The Factorial Ecology of Tokyo Special District

Abstract

The study of factorial ecology aims to examine the social area differentiation of a big urban society by means of factor analytic mothod. This paper reports a test of the factorial ecology of Tokyo Special District.In consequence, six significant factors are extracted from the 47 variables ×124 grid cell data matrix. In those six factors, the two highest rank factors are the “social rank factor”, suggestive of the contrast between Yamanote and Shitamachi in social rank, and the “urbanization factor” that shows the contrast between the suburban inhabitants and the center city inhabitants. Those two factors have strong influence on the social area differentiation of Tokyo S. D..In addition, four lower rank factor suggestive of permanent or non-permanent residents, commuters' traffic facilities, employed or non-employed inhabitants and the slum-like inhabitants complicate the social area differentiation.The comparison between these results and Morikawa's study about Fukuoka and Hiroshima in 1974 is next problem. This comparison shows that, as to factor structure, factor score distribution, and factor contribution, Tokyo S. D. conforms more suitable to Sevky & Bell's hypothesis about social area differentiation than those two cities. And this suggests that Tokyo S. D. is more matured urban society than Hiroshima or Fukuoka. Moreover this suitability bases upon a much higher contribution of “social rank factor” in Tokyo S. D., and this high contribution relates to the topographic contrast between Yamanote and Shitamachi.