Empirical analysis on the situations of municipalities on the provincial regions and evaluation on pro-meger and development policies of governments

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03240
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Human geography
• Research Institution: Shizuoka University
• Principal Investigator: NISHIHARA Jun 静岡大学, 情報学部, 名誉教授 (30136626)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 市町村合併 / 平成の大合併 / 人口ビジョン / 創生総合戦略 / 地域格差 / 地方都市 / 買い物困難者 / 人口減少

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study seeks to explore the outcomes of municipal pro-merger actions and the latest situations on municipalities in provincial regions and to propose solutions for those problems, based on profound analyses on various kinds of massive data of municipalities.
Merged municipalities reformed their organizations and reduced their fiscal expenditure. As a result, the intra-differences in their areas emerged. In accordance with the national government instruction, all the municipalities in Japan made revitalization strategies and population visions. Finally, it would be extremely difficult to complete their strategies and visions. Under the population decline and aged society, the municipalities in provincial regions suffer from probability of extinction, because of exodus of economic activities. For sustainable local municipalities and communities, administration and economic facilities in the Tokyo region must be urged to relocate to provincial regions by the national government.

Free Research Field

都市地理学、人文地理、地域政策

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

市町村合併政策，人口ビジョン・総合戦略政策など政府が進める国家的政策について，様々な事情を持つ地方自治体は，意志決定を迫られ試行錯誤の連続であったと言っても過言ではない．特に人口減少・高齢化が激しい地方圏の市町村は，『地方消滅』という警鐘が鳴らされる中，たいへん重い課題を背負うこととなった．このような状況の下，全国の県・市町村の現状について，膨大な資料を元に，それらを精査し，問題発生のメカニズムを明らかにし，課題の解決策を模索する本研究は，大きな学術的意義とともに社会の要請に直接応えようとしたものである．