Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship of development activities to the natural and social environments in wayside districts of the Kita-Kanto Expressway. The Kita-Kanto Expressway is a national expressway of 150 km in overall length that will connect Hitachinaka City in Ibaraki Prefecture with Takasaki City in Gunma Prefecture. At present, a section in Ibaraki Prefecture between the Tomobe and Hitachinaka Port interchanges has been opened for service. In this study, the relationship of development activities to various environments (natural and social environments) was analyzed for municipalities around the development route. The results of this research are as follows: (1) Digitized environmental information was prepared for municipalities around the Kita-Kanto Expressway in Ibaraki Prefecture. (2) An evaluation map was created analyzing the relationship of development activities to the natural environment. From this map, it was shown that three types of development activity regions are scattered within the target area; namely, agricultural development, urban development, and intermingled development regions.
