2019 Planning for Transition, Venice 9-13th July

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Open Access
Influence of Creative Activities on the Residents and Conservation of Culture, History and Landscape in Setouchi Islands, Japan
(AESOP, 2019) Asai, Yuka; Miyake, Saki; Abe, Hirokazu; Otsuka, Noriko
Due to worldwide changes in economic conditions and industrial infrastructures, many coastal industrial areas are now suffering from the outflows of industry and population. In recent years, efforts aimed at halting such declines and revitalizing those areas have often been led by cultural and artistic activities. One such effort is the “Setouchi Art Festival” on islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. On Inujima, one of them, the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum was built on the ruins of an old copper refinery as a tribute to the island’s industrial heritage. A number of other art projects were created on the island and old houses were renovated as part of the art festival. This paper aims to identify the influence of these creative activities on the island’s residents and learn how they reflect the conservation of culture, history, and the natural landscape of Inujima Island. To accomplish this, we conducted a field survey and interviews with local residents and learned that many of them feel positive about interacting with the young people who visit the art festival, including foreign tourists, while other local residents have developed a sense of separation from the old refinery since it was transformed into an art museum.