This paper reviews historical changes of policies for downtown revitalization and gives future perspectives for revitalizing downtown areas. Downtown areas are on the stage of rapid decline in terms of retail activities, particularly in provincial cities. The paper therefore focuses on the three factors influential in prosperity and decline of downtown revitalization; that is, diversity of retail stores, sufficient public spaces for pedestrians and their community, and parking facilities for easy access to a downtown. Restriction policy on the entry of large-scare retail stores in downtown areas adopted so far in Japan and less attention to the adequate provision of parking facilities in 1980's proved to be main causes of downtown decline.
