An Economic-Geographical Study of Development of Large Housing Estates in the Sendai Metropolitan Area

Abstract

During from 1957 to 1990, we saw some important changes in the process of large housing estate development in Sendai metropolitan area. The local private companies who were major developers in this area in 1960s were replaced successively by nation-wide private companies and then by land reclamation organizations. The developments were concentrated in the northern part of this region till the mid-seventies, but after that, they were dispersed throughout the region. The portions of areas which was devoted to housing whithin the newly developed land were sixty to eighty percent before 1973, decreased to between forty and sixty percent until the nineteeneighties. This study aims to explain the reasons for these changes by looking at the housing estate developement process as an economic activity.Firstly, examining a few studies of real estate capital circulation leads us to certain principles of private-developer's housing development. In the land-purchase process, private developers have to try to purchase cheaper and larger lands for development. In the development process, they have to try design the developments so as to reduce developement costs, and at the same time, in order to generate more profit, they must try to increase the value of the housing land by arranging certain types of facilities for the people who will live there. Furthermore, they try to make cleen the identities of their housing lands so as to sell them as soon as possible and so as to maximize their profits in the sales process.Secondly, the interaction between these abstract principles and some actual conditions was studies. It was found that the some unofficial guidances by municipalities favor the large nationwide private developers, while they increase their development costs. Furthemore, the rise of cost accelerates individualization of each developing area, because the companies have to sell them as soon as possible. This individualization, in turn, increases development costs even more. Of course, private developers seek to avoid increasing their costs. They intend to achieve this by attracting facilities to each developing area, by using facilities located outside each developing area and by receiving all sorts of public support. In the second technique, lands for development are limited to the areas near already developed areas or some facilities. It is difficult for private developers to develop such area, because of existing land-use, high land prices and so on. In such cases, developers resort to land reclamation plan.Lastly, based on these principles of private developer housing development and the interaction of those principles with actual conditions, as discussed above, the process of the housing estate development in the Sendai metropolitan area is examined, taking topography, historical conditions, goverment policies and so on into account. It is concluded that the changes that were shown at the beginning of this abstract can be explained by the economic principles of private developer housing development, although topography, goverment policies and so on may retard or accelerate these changes. In other words, the activities of private developers make the features in this process.