Ninth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

In Towada city, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, an increase in open spaces was beginning to be noticeable along the main boulevard of the governmental district due to the closing of the governmental offices by the restructuring of the ministries and agencies of the country, region, and municipal levels of juridification and accelerated the establishment of the joint government building. Not only in Towada particularly, it was a common phenomenon in Japan due to the decreasing population in small and medium size cities and towns as well as rural areas, as a result, the large cities ended up to be in more crowed and densified. Although facing such a urban issues, the main Boulevard of Towada was selected as “100 Best Street in Japan”, and it triggered the movement of “Outdoor Arts and Culture Zone (currently called: Arts Towada)” where the public arts will be installed and placed throughout the governmental district especially on the vacant open spaces. Towada Art Center, “Contemporary Art Museum” was built as its core to promote such an idea. In this paper, the impact of the contemporary art museum in the governmental district and the mechanism of urban regeneration is analyzed, and the ripple effect generated by the museum is visualized.