Abstract
Regional development issues in the Nagoya region (the Nagoya metropolitan area in a wide sense), which is often called Chukyo (literally meaning a central capital between Kyoto and Tokyo) or Chubu (central Japan), are discussed from the viewpoint of regional planning. It was not until the early 1960s that Chukyo or Chubu was formally considered as a regional planning unit.
The Chubu Development Act of 1966 and the related development plan in 1968 covering the Nagoya as well as the Hokuriku and eastern Kinki regions, established the Training Center of the United Nations for Regional Development Planning and Research (today's U. N. C. R. D) in Nagoya to solve various problems such as regional disparity, overpopulation in urban centers, and depopula-tion in rural areas. Another important feature of this plan was its emphasis on the need to serve the urban population.
Major national infrastructure projects, including superhighways, were constructed under a series of comprehensive national development plans. These resulted in the creation of a wider Nagoya urban planning area that includes 15 surrounding municipalities. Aichi prefecture formulated the Third Regional Plan in 1970, which emphasized quality of life. This concept was recognized by the Yahagi River Basin Research Association, which aimed to cover the environment of the western Mikawa, a heavily industrialized area comprising two major cities, Toyota and Okazaki. This area was included in the Fourth Regional Plan, and the Yahagi New Life City Plan for Techno Area was formulated in 1983.
The Nagoya region is the crossroads of Japan with its historical background of spontaneous indus-trial development. It is now expected to incorporate environmental and welfare issues into its regional planning and to constract its global mega-infrastructare and hosting environment for interna-tional collaboration.
