• Yu Takahara Graduate Student, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

• Koichi Kato Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

After WW2, urban areas in Japan have experienced many developments caused by the growth of population. What such developments have almost always encountered in their construction site are religious spaces such as shrines, temples and Jizos because they are everywhere in human’s habitat. They are still so important for our continuous living environment that the relationship between urban development and religious spaces should be discussed.Nevertheless, such discussion seldom conducted so far in Japan.

This study examines how and why religious spaces changed by Tama New Town project (1965-2005), a typical of huge public urban developments in the post-war Japan. Through fieldwork, interviews and investigating related documents, she analyzes how the Japanese urban development valued and designed religious spaces and what is the effect of their renewal on the new town. This study will contribute to realizing multi-cultural city which is needed in contemporary diverse society by giving consideration on collaboration of two different features, modernity of urban development and premodernity of religious spaces.