An environmental issue particular to Japan is the "demolish and build" model in the construction industry. This is something that the government recognizes needs reform. As with motoring, different environmental issues affect people differently depending on where they live. In addition to the regional and global impact of construction, there is a defined local cost of intense noise and dust pollution suffered by residents neighboring a construction site.
A typical apartment building takes two years to complete. Assuming that each new building is rebuilt every 30 years, a typical resident in Japan can expect construction on sites bordering his or her apartment building for 16 of those 30 years. The construction companies don't care, their directors don't put up with the noise, and the purchasers of new apartments don't care -- they get their prized new home without the inconvenience caused by its construction.
So what can be done about it? In the same way that a congestion charge can be used to compensate urban residents for the damage caused to their environment by passing cars, construction companies should be charged to compensate nearby residents for the local environmental damage, particularly the noise pollution, caused by new construction. This expense would be added to the cost of new buildings so that the true cost of construction to the local environment during the construction period, is properly reflected.
The increased cost of new construction would not harm the industry but simply shift the economic rationale toward construction of buildings designed to last, and to the modernization of existing buildings -- exactly what the government says it wants.
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