THE MARINE CORRIDOR PROJECT - AN INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP OF GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY, AND ACADEMIA

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.