A study of the concept of 'service areas of central cities (Living Areas) ' in the 'regional structure of two tiers' in new Japanese national planning

Abstract

In May 2004 the National Land Council introduced the concept of 'service areas of central cities (living areas)' in the 'regional structure of two tiers'. It consists of two parts : 9 regional blocks with 6 to 10 million inhabitants, and 82 living areas principally with more than 300,000 inhabitants in areas delimited by a one-hour-distance (by family car) from central cities with over approximately 100,000 inhabitants. However, in actually considering their distribution as uniform as possible throughout the whole country, there are smaller areas such as the living area of Imabari City with only 190,000 inhabitants in 82 living areas which are distributed similarly to the 85 commuting and schooling areas prepared by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Within these 82 living areas about 90 percent of total population of the country can enjoy fundamental urban services and maintain their high living condition. Accordingly, the concept of living areas is intended to prevent population decreases in non-metropolitan areas. Although this concept that intends to maintain a uniform living standard for the inhabitants of non-metropolitan areas seems to be mostly effective in the period of population decrease forecast for the future, it tends to overestimate the service areas of central cities as compared to the actual commuting area of each central city as shown in Table 3. Commuting areas of smaller cities located on the peripheries of designated living areas, such as the commuting area of Kashiwa-zaki City near by Nagaoka City and the commuting area of Mihara City near Fukuyama City, are fearful of extraordinary decline under decreasing population brought about by the measures for the promotion of these 82 central cities. In order to prevent the rapid population decrease of central cities and their surrounding areas in non-metropolitan areas, and to keep a population balance between them and metropolitan areas, it is necessary to designate smaller central cities with living areas of 100,000 to 300,000 inhabitants as the second tier, adding to the living areas of over 300,000 inhabitants. In addition, the author will propose the promotion of central places with living areas of more than 10,000 inhabitants as the third order. The promotion measures of larger cities strikes a severe blow to smaller cities, so it is necessary to promote not only large cities but also small cities. Since some of these small central places have under-populated areas within their living areas, these measures will contribute to relieving the population decrease in under-populated areas and areas rich in natural surroundings.