農業関連コミュニティ· ビジネスの可能性に関する分析—新潟市における住民の意識調査を通じて—

Abstract

This study reconsidered the issue of regional planning from the perspective of a new relationship between multi-functionality of agriculture and community-based business. The following three aspects were clarified using a questionnaire survey of residents in Niigata City, Japan. First, the causal relationship between urbanization and the residents' quality of life was analyzed. Second, the determinants for overall evaluation of urban residents in agriculture and farmland were clarified. Third, the determinative factors of residents' intentions for community-based business were clarified. From the results of the above analyses, we found that residents in Niigata City have high expectations for the roles of agriculture in providing environmental amenities, accumulation of social capital and management of local resources. It became evident that the basic elements for the improvement of the residents' quality of life were closely related to the functions of agriculture. Moreover, the degree of urbanization, the assessments of agriculture/farmland, the level of abundance of regional resources (particularly human-network and social capital) and their types have important effects on promoting community-based businesses. It was also discovered that, in terms of preferred fields of business, the residents gave high ratings to issues related to the environment, culture, scenery, and education. This suggests the promotion of community-based and farming-related businesses linked with the multiple functions of the environment, culture, scenery, education, etc., can be an effective strategy for regional planning.JEL Classification: R20, O13, M14