Pathways as Commons

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Examples

In Japan

JFS Newsletter No.125:

"A key word used worldwide in the context of sustainable society is the concept of "community." Among the various perspectives about what makes a community is the idea and management of the "local commons," which will likely attract more attention in the future. Today, we introduce the Japanese term "rido." It refers to the traditional, historic paths that run through communities. These paths are known and used by locals, but not covered under the Japanese Road Act. They are an example of the local "commons," as described in the article "Rido ga ninau kyoteki ryoiki" (translated as "Rido Serving as Common Territory"), by Associate Professor Rui Izumi of Senshu University School of Economics (part of the book "Local Commons no Kanosei" or "The Potential of Local Commons" published by Mineruva Shobo Co. in 2010). For ease of reading, in this article we will refer to these "rido" as "pathways." In Japanese, the character for "ri" means village, and "do" means path or road.


People have always had close ties with local pathways. Emerging when human activities first began, they have changed their shape along with the development of society. Since long ago, the pathways in Japan were constructed by local residents for the convenience of the community, such as for linking houses together and providing paths for going out to hunt and collect food. They were created mostly before the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when the modern scheme of land ownership was established. The pathways were not used or managed exclusively by any individual, but were freely used by residents and jointly maintained by the community. But now, most pathways have lost their functions or have become roadways, while their users, maintainers, and owners have grown apart from each other, and a separation has emerged between rights and obligations.

While wide roads, mainly built for automobiles, segment communities as a kind of boundary line, pathways promote relationships within a community as spaces where people walk, stand, and talk with each other and where children play. They create unique spaces together with the design and forms of roadside buildings, outdoor benches, potted plants, rows of trees, and even wild vegetation.

The pathways were originally constructed and maintained jointly by community members. Such community work, as well as other work on common land, helped strengthen community bonds. The bonds are based on links between people, between communities, or between people and a community. The pathways are more than just a way to get from one place to another.

Recently, pathways have attracted attention from more people. Creating new and restoring old pathways has taken on new significance for residents who have become motivated to get involved with town planning and secure their access to natural green spaces in their community. Many municipalities enforce regulations that require the agreement of all owners of adjacent land when there is a proposal to destroy or change a pathway, which can help block the wanton destruction of "satoyama" (the community-managed woodlands or grasslands near human settlements). Even if a company buys mountain land, they cannot develop it however they wish, because they are not allowed to abolish or change the pathways without approval. Here we outline the case of the Hiromachi green space in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, where protecting historic pathways was used as a means to prevent wanton urban development." (http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/032567.html)

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