Abstract
The mixed residence area-mixture of farmers and non-farmers-has been spreading in Japanese rural areas as a result of modernization and industrialization. In this mixed community, the household economy has been stabilized through the increase in non-agricultural income. Today, therefore, living conditions in this new form of community is improving relative to the crowded towns in terms of the environmental and cultural conditions. People living in these areas hope to keep their environment and culture intact, or strengthen their qualities.
This “urbanization of Japan” has been proceeding right into the local provinces, and the moderni-zation and industrialization of rural areas are advancing further. This has led to the increase in numbers of non-farmers in rural communities. We therefore must establish a new theory of planning and design for the living environment as well as for the land-use structure in these communities. This theory can be termed “The Theory of Preservative Planning and Design” or “The Theory of Preservative Development” which includes the traditional concept of “The Theory of Modernization and Europeanization”. To this end, we must study the features of ruralspace: the cultural as well as living structures in the natural and communal space setting. Its aim is to discover a stable structure which can be continued into the future, and then to try to put the theory into practice. In this way, the nature and culture of rural areas can be maintained and developed in the future generations.
