The Teleology of “Regional Revitalization”

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  • 「地方創生」の目的論
  • 「 チホウソウセイ 」 ノ モクテキロン

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Abstract

<p>    The contemporary spatial policy of the Japanese government, called “Regional Revitalization”, is characterized by the idea that population redistribution will be an efficient countermeasure to Japanʼs population decline. The major factor of population decline is, the Government argues, the concentration of population in Tokyo, where the fertility rate is far below the replacement level. Thus, young families are recommended to migrate to peripheral regions where the fertility rates are relatively high. However, the responsibility to secure those fundamental conditions to sustain the reproduction of population has been devolved to each local authority. Elderly people are also encouraged to migrate from Tokyo to peripheral regions because the total social cost of the elderly care is thought to be reduced as a result. The Government insists that Tokyo should retain the strong competitiveness and vibrancy suitable for a world city. Here, Tokyo is designated as an engine of the national economy, whereas the peripheral regions are assigned as spaces of population reproduction and care for elderly people. Regional Revitalization regards the regions as mere apparatuses to increase or sustain targeted indexes, such as total population or GDP, without considering multi-faceted regional discrepancies as social injustice to be corrected.<BR>    Following the critique of the philosophy and purpose of Regional Revitalization, the author reconsiders the concept of regional discrepancy, focusing on restrictions and chances that people may encounter in the course of their lives. Even the most progressive spatial policy could not equalize conditions of people living in different places because most of the resources to fulfill peopleʼs desires are spatially fixed. Thus, to guarantee the right to migrate elsewhere in a quest for self-fulfillment, as well as the right to settle down in a specific place, is an indispensable aim of spatial policies. In the last part of this paper, the spatial structure of the Japanese economy is recognized as the spatial entity of power and markets, whose creation people in capitalistic societies are destined to be engaged in, by referring to Karl Polanyiʼs work on freedom. The author argues that any spatial policies should be comprised with reflections on the optimum spatial structures of economies in terms of broadening this freedom in Polanyian sense.</p>

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