- 著者
-
丸山 真央
- 出版者
- 地域社会学会
- 雑誌
- 地域社会学会年報 (ISSN:21893918)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.29, pp.13-26, 2017 (Released:2018-05-14)
- 参考文献数
- 44
- 被引用文献数
-
1
This article aims to illuminate contradictions between a state rescaling strategy as seen in the Grand Design of National Spatial Development toward 2050 and current conditions in targeted areas. Primarily, the article highlights metropolitan areas and the living conditions of urban residents.
Through the strategic document, the Japanese government aspires to concentrate national resources in cities and metropolitan regions. In fact, since the late 1990s, many major Japanese metropolitan regions have expanded in terms of population; this trend is called re-urbanization.
We distributed questionnaire surveys to apartment residents in the central cities of six metropolitan regions—Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The data analysis revealed that a sizable number of residents enjoys a high occupational status and income stratum. These people are blessed further with material and cultural richness. Though many singles and couples enjoy abundance in the consumption environment of central cities, most families with young children are hard-pressed for time because of balancing work with family life. Therefore, they have few time to enjoy the rich cultural environment of the central city. On the one hand, many singles and couples have little interaction with their neighbors; on the other hand, many families with children build and maintain good neighborly relations as a catalyst for nurturing children.
From the perspective of the geographical scalar debate, the state rescaling strategy—as seen in the Grand Design—has been developed considering inter-corporation and inter-urban economic competition on the global scale. However, the daily lives of urban residents, especially families with young children, are dependent on a neighborhood scale, not global scale. These scalar contradictions included in the state rescaling strategy might have worsened the living conditions of urban residents.