International Visitors Touring All Three "Green" Cities

Why would three people travel all the way from Japan to Greendale, Wisconsin for one day? Because Greendale is a great community…duh.

Yoshiro Morita, an Associate Professor from Tokyo Polytechnic University in Japan, and two graduate students are doing a dissertation about the success of the Greenbelt communities.

Morita first started his research on the Greenbelt communities in 2000 when he first visited Greenbelt, Maryland as a graduate architecture student. He then came to Greendale in 2004 to continue his research.

On Monday, he came back to the Village to research the success of the Greenbelt communities.

Morita said that in Japan older residents are dying out and moving out of estates and are having a problem attracting younger families, leaving many homes vacant. He said Greendale seems to be having success in keeping the community prospering with younger families moving in.

Japan does not have co-op housing like the Greenbelt communities did. The communities were built as public cooperative communities in the New Deal Era. Construction of the new towns helped create jobs and stimulate the national economic recovery.

Greenbelt still has co-op communities today.

Morita and students spent the day yesterday at the researching Greendale.

Morita was trying to figure out why the original homes are so well preserved.

He also said that Japan and the United States differ in that when a person buys a home in Japan they stay there forever for the most part. In the U.S. people tend to move around, he said.

Morita said that the Greenbelt communities are popular in Japanese studies.

The group traveled to Greenhills, Ohio Tuesday and will make their way to Greenbelt, Maryland as well.