1991年の経済自由化以降のインドの急速な経済発展は,空間構造を再編するともに国民生活に大きな変化をもたらしている。しかし,他方で地域格差の拡大も指摘されており,貧困層の多い農村部の動向が特に注目される。本研究では,インドの低開発地域の農村をとりあげ,就業機会に焦点を当てて近年の変動を検討した。対象としたのは,北部山岳地域のウッタラカンド州・ナイニータール近郊の1集落である。この村は,山間地域にありながらも多様な就業機会に恵まれている。これは村内で商品生産的な農業が展開するとともに,ナイニータールの労働市場で様々な農外雇用が提供されていることによる。世帯経済の面では,農外雇用からの収入に依存する世帯が多い。特に所得の高い世帯は,教員や公務員などの高額の給与所得者に依存する傾向がみられる。他方,多くの世帯が労働集約的な野菜栽培を営み,額は少ないものの,世帯経済を補完する収入を得ている。この集落では,農外雇用の拡大と農業生産の発展が並進する形で,世帯経済の向上を実現させてきた点が注目されよう。雇用機会の拡大および世帯経済向上の一因は,高い教育水準に求められる。近隣で得られる豊富な教育機会を活かして,高学歴化が男女を問わず進行している。高学歴者の一部には潜在的な失業問題もあるが,全体として高学歴化が安定した職種への就業につながっているといえよう。本事例は,インドの低開発地域の1農村が後進的な状態から脱却しつつあることを示している。都市近郊に位置するため,ウッタラカンド州全体に直ちに一般化できないものの,インド農村の変化として注目すべき事例であるといえよう。

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Existing geographical literature has focused little attention on the relation between people's daily travel and the transportation environments of their local communities. Consequently, there has not been much discussion on how transportation environments might be better conceived and laid out based on observed travel patterns of people in their community. This paper starts to address this omission using the method of personal trip survey to highlight how peoples' daily travel is affected by the transportation environment. Based on the results of the survey, the paper examines how a better transportation system might be laid out in Showa district of Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture. For this study, questionnaires were distributed in three housing estates in Showa district: Daisan-danchi, Matsugaoka, and Yumegaoka. These three estates are all quite different in terms of when they were built, access to public transportation, and other factors. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed on October 4 and 5, 2009, and 112 were returned, for a response rate of 37.3%. A preliminary survey of the transportation facilities available in Showa district revealed significant differences in access and convenience depending on where one lives in the district. The mode of transportation used for commuting was found to vary depending on the location of the neighborhood within the district, surrounding traffic conditions, and the age of the commuters. In contrast, private cars were considered very advantageous for trips to the hospital or for shopping, and were widely used even for relatively short trips within the district. Examining daily travel patterns more closely, it was observed that women tend to make more multipurpose trips; that is, they try to visit more than one place or accomplish more than one task while they are out. This pattern was especially evident when they were out shopping in their own cars. The same pattern of multipurpose trips or multiple trips was not observed for travel based on public transportation, which of course is much more restrictive than having your own vehicle. The study identifies a number of problems with current transportation patterns: (a) there did not seem to be a direct correlation between convenience of the bus routes and the mode of transportation used by local residents, and (b) public transport seemed unable to flexibly accommodate increased ranges of travel or changes in demand for different destinations. This suggests that public transportation might be improved by flexibly accommodating major differences in travel patterns such as between commuting on the one hand and traveling to shopping or medical facilities on the other hand.

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