Strategic formulation of a reconstruction plan by applying the “Healthy Cities” approach to a municipality affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake

North-east Japan was struck by devastating earthquakes and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Community rebuilding efforts have been mobilized on both national and local levels. Community rebuilding faces the challenges of constructing physical structures, social and health systems, and community connectedness. We attempted to apply the “Healthy Cities” approach and concept to a community rebuilding procedure for a disaster-afflicted town. The “Healthy Cities” approach is a comprehensive scheme for health development in local settings facilitated by the WHO. We stimulated community participation, inter-sectoral collaboration, stakeholder involvement, and vision sharing. These steps revealed several dysfunctions under the current legal frameworks for providing public and private services efficiently. To tackle this issue, we deemed it practical to formulate a reconstruction plan by applying for a “Special Zone”. A “Special Zone” can receive special measures, such as deregulation and tax incentives as well as subsidies to accelerate rebuilding and the revitalization of communities. These special deregulations and reduced procedures encompass industry and promote industrial activities, healthcare and clean energy. We proposed a reconstruction plan of a town in a disaster-afflicted area applying for a “Special Zone”. Our proposed reconstruction plan focused on subsidies to improve safe and secure living environments, tax incentives to revitalize manufacturing and processing industries and to promote employment, and the deregulation of medical and nursing-care systems to improve connections between these two services.