2005 Volume 5 Pages 14-26
The City of Kawagoe and the Taketomi Island both successfully designated Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings, but a more thorough regulation was enacted in shorter time in Taketomi than in Kawagoe. By comparing the policy processes of the two areas, this paper attributes difference in the policy outcomes to the types of neighborhood organizations that led these policy processes. Organizations dealing with a specific problem in Kawagoe easily reached the agreement within each organization, but these agreements did not represent the entire residents. As a result, it took nearly thirty years for the municipal government of Kawagoe to enact preservation policies that are not implemented completely. By contrast, the decision made by the neighborhood organization of Taketomi represented the entire residents because it had been tackling with a wide-range of local problems and because almost all residents participated in it and shared common culture, though it took some time for them to reach an agreement. As a consequence, it took relatively short time for the municipal government of Taketomi to enact a comprehensive policy package.
