On “A Proposal for Reform of the Urban Planning System in Japan” and the Meaning of Incrementalism

Abstract

My book, entitled “Reform of the Urban Planning System-A proposal for the beginning of the Post-Urbanization Period,” was published in February 2017. One of the major motions expressed in this book concerns the adoption of incrementalism in Japanese urban planning systems. In this paper, I introduce some points of discussion from my book and further elaborate on the meaning of incrementalism, in addition to presenting arguments for its applicability in regional management. Firstly, an overview of the concepts of incrementalism as proposed by Charles Lindblom and Allan Feldt is presented, along with a discussion of some differences in their comparative analyses. Secondly, extending the logic of Feldt's definition, I propose a hypothetical approach that combines incrementalism and knowledge production to enhance the advantages of this method.