Evaluation of natural resource use and satoyama way of life in the Hira Mountain Range in Otsu City

DOI Web Site Web Site 2 Citations Open Access

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 大津市比良山麓の自然資源利用と里山暮らしの価値に関する考察
  • オオツシヒ リョウ サンロク ノ シゼン シゲン リヨウ ト サトヤマ グラシ ノ カチ ニ カンスル コウサツ

Search this article

Description

<p>We clarified how visiting students evaluated the satoyama way of life in the Hira Mountain Range, and investigated how the perception of the value of the satoyama way of life is related to new uses of natural resources, which have been increasing during the last few decades thanks to citizen activity. In our study, 147 university students were asked to write an essay on the theme ‘What is attractive about the satoyama of Hira?’. We extracted all expressions connected to what was perceived as being a valuable feature of the satoyama way of life from the essays, and sorted and analyzed them according to their meaning and based on their context. We then examined the keywords and category axis to determine what was perceived as valuable in the satoyama way of life. The word that appeared most frequently in the essays was ‘nature.’ The expressions that indicated the most highly valued features of the satoyama way of life were ‘nature as it is,’ ‘connection with nature,’ and ‘the way nature is used.’ We grouped the main expressions used in relation with the value of the satoyama way of life into the following five categories: ‘as in ancient times,’ ‘quiet and peaceful,’ ‘ abundant/diverse,’ ‘reasonable,’ and ‘connected. In the same way as the people who take part in citizen activities, the visiting students also highly valued the fact that the satoyama way of life allows people to be in close touch with the natural and cultural features of satoyama. Moreover, they pointed out that adding new elements to the traditional satoyama lifestyle in a thoughtful way will even further increase the value of the satoyama way of life. We can conclude that whenever projects aimed at changing or creating landscape elements, lifestyles, and land uses in countryside landscapes and villages are discussed or proposed, it is highly important to take into full account values such as those found in the five categories of our study including ‘reasonable’ or ‘as in ancient times’.</p>

Journal

Citations (2)*help

See more

Related Projects

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top