16 Towards Intercity Cooperation: Comparison of Spatial Transport …
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major metropolitan areas and the five sub-metropolitan areas is projected to decrease
by 15% and population in central cities in the regional urban areas is projected to
decrease by more than 20% (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport 2014).
People tend to stay at the attached city where they have lived, even in an inconvenient
area. Considering the negative correlation between energy-related issues and population (Yang et al. 2015; Modarres 2013), deterioration of transport energy use in
Japanese cities is anticipated due to the decrease in population. Therefore, reconsideration of city transport planning without a forced relocation is required to maintain
or improve the transport energy use.
To address this matter, Japanese government published in 2014 Coordinated Core
Metropolitan Area Initiative in Japan, in which a partnership is formed between
central and peripheral cities (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2014).
Coordinated Core Metropolitan Area Initiative is developed on the two concepts,
that is; compactification, or constructing the advanced efficient urban functions, and
networking, or connecting the central city with peripheral cities through the public
transport network more efficiently (Tsuji 2015). The efficient use of transportation
system between central and peripheral cities would highly contribute to intercity
cooperation.
According to the aforementioned Initiative, the central and peripheral combination
with the greater gap of urban scale should construct the city coordination on a priority
basis, since its gap is expected to increase in future. In fact, the intercity public
transport system by buses and electric trains has been established between most of
central and peripheral cities in Japan. Meanwhile, since the public transport system
inside of the peripheral cities is not well developed, automobiles would be the first
choice for the intercity travel due to less accessibility to the public transportation
in the peripheral cities (Chandra et al. 2013). Before determining the modal choice
for the intercity travel, the consideration of intracity transport situation in the urban
cities is of importance (Behrends 2012). Given that the modal choice has a significant
impact on the transport energy efficiency, therefore, it is of interest to the author to
investigate the differences in spatial transport energy efficiency between central and
peripheral cities, taking into consideration the geographical location and city scale.
16.2 Method
The methodology in this study consisting of boundary of transport energy consumption, transportation modes, computation of spatial transport energy intensity, case
study in Japan, and data collection is presented in this section.
241
major metropolitan areas and the five sub-metropolitan areas is projected to decrease
by 15% and population in central cities in the regional urban areas is projected to
decrease by more than 20% (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport 2014).
People tend to stay at the attached city where they have lived, even in an inconvenient
area. Considering the negative correlation between energy-related issues and population (Yang et al. 2015; Modarres 2013), deterioration of transport energy use in
Japanese cities is anticipated due to the decrease in population. Therefore, reconsideration of city transport planning without a forced relocation is required to maintain
or improve the transport energy use.
To address this matter, Japanese government published in 2014 Coordinated Core
Metropolitan Area Initiative in Japan, in which a partnership is formed between
central and peripheral cities (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2014).
Coordinated Core Metropolitan Area Initiative is developed on the two concepts,
that is; compactification, or constructing the advanced efficient urban functions, and
networking, or connecting the central city with peripheral cities through the public
transport network more efficiently (Tsuji 2015). The efficient use of transportation
system between central and peripheral cities would highly contribute to intercity
cooperation.
According to the aforementioned Initiative, the central and peripheral combination
with the greater gap of urban scale should construct the city coordination on a priority
basis, since its gap is expected to increase in future. In fact, the intercity public
transport system by buses and electric trains has been established between most of
central and peripheral cities in Japan. Meanwhile, since the public transport system
inside of the peripheral cities is not well developed, automobiles would be the first
choice for the intercity travel due to less accessibility to the public transportation
in the peripheral cities (Chandra et al. 2013). Before determining the modal choice
for the intercity travel, the consideration of intracity transport situation in the urban
cities is of importance (Behrends 2012). Given that the modal choice has a significant
impact on the transport energy efficiency, therefore, it is of interest to the author to
investigate the differences in spatial transport energy efficiency between central and
peripheral cities, taking into consideration the geographical location and city scale.
16.2 Method
The methodology in this study consisting of boundary of transport energy consumption, transportation modes, computation of spatial transport energy intensity, case
study in Japan, and data collection is presented in this section.