It has been criticized that urban-rural interactions practiced nationally do not lead to endogenous development of rural areas. Part of the reason for this inefficiency is that the external interventions such as overtaking of planning and implementing the activities deprive rural residents of spontaneity. While public institution still plays important roles in developing rural area, the establishment of a mechanism that stimulates the spontaneity of parties concerned is desired.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the activity type classified as “school, ” which stimulates symbiosis and the complementary relationship of urban and rural residents, and to consider a process of spontaneity formation by rural residents. The study is based on the case of “The School of Black Soybean” in Sasayama city, Hyogo.
The results are as follows: (1) The urban-rural interaction in “school” promoted the mutual understanding among both residents, and helped form spontaneity of rural residents. (2) Rural residents evaluated the activity based on economic efficiency and sociality. In this case, the rural residents interviewed counted sociality rather than economic efficiency, and as a result they carry out active management aiming at the school activity itself. (3) The interaction of school style is a system suitable for improving sociality. Although there were some differences among individuals, the results tend to show that the school style stimulated spontaneity of local residents.
Based on the cognitive structure of rural residents observed in the case, a hypothesis on the development structure of urban-rural interactions that is driven by external intervention is derived.
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