Urban ecological life in a metropolitan area—an insight from Satoyama conservation activities in the Greater Tokyo Area

Urban residents need to live in an ecologically sustainable way to mitigate and adapt to climate change. To discuss the model of urban ecological life, this paper focused on Satoyama landscapes and reviewed academic articles on the existing cases of Satoyama conservation by urban residents in the Greater Tokyo Area. We analyzed activities performed by participants, benefits to participants, and targeted and achieved ecosystems. Several findings were obtained from the review of published literature. First, the participants were mainly elderly men aged 60 years or older, who were not necessarily local people and who were motivated mostly by the need to conserve nature and improve their health. People with intellectual disabilities also enjoyed the benefits of Satoyama woodland management. Second, participants tended to recognize benefits in terms of health promotion, social cohesion, recreation, and resource utilization, rather than landscape and biodiversity conservation. Third, there were different directions of Satoyama conservation from the perspectives of nature and humans. The broader ecosystem beyond each site was not necessarily considered in Satoyama conservation. These findings show the potential of, and the necessity for, attracting other urban residents by including various activities that consist of not only vegetation conservation but also communal events based on different preferences. There is also a need for balancing environmental and socio-economic perspectives, and the targeted ecosystem should be further explored in collaboration with experts in ecology and landscape planning to make urban ecological life feasible.