I. The purpose of the study
Regional planning must cover a wide area and have a long range plan. For that purpose, it is necessary to investigate and study the regional struture of a metropolitan area and the mechanism and laws of metropol itanization.
II. The method of the study
1. The conception of metropolitanization is defined in this study as follows
It is a process in which a metropolitan community with commerce-and-industry-centered system and metropolitan-domination-organization come into existence.
2. The validity of Nara Basin as a field is proved by area collation.
3. In order to investigate the laws and mechanism of the differentiation and resolution from agricul-ture-centered-system to commerce-and-industry-centered system:
a) 437 regional cells are abstracted in Nara Basin;
b) the differentiation and resolution of a regional cell are Strukturzuzammenhang of various regional elements from which economic functions, landscape and social structure are abstracted as dominatiog regional element complexes by factor analysis.
c) Out of the features that show the differentiation and resolution of agriculture-centered system in the above-mentioned three regional element-complexes, four are chosen and indexed;
d) in each of the three major regional element-complexes the differentiation and resolution gradients of 437 cells are measured and arranged with evolution at one pole and stagnation at another, and as a result, one dimentional (simple) continuum is obtained ; it is classified and 5-13 similar types are established;
e) in establishing and arranging those similar types, Strukturzuzammenhang in the three element-complexes is analyzed by x2 authorization and dialectics.
4. In order to investigate the laws and mechanism in the reorganization process of the regional structure from medium and small city-centered organization to metropolitan-orgnization ;
a) taking as an index the number of the commuters to and from Osaka City and a population that moves into there, Hanshin metropolitan area is abstracted;
b) the extension of a metropolitan area is Strukturzuzammenhang of various regional elements and by means of factor analysis a metropolitan core and small medium city regional cell are abstracted as dominating regional structural units participating in this mechanism;
c) taking as an index economic function area which is made up of three major regional structural units, Hanshin metropolitan area is classified into four functional unit areas; with each area, the structure of the three major regional units is examined, and according to the result of that examination, Hanshin metropolitan area is classified into four structural areas;
d) dialectics is applied to the above-mentioned three major regional strucural units in order to clarify the relational mechanism-spatial order in four structural unit areas;
III. Results
1. In metropolitanization the following process occurs;
a) concentration of capital and population in a metropolitan area
b) that concentration becomes structurally related with other areal elements
c) it is transformed into regional energy in accordance with the law of Umschlagen von Quantität in Quantität
d) regional energy extends in space and time to the areas which are not organized yet, following the law of chained reflex
2. There are two laws operating in the process of metropolitanization; that is to say, the differentiation and resolution of regional function from agriculture-centered system to commerce-and-industry-cen-tered system, and the reorganization of regional structure from small and medium city centered organization to metropolitan-domination-organization. These two functions interact and condition each other.

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There are characteristic erosional gentle slopes in Aki mountains, which are considered as pediments, because the slopes are located in front of steep mountain escarpments, truncating the bedrock of granite, and are covered with veneers of cobbles, boulders or coarse sands, of which bedding and sorting are not remar-kable. Longitudinal widths of the pediments are about 300−2000 meters and the inclinations about 7°−15°. The inclinations of escarpments behind the pediments are about 26°−35°, in rare occasions 45°. The escarpment foot has not a zigzag outline but a straight one. The developmental stages of pediments are rich with varieties from young to old. The pediments are classified into three levels: 400−460 meters (upper level), 200−400 meters (middle level) and about 50 meters (lower level) in heights of each lower margin. The lower level pediments develop most broadly. In the central area of Aki mountains (that is near Hiroshima City), an area of pediments occupies 50% of the landscape.
The pediments have been formed by the parallel retreat of escarpment, which continued until the mountain mass had almost disappeared. The development of the pediments are conditioned by the following facts;
1. Fine crystalized granite or hard rock covers coarse crystalized granite (Hiroshima type granite)
2. Intermittent elevation was equal in quantity all over the region. Fault line net which accelerated vally deepening presented more favorable condition for the development of the pediments, because the development of the pediments begins after the completion of valley deepening. At recent time, however, the development of the pediments has already ceased and these surfaces are dissected by the stramlets. Therefore, the pediments must have developed under the climatic environment different from today's.
The angle between escarpment and pediment is controlled by the quality of rock, In the granite area with vertical or nearly vertical joints, it is rather large, and the escarpment is comparatively steeper and the pediments gentler.
The position of the Knickpoint is determined by the height of the base-level of erosion and the longitudinal range of the pediment. Escarpments behind the pediments are not fault scarps but erosional ones.
The period of the formation of these pediments is later than that of the fault movements of Aki mountains and earlier than the Wurm Ice age. And the middle level pediments were formed nearly at the same time as the Saijo lacustrine bed (Pleistocene age) in Saijo Basin, east of Hiroshima City deposited.

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