B. Murata et al., THE MARINE CORRIDOR PROJECT - AN INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP OF GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY, AND ACADEMIA, Marine Technology Society journal, 29(1), 1995, pp. 5-11
The Marine Corridor (MARICO) Project is a bold and visionary concept t
hat is expected to transform Japan's Osaka Bay into a trade and indust
ry center, marine and environmental research site, international cultu
ral and intellectual center, and prototypical city of the future-while
concurrently addressing the severe housing, transportation and pollut
ion problems common to heavily urbanized areas, including the Kansai r
egion encompassing Osaka Bay. In fact, very high population density an
d limited coastal space for expansion are major factors that have led
to MARICO. The heart of MARICO is a marine-based transportation utilit
y, and telecommunications infrastructure corridor linking nine urban c
enters now located on the bay's perimeter. It will serve as the founda
tion upon which will be constructed marine-based city complexes to acc
ommodate urban growth in land-poor Japan and to stimulate business and
industrial growth. For descriptive purposes, MARICO could be consider
ed analogous to the high way beltways developed to support growth in B
oston, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, and other U.S. cities (Conway 1
993). The MARICO Project will give high priority to prevailing concern
s on the impact of natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and
typhoons. Construction of the 17-trillion-yen ($170 billion, at 100 ye
n per $1) public works project is proposed to commence at the turn of
the century and be completed in phases over the following eighteen yea
rs. A mammoth scientific and technological challenge, MARICO was conce
ived and launched as a model requiring the cooperation of government,
industry, and academia. Initial funding has been provided by the priva
te sector and local governments, with conceptual input by key ocean te
chnology faculty from national and foreign institutions. The enormity
and multidisciplined aspects of this project preclude an in-depth anal
ysis in this paper, and instead a technical overview is presented.