Historic “Modus Operandi” in the Revitalization of Ancient Towns: Japanese and Polish Experience (original) (raw)

The comparative study of Japanese small historical towns’ (Hagi, Onomichi, Omi Hachiman examples) modern revitalization processes led to the discovery of a presence of theirs historical “modus operandi” (mode of action): a direct connection between the nature of the main driving force of revitalization and initial historical governing model of each town. In particular, the cities of historical authoritarian governance (feudal castle towns of samurai’s ruling) now are characterized by revitalization, activated by local authorities. The cities of historical collective management (trade or ports towns and so) are characterized by revitalization initiated by local communities and individuals. For historical cities of mixed government, they now inherit a mixed model of revitalization initiatives’ conductors. We decided to compare it with European situation. In particular, in Poland, that like Japan is a country with strongly preserved historical memory, the presence of town's histori...