2009 Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 55-62
Recently, a considerable amount of attention has been paid to “social capital” and “collaboration,” which are indispensable infrastructure for promoting regional rejuvenation. However, it is difficult for citizens to collaborate with the local government, since mutual assistance networks for the community are weakening. The author conducts a case study on the management of the Nature Center “Forest KOZAN” in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, to illustrate the promotion process of citizen empowerment and collaboration with citizens, NPO, and the local government. This study illustrates that the effective use of outsider's knowledge could promote the empowerment of citizens. Further, at that time, it is important to utilize and systematize citizens' local knowledge, and change the contents of technical knowledge provided by outsiders according to the degree of citizen participation. In addition, based on the research of the volunteer organization “Momonga Club,” this paper describes that citizens can promote collaboration with the local government under the following situations:（1）accumulating extensive local knowledge by changing “individual knowledge” to “organizational knowledge,”（2） opening the decision-making process, and（3） creating opportunities for participation in organizational activities. The author concludes that citizens can promote autonomous regional rejuvenation on this occasion.
