都市群システム研究の成果と課題

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A city system is a comprehensive set of cities which are interdependent through economic fluctuations, diffusion and exchange of information, and flow of goods, capital, and people. All cities which contain the elements of this system do not randomly grow, stagnate, and decline independent of one another; instead, they change in response to growth or decline in other cities. The study of city systems seeks to understand neither a region which has undergone spatial urban expansion nor its internal structure; rather, it emphasizes interurban relationships by viewing cities as points. The study of systems of cities is also concerned with the reinforcement of interurban dependencies brought about by the expansion of economic activities over a wide area and the intensification of transportation and information networks because changes in cities can have a great impact on other urban systems. Since openness, or the dependency of cities on the outside, is increasing, we cannot gain a clear understanding of the functionality and growth of cities if we do not think of these systems as a combination of social and economic factors.According to Vining, who first made the connection between systems of cities and urban growth, the terms “systems of cities” and “city systems” were already in use before 1940. However, it was not until the publication of the work of Duncan et al. that the national urban system of the United States was considered from the functionality of individual cities and their interdependent relationships. It was Berry who made geographers keenly aware of the effectiveness of studying urban systems by explaining the scale of urban population distribution and the hierarchical urban structure using general systems theory. Since Berrys study, research in systems of cities, which was influenced by the development of quantitative geography, has been rapidly progressing.With the establishment of methodologies and analytical frameworks in the 1960s and 1970s, exhaustive corroborative research was conducted on rank size, functional classification, dimensional analysis, nodal and functional structures, diffusion processes, spatial interactions, and the wide-ranging effects of economic fluctuation. In the late 1970s, research was expanded to include international comparisons of urban systems, forecasts for the future, and proper control, management and even policy for the creation of urban systems in equilibrium. In the late 1980s, interdisciplinary research increased as data from related disciplines such as political science, sociology, and economics was incorporated into geographical research. More recently, research in international and global urban systems (which supersede a national system of cities) has been gaining attention. Thus, research into urban systems has become a very attractive undertaking.In urban systems research, the rural area is excluded from the analysis. This is done because limiting study areas to cities reduces the relative economic impact of rural areas while confining important, economically stimulating functions to the small areas these cities occupy. The controlling forces of cities are increased while surrounding rural areas are brought into the urban sphere of economic dominance. Viewed from the perspective of population distribution, the dispersed population of rural areas stands out in stark spatial contrast to the concentrated population of cities. According to 1990 United Nations population estimates, the ratio of urban population (i. e., cities of at least 20, 000 inhabitants) to total world population. stood at 29.1% in 1950, but had increased to 45.2% by 1990. Furthermore, it was expected to reach 51.1% by the year 2000, and 64.6% by 2025. In any event, there has been a special focus on productive activity of the tertiary and quaternary (service and information) sectors which are currently driving the economy.
人文地理学会の論文

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村山祐司
筑波大学・地球科学系

都市群システム研究の成果と課題

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