2015 Volume 33 Issue 2 Pages 13-23
The purpose of this report is to review the results of the past research efforts this academic society, and having considered the results related to regional development of rural communities, clarify the topics which should be considered in future regional development research. In terms of past research, it has been divided into 3 distinct phases of development. The first period (1965-1984) was a time in which the number of families working at side businesses or outside of the farming community was increasing, and the historical community function was decreasing, and this period's research dealt with the resulting changes to those rural communities and discussed the organization of regional agriculture. The second period (1985-2000) is marked by the use of “regional development" as a keyword, and was a time when solutions to overcome the stagnation of the agricultural industry and rural communities were
being sought, with new directions in regional development being suggested, such as intra-regional industrial coordination, increased public engagement and the creation of high value added agricultural products. The third period (since 2000), ways in which regional development results can be improved have been considered for specific activities aimed at promoting collaboration between agriculture, commerce and industry and local production for local consumption etc. From the standpoint of the current state of regional development research, future research firstly must clarify the systems and organizations of regional development, specifically regarding what is the core community function and what that entails. Secondly, if regional development is trending towards activities to promote the regional economy, because there are households that cannot participate in these activities, it has become clear that one topic of research is how those households should be positioned within the overall progress of regional development.
