Intergenerational Transmission and Internationalization of Urban Sociology:

Reviewing Suzuki Hiroshi's Achievements

Abstract

    This article aims to consider intergenerational transmission and the internationalization of Japanese urban sociology. Based on an examination of Suzuki Hiroshi's achievements, a second-generation leader of Japanese urban sociology and my disaster research in Indonesia the article is as follows. Although Asian developing countries are different from Japan in terms of the process and structure of urbanization, the “old” theory of urbanization in Japan that focuses on the socio-economic functions of provincial cities should be reappraised as a theoretical framework of community and regional studies in contemporary developing countries that are in the midst of decentralization. Furthermore, Suzuki's proposals for future urban sociology that includes internalization of natural environment into urban studies and critical reassessment of current Japanese urbanism in the wider context of international relations, particularly regarding relationships with developing countries, still possess contemporary significance.