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[49] Cascading difficulties caused by urban population decline and aging

– Criticism from a metropolitan planning perspective –

○Hiroki Shimizu¹, Masaki Ito², Keigo Okano², Mamoru Taniguchi³ (1. Graduate School of System and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, 2. Graduate School of System and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba , 3. Faculty of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba)

Keywords:cascading, population decline, urban aging, wide-area cooperation

In recent years, new urban difficulties have arisen in Japan, such as vacant houses and financial crises, exacerbated by the declining and aging population. Not merely municipal difficulties, these represent wider regional issues. However, because regional differences can delay progress in resolving such issues, we have been unable to address them through wider-area cooperation. To clarify regional differences in the progress that has been made in resolving these issues, this study specifically examined metropolitan employment areas to elucidate their actual progress on urban issues attributable to population decline and aging, as well as recent trends. Results demonstrate that the urban issues in question show a cascade effect of increasing severity, with sequential deterioration in all municipalities. Results also show that particularly small municipalities within the metropolitan area tend to be in a better position than others.