A COMPUTABLE MODEL FOR OPTIMIZING RESIDENTIAL RELOCATION BASED ON QUALITY OF LIFE AND SOCIAL COST IN BUILT-UP AREAS

Abstract

Population aging and population decline, coupled with a saturation of the Japanese economy and declining fiscal revenue to maintain the existing infrastructure, pose particular problems in suburban areas. A new planning philosophy based on planned-retreat and planned re-concentration is described. To evaluate and identify suitable land areas, a tool for planning decision is provided. In this paper, the previously proposed framework (Kachi et al, 2005) is applied in order to identify the planned retreat and re-concentration areas with the index for social cost effectiveness of Quality of Life (QOL) derived from the given maximization problem. The case study of a rural small-sized city in Japan shows that the clustered urban spatial configuration is appropriate in terms of social cost effectiveness of QOL, although QOL in the suburban areas is higher than that of in the city center.