Abstract
The purpose of this study is to make clear the characteristics of the land-use distribution and farmland diversions in urban fringes extensively. We selected Osaka prefecture as a study area and made digital maps of the four types of land-use master plans, urbanization promotion areas, urbanization control areas, agriculture promotion areas and agricultural land zones, with grid data having a 10-m resolution to match the coordinate system of the land-use grid data. The land-use distribution and farmland diversions in “white zones” in agriculture promotion areas of urban fringes were analyzed spatially for the periods of 1979-85, 1985-91 and 1991-96. The result shows that farmland diversions tend to be influenced by the change of economic conditions. In the 1980's, developments for developing lands and residential were outstanding and even encroached deeply in white zones. Although this trend slowed down in the early 1990's, the disordered land-use distribution remained in white zones of urban fringes.
