Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Abstract

The spatial distribution of vulnerability groups in Tokyo is not exactly clear. However, there is a significant correlation between the distribution of wood houses vulnerable to earthquakes and that of old communities. A strategic study on homelessness in Tokyo showed that the highest number of people without housing were concentrated in limited areas of the city such as parks, railroad stations and the borders of levees. It should be noted that, according to international standards, there is only a small number of homeless people in Japan. The emergence and growth of the homeless population in Tokyo is a response to the lack of luck and the economic recession in small industries, which had once attracted a large number of rural migrants in the city due to ease and unskilled nature of work in those businesses. Although systematic planning to increase the participation of homeless people in activities designed to reduce and minimize disaster risks and damages is a valuable and technically feasible measure, it has faced many Japanese citizens' resistance. This research is about social vulnerability in Tokyo, which was first examined by Yuno (1998) and Wiesner (1998). The purpose of this research is to study two issues.
First, it wants to show that the vulnerability to incidents has demonstrated certain spatial patterns in Tokyo. It has been deducted (1994) that social factors are affected and shaped by accidents. So in Tokyo, we see that the social and spatial structure of the city is influenced by the vulnerability pattern of incidents.
Second, this study is an introduction to the description of homelessness distribution in Tokyo, which has been taken as a primary step for a public analysis of social solidarity due to urban vulnerability. In order to reinforce this, at first a brief overview of the social evolution of Tokyo has been presented.