Land-use Change: Proceedings of the Asahikawa-Sapporo International Symposium

2. Public Intervention in Land-use Conversion: Western Europe and Japan

2 PUBLIC INTERVENTION IN LAND-USE CONVERSION: WESTERN EUROPE AND JAPAN Ren Azuma Depαrtment ofGeognαphy， Mie Universi紗" ~αpαn 'The Japanese have systematically drawn upon Westem experience and adapted it to suit their own needs in all fields.' (Masser, 1985: 4) In J apanese urban planning there is no exception to the generalization in the quotation from Masser. Urban planning originated and evolved in Europe and the Japanese imported it and legislated in the Meiji and Taisho periods. There are two different European views on Japanese urban planning. According to one view, Japan's urban sprawl is the result ofplanning failure. Another view highlights the positive aspects of the urban-rural mix and points out that, ‘J apanese planning rests upon different assumptions to those commonly held in Europe and North America' (Masser, 1985: 4). In the latter view, Japanese urban planning is supposed to be ‘an altemative to European experience that can be considered by third world countries' and is said to ‘introduce a new dimension into the discussion of fundamental questions such as the cost of urban sprawl' (Masser,1985: 4). Detailed comments on these views need not be offered here, but in this paper Japanese and European urban planning legislation are compared, based on the hypothesis that what underlies the differences is politics rather than the cultural notion ofland use. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to try to answer three questions. The first is how does Japanese urban planning legislation in intervening in land-use conversion differ from that of Westem Europe? The second is what are the consequences of the Japanese planning legislation? Finally, in what social context have differences emerged? LAND PROBLEMS AND LAND-USE CONVERSION Land-use conversion is but one of three major land problems which J apan has faced during its history. First is the land scarcity problem in agricultural growth. This was a land problem at the early stage of economic development. How does this country overcome the land scarcity for further food production ω feed its population? This PI心lem has been tackled very successfully by adopting land-saving agricultural technologies. 2 PUBLIC INTERVENTION IN LAND-USE CONVERSION: WESTERN EUROPE AND JAPAN RenAzuma Department ofGeography, Mie University, Japan 'The Japanese have systematically drawn upon Western experience and adapted it to suit their own needs in all fields.' (Masser, 1985: 4) In Japanese urban planning there is no exception to the generalization in the quotation from Masser. Urban planning originated and evolved in Europe and the Japanese imported it and legislated in the Meiji and Taisho periods. There are two different European views on Japanese urban planning. According to one view, Japan's urban sprawl is the result of planning failure. Another view highlights the positive aspects of the urban-rural mix and points out that, 'Japanese planning rests upon different assumptions to those commonly held in Europe and North America' (Masser, 1985: 4). In the latter view, Japanese urban planning is supposed to be 'an alternative to European experience that can be considered by third world countries' and is said to 'introduce a new dimension into the discussion of fundamental questions such as the cost of urban sprawl' (Masser, 1985: 4). Detailed comments on these views need not be offered here, but in this paper Japanese and European urban planning legislation are compared, based on the hypothesis that what underlies the differences is politics rather than the cultural notion ofland use. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to try to answer three questions. The first is how does Japanese urban planning legislation in intervening in land-use conversion differ from that of Western Europe? The second is what are the consequences of the Japanese planning legislation? Finally, in what social context have differences emerged? LAND PROBLEMS AND LAND-USE CONVERSION Land-use conversion is but one of three major land problems which Japan has faced during its history. First is the land scarcity problem in agricultural growth. This was a land problem at the early stage of economic development. How does this country overcome the land scarcity for further food production to feed its population? This problem has been tackled very successfully by adopting land-saving agricultural technologies. 8 REN AZUMA Second is the land conservation problem in agricultural growth. This is a problem which emerged after agricu1tural development reached a certain stage. How can the country conserve soil productivity, while continuing to pursue agricultural and economic growth? This problem has been solved by rice-field...