THE CHANGE IN THE SPHERE OF URBAN INFLUENCE IN KANAGAWA PREFECTURE

Abstract

A survey on the change in the sphere of urban influence between 1955 and 1968 was carried out in the middle and western area of Kanagawa Prefecture except Kawasaki, Yoko-hama, Miura, and Tsukui districts using the questi.onaire method for the following 10 indices commuter, underwear, man's suit and woman's dress, doctor, hospital, movie, bank, library, department store, and dace to where man goes on a holiday. The questionaires were collected from n 1, 815 families with the first grade students of 10 high schools in this area. The dependence ratio of the unit district to central place was cal-culated by the method shown as the following example. _??_ From the table, the dependence ratio of X district to center is given as follows: A 61.0%, B……31. 5%, and C……7.5%. An increase (decrease) of the dependence ratio during 13 years means that the dependence relation between the unit district and the central place has become closely (weakly). Therefore, we are able to observe on the change in the sphere of urban influence dealing with changes of the dependence ratio. Fig. 1 shows the change in the sphere of urban influence. Ten indices stated above can be classified into two levels of hierarchy, for local and regional centers: Local center…… bank, underwears, doctor, and commuters. Regional center ……man's suit and woman's dress, hospital, movie, department store, and place to where man goes on holiday. (Note: (1) Although library was included in the indices, this was not adopted because of few responsers and of indistinct character as an index. (2) Hospital indicates the level of lower order of regional center, and department store, and place to where man goes on a ho- liday, indicate the level of higher order.) Hiratsuka, Odawara, Fujisawa, and Atsugi are the regional centers. On the other hand, the north-eastern district of Kanagawa Prefecture situates under the influence of Machida and Hachioji, which are the cities in Tokyo. Matsuda, Yamakita, Minami-ashigara, Hatano, Isehara, Chigasaki, Yamato and Sagamihara are the local centers. The pattern and system of these centers are shown in Fig. 2. The boundaries of the sphere of urban influence of the local center are almost same to the administrative boundary, and the changes of the boundaries and their dependence ratio are scarcely recognized. However, in the north-eastern district mentioned above, two new local centers (Yamato and Sagamihara) have been formed by the increased population due to the marked industrialization and urbanization in the recent time. The changes in the sphere of urban influence of the regional center are very distinctive in comparison with those of the local center. The influence of the regional center infiltrates into the sphere of the local center. So that the sphere of the local center has been reduced or vanished. The centers, Matsuda, Yamakita, Isehara, and Chigasaki, have lost the centrality as the regional center, and the sphere of Hatano has been reduced and the level of hierarchy of Hatano is changing from the regional center to the local one. On the other hand, the centrality as the regional center of Atsugi has been forming. The area east of the Sagami River locates under the influence of regional center Hachioji, Machida, and Fujisawa, but the metropolitan cities, Tokyo and Yokohama, are adding the influence force. It is considered that the reasons are: 1. Difference of inhabitant character. The area east of the Sagami River is situated near the Keihin industrial zone. Therefore, commuters from this area to Tokyo and Yokohama are in great numbers, and accordingly, the orientation to the higher order center is distinct. 2. Development of transportation. As there are many national and private railway lines in this area, the accecibility to Tokyo and Yokohama is strong.