Mixed Development in Sustainability of Suburban Neighborhoods: The Case of Narita New Town

Abstract

这项研究旨在讨论混合发展的效果，这种混合发展会产生一个社会混杂的社区，以避免在日本郊区可能出现的邻里老化问题。日本社会组织的讨论将有助于可持续和包容的社区的发展。我们研究了由不同类型的住宅组成的成田新镇的情况，并阐明了为什么社区混杂的社区发展和维持了几十年。本研究假设了混合发展与地区可持续性之间的关系：1）混合发展可以在该地区产生持续的住房供应，并可能对该地区的新建住房和二手住房产生巨大的住房需求; 2）二手房的供应促进了该地区现有居民的迁移; 3）这些活跃的运动有效地避免了整个地区的老龄化问题，从而使该地区及其社区长期可持续。 结果，成田新镇的老年人口比率低于成田市。在成田新城内，旧的独立屋区和豪华住宅区的老年人口比例较高，居民往往是白领。另一方面，大部分出租的房屋区和蓝领居民的独立屋的面积都比较低。因此，住房类型和社会经济地位的混合体有效地保持了整个城镇的可持续性。除了成田机场之外，与成田机场相邻的人员流动和社区支持有助于保持城市宜人的居住环境，并刺激了城镇内新来者和流动人口的流入，从而保持了城镇的可持续性。 This study aimed to discuss the effectiveness of mixed development, which generates a socially mixed community, in avoiding the neighborhood aging problems that can arise in Japanese suburban neighborhoods. Discussions on social mix in Japan would contribute to the development of sustainable and inclusive communities. We examined the case of Narita New Town, which consists of diverse housing types, and clarified how and why socially mixed neighborhoods have been developed and sustained for decades. Hypotheses of this study on the relationship between mixed development and sustainability of an area were described: 1) mixed development can generate constant housing supply in the area, and it may cause substantial housing demands for both newly built and second-hand houses in the area; 2) supply of second-hand houses promotes movement of existing residents within the area; and 3) these active movements work efficiently to avoid the aging problem of the whole area, thus the area and their community can be sustainable for a long time. As a result, the elderly population rate of Narita New Town remained lower than that of Narita City. Within Narita New Town, the elderly population rate was higher in the old detached-house districts and luxury residential districts, and the residents tended to be white-collar. On the other hand, most of the rented house districts and detached house areas with blue-collar residents showed a lower rate. Therefore, a mixture of housing types and socioeconomic status work efficiently to maintain the sustainability of the town as a whole. In addition to the mixed development, adjacency to Narita Airport with its personnel turnover and support of community helped to maintain a pleasant residential environment in the town, and stimulated inflows of new comers and moves within the town, and thus sustainability was maintained in the town.