抄録
During the depopulation era, the revitalization of rural mountainous areas that continue to shrink is a pressing problem. Under this severe circumstance, it is an essential task for design rural management policy to clarify the mechanisms of development of a vigorous region and construct the support systems for these regions, meaning constructing promotional systems for endogenous development. In this research, we conducted a field survey at Shunran no Sato, where local residents tried to revitalize the village by farm-inn and urban-rural exchange, and to evaluate the significance of consensus building in local development. In this area, the local development was founded upon an agreement by only seven persons under a time pressure to build a consensus. Through consensus building, this area could achieve revitalization even though on the verge of extinction by remarkable depopulation by means of obtaining official support and having the cooperation of local residents. In this paper, we review the merits, demerits, conditions, and important points underlying a prompt action of a rural activation project based on partial agreement for the local, endogenous development.
As a result, it was clear that, although partial consensus building prevented the residents and region from various potential losses, it did not prevent some conflicts, specifically those that occurred early in the program. However, the core organization was careful to avoid conflicts. Overall, the style of regional planning in this area was good in terms of avoiding a conflict in early stages and establishing an incentive design in its developing stages.
However, we must beware this report's findings, because making light of consensus building corresponds to an abuse of a precautionary principle. As such, to accomplish partial consensus building for the prompt action toward local revitalization, it is necessary to first base the scenarios on rational basis that indicate that the area cannot avoid failing if residents don't agree.
