Nobuo Mitsuhashi

A STUDY ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE REGULATION AND SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN FORMATION PROCESS OF URBAN VILLAGES IN GUANGZHOU, CHINA

Based on the investigation of urban villages (Chengzhongcun) in Guangzhou city of China, the study is aimed to clarify both the main policies associated with the formation of urban villages and the spatial evolution process of urban villages. Conclusions can be given as follows: 1. Due to the rapid development of economic and the system of compensated use of land carried out since 1988, the villages have been stimulated to increase urban land needs and accelerate the expropriation of land. The villages located in the suburban area have been dwindling and gradually brought into urban areas. Under the influence of industrial upgrading and immigration since 1990s, those villages brought the industrial transformation from the primary industry to the secondary and the tertiary industry, and a huge amount of housing construction for immigrants within themselves; 2. Meanwhile the territory of urban villages dwindled, their residential areas have expanded to become high-density in both population and buildings. On the other hand, based on the location and the influence of policies, urban villages still have their own spatial characteristics in their old residential area.

A Study of Local Community Activities of Aged Returnees in Rural Areas

This is to follow the previous article in which we showed that the number of returnees will increase in the near future and that they can play an important role in revitalizing local communities. The present paper is concerned with the analysis of their characteristics, and their contributions to farming and social activities in local communities. A mail survey was conducted in Oita andIwate prefectures concerning two types of aged members (50 and above) of farm families; (1) those who had always lived there and quit their off-farm employment about ten years before, (2) those who had been away and return to their native places about ten years before. This article focuses on the former group because there are few in the latter category. Aged returnees tend to have a high level of education and special skills, and a high proportion of them are alone or part of a nuclear family. It is shown that aged returnees are apt to hold many types of office, introducing unconventional forms of office holding and community power structure. The main reason for their readiness to hold office is perceived obligation to do community had been freed from them until they became returnees. They are expected to perform roles by the established residents. Our result indicate that within the context of the present trend of an aging agricultural labor force and rural population it is time to look into ways to tap the talents and abilities of aged returnees for the maintenance and development of local communities.