The Housing Estates in Hiroshima City

Abstract

Housing estates have played an important role in suburbanization. Their residents form not natural communities but human ones. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the formation process of housing estates and their residential structure in Hiroshima City.The developing process of housing estates in Hiroshima City is divided into three periods; the first period (before 1969), the second period (1970-74), the third period (after 1975). During the first period, most of the housing estates were developed in neighbourhoods of the built-up area within 10km of the city center. Many of them were small-scale, less than 100 houses, and were constructed by public enterprises or landowners. In the second period, many private enterprises started to construct large-size housing estates in suburbs more than 10km from the city center. In the third period, housing estates have been developed either in the neighbourhoods of built-up areas, or in suburbs far from the city center. In the neighbourhoods of built-up areas, new housing estates are contiguous to established ones. On the other hand, new housing estates are also constructed in isolated blocks in the suburbs. So housing estates have been accumulating in the more accessible areas. While large-scale housing estates in suburbs form independent communities by establishing schools, hospitals, parks and stores, the old small-scale housing estates depended on the existing urbanized areas for such services.Residential structure of housing estates was analyzed by the method of factorial ecology. Using 43 variables which represent residential characteristics, 5 factors were derived: the condition of housing, family status, the state of employment, socio-economic status, family size. Their spatial patterns display a concentric structure. The neighbourhoods of built-up areas show different characteristics from suburbs. Thus in the neighbourhoods of built-up areas, middle-age households where the breadwinner is engaged in white collar occupations live in small rental houses with teen-aged children. In suburbs where many of the new housing estates are located, younger households with a breadwinner engaged in blue-collar occupations live in large houses with young children (Fig. 12).Residents in housing estates can be thought of as specific social classes which are homogeneous groups within the city. Their residential structure shows a clearer spatial pattern than other types of housing in the urban areas. Because the housing space of housing estates clearly reflects economic status, their families' status reflects the respective times of their development.