Concept and Reality of Rural-Urban Housing in Tama New Town:

Abstract

Tama New Town was planned in 1965 and developed according to the New Residential Town Development Law, which forbids farming in the town area. Consequently, most farmers in Tama Hill bandoned farming . However, the dairy farmers in the No. 19 area (Hachioji, Tokyo) had continued to oppose the development. A number of factors favored the dairy farmers, who were dedicated to defending the use of their land. In particular, the agricultural production capacity and pride in the historic origin contributed to the success of the movement. Furthermore, in 1973, land acquisition in the No. 19 area was stopped due to the oil crisis. The dairy farmers' movement was supported by the Japanese Communist Party, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government labor union, various experts, and New Town residents' environmental movements. In 1983, the Ministry of Construction and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government exempted the dairy farmers' land from the planning area, guaranteeing that it would not be incorporated into the urbanization control area. In addition, builders agreed to an investigation by a team of experts who supported the dairy farmers' movement; the team proposed the rural-urban housing. However, the 1983 decision to claim the dairy farmers' land was only the beginning of Nakasone's administrative reform. The outbreak of the oil crisis averted the compulsory purchase of the dairy farmers' land, and the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government faced a fiscal crisis and had to adopt policies based on economic rationalism. As a result, in 1986, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation carried out compulsory purchases of land that were being used for sericulture. A subsequent series of policies led to the end of the dairy farmers' protest movement, and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation purchased the land of conservative landowners in the No. 19 area. The purchases demolished the solidarity among the dairy farmers, sericulturists, regional planners, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government labor union, who had intended to realize th rural-urban housing.