Abstract
Community organizing policy in local government started in 1970 in Japan based on residentsʼ participation in the planning of local areas and social activities for improvement of the community environment. This paper focuses on the community planning scheme started from 1993 in Kochi, a city with a population of 300,000 in Shikoku. This scheme is a unique collaboration system for communitybased associations which are organized by volunteer citizens and supported by city government, with local officers participating voluntarily as members as well. The authors employed the method of “profiles of practitioners” developed by J. F. Forester and interviewed the officer responsible for this scheme. We analyzed the narrative of the scheme executed by him. We also present the actual process of this scheme, the results, and problems for the consideration of future communityoriented planning under population decline in local cities.
