First Attempt with Participatory Planning: Case of the Komae City Municipal Master Plan

Abstract

The main interest of this chapter lies in public participation during the planning process of land use plans in Japan. Public participation in this chapter is defined as the participation forums sponsored by local governments aimed at eliciting input from and sharing power with a broad public representation in order to make plans reflective of the needs and desires of a community’s citizens. In Japan, municipalities (cities, towns, and villages) are responsible for producing land use plans called Municipal Master Plans. This requirement came into effect when the City Planning Act was revised in 1992. Additionally, the revision of the Act introduced a new emphasis on public participation for land use planning policy in Japan. That is, public participation became a requirement in the planning process of making Municipal Master Plans. This was a big departure from the previous practice, in which governments traditionally implemented planning activities with very little public involvement. The introduction of public participation in the development of Municipal Master Plans is regarded as the beginning of participatory planning in Japan. Compared with the public participation in the United States, however, public participation in Japan is still in its early stages, and there is much to improve to make public participation more meaningful. In this chapter, I will illuminate one of the first attempts of participatory planning in Japan by portraying the case of one municipality, Komae City, in Tokyo. The planning process of the Komae City Municipal Master Plan began officially in December of 1997 and was finished for approval in February of 2001. The goal of this chapter is to analyze how citizens and community organizations were involved in the planning process of the Komae City Municipal