Study on Environmental Changes of River in the Suburban Area and Transition of Relations between Residents and River

This study dealt with the Kogi River, located in Kaizuka City, Osaka, which has experienced different improvements from the upper through the lower regions, aimed at revealing temporal relations between residents and the river, as well as probing future problems and directions regarding the river in the suburban area, by conducting a survey of local residents. The result showed that, in the upper region where nature remains in its natural state and the good water quality has been maintained, the relations between the residents and the river continued until around 1965; meanwhile in the middle region the relations have been disappearing since about 1955, and in the lower region where the stream has been repeatedly rehabilitated since 1955, there are fewer involvements of the people with the river. It also revealed that the weaker the relations between people and the river became, the larger the number of residents, even in the upper region, who became concerned over the deteriorating river environment after about 1975, and that in the middle and lower areas, about a decade earlier than in the upper area, the number of those who were aware of the environmental deterioration began to increase. Consequently, with an eye to resuming the relations between people and the river in an suburban area, their future challenges would be the space improvements depending on the environmental characteristics of the area; for example, the recovery of grassy banks for the purpose of protection in the lower region; the preservation and maintenance of many waterside woods as well as the creation of open spaces utilizing the river banks in the middle area; and throughout the whole region, the establishment of a system in which the relations between man and the river can be passed down to future generations, by utilizing the local human resources including those who know the former river landscapes or about the playing in and around the river.