Abstract
The Japan Sociological Society will have an annual conference coming autumn with a symposium on “Urbanization and Urban Problems in Presentday Japan” which is concerning urban theories and problems again about ten years after the 34th conference held in Octorber, 1961 whose topic of the symposium was “On Theories of Urbanization”. Since mid-60' Japanese cities have been so-called “exploding cities” not figuratively but literally. They have stepped into a new stage beyond the former stage.
Firstly, continuous population concentration is still observed in cities, especially in large cities. Yet, core cities have decreased their population since 1965. Although this trend cannot be judged without considering the formation of city-centers, the dispersion trend of population into suburban areas appears in every core city. This fact is hardly explained by traditional ecological theories.
Secondly, urban society is usually contrasted with rural society, but it was originally not a city in general but a neighborhood that should have been contrasted with a village. Modern cities include villages as a type of the neighborhood. The basic problem of modern cities is their lack of “the neighborhood” to be contrasted with the village. A village-like structure can be constructed within a large city if certain conditions are satisfied (as in the case of outcast community). Theories of urbanization, such as of the rural-urban continium and of the ruralurban dichotomy should be examined again in relation to the fact stated above.
Thirdly, as urban society develops in its size and complexity and covers the whole range of modern society, the subject matter of urban sociology as well as its research organization necessarily changes. Modern urban society comes to the stage where the endeavour of a small number of sociologists is of little use for the solution of its problems. It is only after the research organization has been established that sociology is able to contribute to the solution of the problems in “exploding cities”.
