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A Study on Regional Planning in Decentralization (interim report) Regional Perspective in The Consideration of Location of Large-scale retail store-

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This report is an interim report of a study "Urban Improvement from the Regional Perspective in a Decentralized Society" conducted from FY2006.

The decentralization of city planning has been promoted since the amendment of the City Planning Act and other planning-related laws in June 1999, when a package of laws (a total of 475 laws) concerning decentralization was amended. One of the advantages of decentralization is that city planning can be carried out by local governments, who are more familiar with the local citizens. On the other hand, local governments tend to compete with each other in trying to attract residents and businesses. Sometimes a decision by a local government is not favored by neighboring local governments, resulting in conflicts among them. Sometimes a local government's decision may have a significant impact on the area as a whole and may conflict with national policy.

Already there have been cases in which the merging of municipalities has failed because the cities and towns to be merged have competed with one another in housing development, and coordination with local shops has failed when plans to develop large-scale commercial facilities has been introduced.

This interim report focuses on the development of large-scale commercial facilities. It has compiled the results of surveys on development control and guidance from a regional perspective and on inter-governmental coordination conducted in FY2006.

Before the revised City Planning Act coming into effect in November 2007, prefectural governments have prepared or are preparing their own rules and regulations on the development of large-scale commercial facilities. The interim report introduces approaches taken by three prefectures (Yamagata, Kyoto and Hyogo) on controlling development projects having regional impact beyond the local region, and inter-governmental role-sharing among prefectural governments and municipalities.　The approaches of these local governments can be roughly divided into two types: control-and-guidance-oriented, and regional-coordination-oriented ones.

This report then introduces advanced policies of Germany and the UK, and examines how their city planning systems are operated to control the development of large-scale commercial facilities. A field survey was conducted in the UK to examine how the call-in system is operated in practice by the central government in controlling/coordinating large-scale commercial development projects.

Germany has a designed a system whereby a mechanism of regional development control of commercial facilities functions within the context of coordinated regional and local planning. The UK also controls development from a regional perspective by coordinating regional and local plans. Development in town or city centers is prioritized and the linkage between and hierarchy of centers is emphasized.

Key words

Decentralization, large-scale commercial facilities, call-in, regional coordination, development control and guidance

issue

Reports No.78/2007 Oct.

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