2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Comparative Study on the Changing Regional Structures in the Advanced Capitalist Countries
| Project/Area Number |
11480016
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Human geography
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
MATSUBARA Hiroshi The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Science, Associate Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 助教授 (50181748)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TOGASHI Koichi Gifu University, Faculty of Regional Science, Associate Professor, 地域科学部, 助教授 (80197855)
KATO Kazunobu Kushiro Public University, Faculty of Economics, Professor, 経済学部, 教授 (40175279)
ISOBE Keizo Seikei University, Faculty of Economics, Professor, 経済学部, 教授 (90159814)
YAMAMOTO Kenji Hosei University, Faculty of Economics, Professor, 経済学部, 教授 (50136355)
MIYAMACHI Yoshihiro Oita University, Faculty of Economics, Associate Professor, 経済学部, 助教授 (50219804)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2000
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| Keywords | regional structure / location theories / economic geography / regional development / regional policy / industrial agglomeration / globalization / advanced economy |
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| Research Abstract |
About 25 years have passed since a new approach to regional problems, the so-called "Chiiki-Kozo-Ron" or Regional Structure Approach, was established by some Japanese economic geographers in the early 1970s. This approach is distinguished by its dynamic analysis of regional and urban systems within the national economy from the viewpoint of the capitalist reproduction structure, and by its articulation of locational strategies of large enterprises that play a pivotal role in the changes of regional structures. Numbers of empirical studies have revealed the locational dynamics of the leading industries and the characteristics of the regional structure in each industrialized country. As for the new development of this approach, international comparison on the changes in regional structures is one of the important subjects.
In this research project, we have seen that the evolution of advanced capitalism and the emergence of an informational economy have led to a significant reorganization of the economic geography of places and regions throughout the developed world. This reorganization has modified many of the core-periphery patterns of regional development associated with industrial capitalism. Yet core-periphery patterns and regional economic disparities, such as North-South divide in Britain, East-West divide in Germany, and Snowbelt vs Sunbelt in the USA, have by no means disappeared. Rather, they have been reconfigured and intensified. Core regions within developed countries have typically been centered on urban-industrial heartlands, but have recently been modified by the geography of service activities, particularly business services, and by the imprint of the new spatial divisions of labor associated with globalization, decentralization, and agglomeration.
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