CJS Noon Lecture Series | Why Place Matters: The “Publicness” of the Lost Landscape
Schedule
Thu Jan 22 2026 at 12:00 pm to 01:30 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Weiser Hall, University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI
This lecture is based on Dr. Horikawa’s 41 years of intensive fieldwork, chronicling a major movement that shaped preservation policy in Japan. It tries to provide a clear answer to the century-old question: why does place matter? Dr. Horikawa illustrates how the movement to preserve the Otaru Canal in Otaru, Japan, was neither conservative nor an obstacle, demonstrating that preservation can allow for and even promote change.
Saburo Horikawa is a professor of urban & environmental sociology at Hosei University in Tokyo, and he received his Ph.D. from Keio University. He has won three major academic awards, including one from the discipline of city planning, for his book published by the University of Tokyo Press. The English edition of the book, Why Place Matters: A Sociological Study of the Historic Preservation Movement in Otaru, Japan, 1965–2017, was published by Springer and was reviewed in the Journal of the American Planning Association.
Photo credit: The Rikisha in front of Old Mitsui Bank in Otaru, Hokkaido
Copyright © 2015 by Saburo Horikawa. All rights reserved.
Where is it happening?
Weiser Hall, University of Michigan, 1429 Hill St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3105, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:



















