Typological Characteristics of Small Rural Cities

Abstract

Understanding small rural cities from a national planning perspective is important when considering their revitalization or independence. Pattern analysis is one method used to foster this understanding. One of the main purposes of pattern analysis is to understand important indicators to grasp the complete picture. In this study, authors performed pattern analysis on small rural cities in Japan, with populations ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 people. The 26 indicators were obtained from the designated Bureau of Statistics, who obtained them from sources such as the national census data. The units of all the indicators were different. The indicators did not necessarily follow a normal distribution because the objects were assumed to be small rural cities. Through this study, authors could understand indicators that form the basis for classifying cities using principal component analysis. Through this study and the five main patterns obtained, authors could understand three principal components for classification: ″urban locational infrastructure,″ ″urban spatial formation,″ and ″industrial vitality.″