https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3803-4559
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ABSTRACT
The overall context of decline in the polycentric suburban territory of Tokyo Metropolis contains divergent trajectories of municipal change. The key outer suburban centers of Tachikawa, Hachioji, and Ome City have different trajectories of socio-demographic, economic, and political and administrative (fiscal) change. This paper explores the mechanisms underlying their different trajectories to reveal the likely diversity of experiences. We reveal that their different trajectories have been materialized mainly by local or intra-suburban differentiations of inter-governmental, inter-sectoral, and inter-actor dynamics. Different strategies have thus emerged in the policy domain of industrial and commercial promotion. Recognition of the importance of suburban economic development tends to be delayed for municipal governments and differentiation in strategies possibly results in difficulties in promoting inter-municipal collaborations in this policy domain. We thus emphasize the necessity of integrating industrial and commercial promotion strategies in both vertical and horizontal dimensions of government to avert further suburban shrinkage.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The Core Cities are designated for cities with a population of more than 200,000. This designation expands discretionary powers of municipal governments through the transfer of some prefectural-level public affairs. The Core Cities are different to the BCCs.
2. The migration of old people into Ome City is also shaped by differences between Ome City and Hachioji City in the points-based social insurance system (Interview 27: TCG).
3. During 2010 to 2015, Hachioji City experienced greater in-migration of those aged 14 to 19 from other prefectures for admission to university, when compared to Tachikawa City and Ome City (see Appendix B).
4. While most young families have been forced to work in dual harness after the economic crisis of 2008 (Interview 43: NPO), most females are part-time workers whose workplaces are located near their homes (Interview 25: TCG).
5. During 2010 to 2015, Ome City has the larger in-migration of elderly people aged 65 and above from other municipalities in Tokyo Metropolis, when compared to Tachikawa City and Hachioji City (see Appendix B).
6. The most recent national census of 2015 unveils that all the three BCCs have experienced population decreases during 2010 to 2015, so socio-demographic shrinkage is gradually prevailing in Tokyo’s outer suburbs.
7. The years of establishment are as follows; 1953 for the Tachikawa CCI, 1894 for the Hachioji CCI, and 1952 for the Ome CCI. As of 2012, the number of members for these CCIs are 2,895, 3,896, and 2,076, respectively.
8. Under growing demand for graves in the Tokyo metropolitan area (Aveline-Dubach, Citation2012), this will become more apparent across Tokyo’s outer suburbs.
9. The TMG will develop an industrial exchange center for MICE with an exhibition hall with an area of about 2,500 m2 (Nikkei, Citation2017).