Process of Suburbanization and the Changes of Neighborhoods under the Generational Transition in a Local City : A Case of Oita City

Abstract

Since Oita city was nominated as a New Industrial city, its population had been increased and many suburban residential districts were developed. These neighborhoods in the suburbs of Oita city are now experiencing the generational transition: The second generation people come the age of leaving home, whereas the first generation people are aging. The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of generational transition in suburban neighborhoods in Oita city, and then to forecast the future of the neighborhoods based on the behavior of the second generation and the expectation of the first generation to it. The first generation residents formed a male breadwinner female homemaker nuclear family which was typical in suburban neighborhoods, however, it is a characteristics of the respondents that the male first generation moved to Oita city owing to the relocation within an organization, rather than finding a new job. Most of the first generation respondents hope to stay living in the present house. The locations of the neighborhoods are convenient to buy daily foods and goods for those who can drive a car. For those who cannot drive a car, they are rather isolated site because the public transportation is poor. As the first generation are aging, some of the residents face the difficulty to meet the basic need of daily life. Most of the second generation of respondents live apart from the parents even if they live in Oita city. It cannot be anticipated much that the second generation succeed and live in the parents houses, because half of them have already obtained owner-occupied houses. The possible outcome is that the neighborhoods will face the depopulation in the long run. Higher social status of the first generation was succeeded to the second generation and the second generation living in Oita city tend to choose their residents in the western part of the city where white-collar residents have been clustering. This fact indicates that the occupational segregation of the city will be sustained by the people's residential preference.