this process does not mean residents were indifferent toward changes, but held complex views that varied according to housing stability.