Abstract
The maintenance of the local community and the improvement of living environment are ingredient essential to the activation of the hilly and mountainous regions. This study was conducted to analyze the relations between the social capital mainly composed of the district activity and the local community and the evaluation of living environment or the life satisfaction using the questionnaire survey for two hilly and mountainous regions which did different choice in the municipal merger of Heisei. Furthermore, the issue and directionality every area to contribute to local activation were investigated. As a result, it became clear that the enriching of the social capital in the hilly and mountainous regions led to raising residents' evaluation of living environment or the life satisfaction.
