Conservation Management of Historical Assets Through Community Involvement A Case Study of Kanazawa Machiya in Japan

Abstract

Under the urban architecture paradigm for urban regeneration, the scope for research related to historical assets has broadened. Historical assets consist of private and public goods. The management responsibility of managing private goods is allocated to individuals, which has complicated the relationships among stakeholders and led to dissipation of assets and conflicts. To address this issue, this study focuses on community involvement in the conservation management of Kanazawa machiya, a Japanese traditional architecture style. This study was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved classification of the types of conservation management activities and the local actors related to Kanazawa machiya. In the second phase, the relationship between different stakeholders and the characteristics of conservation management activities were investigated using the DEMATEL method. Finally, it drew on the Power-Interest Grid to examine stakeholders' performance capability. The case study of Kanazawa machiya indicates that the building-up of the conservation management system involves the local actors and development of their activities. It also shows an incremental shift away from a government-led system to one based on government-citizen cooperation. This study demonstrates the necessity of community involvement and civic activities for the conservation management of historical assets.