Abstract
In Japan, as the population declines and as population aging progresses, new urban problems are emerging, such as difficulties with vacant houses, withdrawal of commercial facilities, and financial deterioration. In light of these circumstances, the concept of “urban aging” has been proposed, which includes population aging and the housing deterioration. Empirical analysis of urban aging and land price formation has been conducted. This study aims to quantify urban aging in order to evaluate it practically in regional policies and aims at plainly clarifying the changes of urban aging and average residential land prices over time for each similar city. For this purpose, we chose urban problems based on various descriptions in academic papers. Then we conducted factor analyses based on these proxy indicators to quantify urban aging. Results show that the phenomenon of urban aging is an urgent issue and that even in Kanto, an area with high population density, many cities have serious aging difficulties. Furthermore, as a general trend, residential land prices tend to decline as urban aging progresses. Urban aging and residential land prices for each type show that land prices decline along with aging, not only in regional cities but also in suburban cities in large cities, revealing disparity in land prices between central cities and other cities.
