49
out the methods and techniques used to ensure the participants’ unconstrained,
spontaneous dialogues while backcasting desirable future city. The third section
then explains two verification approaches undertaken to explore the research questions drawn from the above-mentioned perspectives. The one corresponds to “divergence” concern to see if the participants’ values were pluralistically expressed. The
other corresponds to “convergence” concern to see if and to what extent coherence
can be found. The fourth section provides analytical outputs and relevant discussions. In the final fifth section, we argue as to what the resulted findings mean to the
use of backcasting scenario-making in policy practice and also point to the direction
of further research and its significance.
4.2 Designs of Backcasting Scenario-Making: Citizen
Participatory Workshop
4.2.1 Setting of the Workshop Held in the City of Toyama,
Japan
4.2.1.1 Reasons for Choosing the Targeted City
We chose the city of Toyama in Japan to be the study area for BC scenario-making.
Toyama city has 420,000 inhabitants. Its location is near the center of Honshu, the
main island of Japan and is in the Hokuriku region, about 450 km northwest of the
Tokyo Metropolitan area.
Today, Japan as a nation faces a series of severe and rapidly growing socioeconomic problems (e.g., sharp population decline, highly aging society with a declining birthrate, severe fiscal deficit, and excess concentration of population and
industry in the Tokyo Metropolitan area) that are considered to be endemic to economically advanced nations. Among the other cities of a similar size in Japan,
Toyama city is regarded to be proactively committed to dealing with such problems.
Since the 2000s, the local government of Toyama city (TCG) has implemented
so-called compact city policies under which outside residents are induced and
incentivized mostly with monetary subsidies to move to and live their lives in the
city’s center. Concentration of the city’s population and societal functions in one
particular geographic area enables TCG to diminish its administrative expenses.
In this line of policy deployment, improvement of the local public transportation
network (made of light rail transit, railroads, and buses) has been vigorously sought
by TCG to reduce citizens’ heavy dependence on the daily use of private automobiles. Living without car use (meaning the city life within walking distance) has also
been a long-term objective pursued over decades by TCG, serving to address two of
the socioeconomic problems. One is climate change; switching from private automobiles to public transportations can cut CO 2 emissions. The other is social welfare;
enhanced physical strength with better walking abilities and thus extended healthy
4 The Use of Backcasting to Promote Urban Transformation to Sustainability…
out the methods and techniques used to ensure the participants’ unconstrained,
spontaneous dialogues while backcasting desirable future city. The third section
then explains two verification approaches undertaken to explore the research questions drawn from the above-mentioned perspectives. The one corresponds to “divergence” concern to see if the participants’ values were pluralistically expressed. The
other corresponds to “convergence” concern to see if and to what extent coherence
can be found. The fourth section provides analytical outputs and relevant discussions. In the final fifth section, we argue as to what the resulted findings mean to the
use of backcasting scenario-making in policy practice and also point to the direction
of further research and its significance.
4.2 Designs of Backcasting Scenario-Making: Citizen
Participatory Workshop
4.2.1 Setting of the Workshop Held in the City of Toyama,
Japan
4.2.1.1 Reasons for Choosing the Targeted City
We chose the city of Toyama in Japan to be the study area for BC scenario-making.
Toyama city has 420,000 inhabitants. Its location is near the center of Honshu, the
main island of Japan and is in the Hokuriku region, about 450 km northwest of the
Tokyo Metropolitan area.
Today, Japan as a nation faces a series of severe and rapidly growing socioeconomic problems (e.g., sharp population decline, highly aging society with a declining birthrate, severe fiscal deficit, and excess concentration of population and
industry in the Tokyo Metropolitan area) that are considered to be endemic to economically advanced nations. Among the other cities of a similar size in Japan,
Toyama city is regarded to be proactively committed to dealing with such problems.
Since the 2000s, the local government of Toyama city (TCG) has implemented
so-called compact city policies under which outside residents are induced and
incentivized mostly with monetary subsidies to move to and live their lives in the
city’s center. Concentration of the city’s population and societal functions in one
particular geographic area enables TCG to diminish its administrative expenses.
In this line of policy deployment, improvement of the local public transportation
network (made of light rail transit, railroads, and buses) has been vigorously sought
by TCG to reduce citizens’ heavy dependence on the daily use of private automobiles. Living without car use (meaning the city life within walking distance) has also
been a long-term objective pursued over decades by TCG, serving to address two of
the socioeconomic problems. One is climate change; switching from private automobiles to public transportations can cut CO 2 emissions. The other is social welfare;
enhanced physical strength with better walking abilities and thus extended healthy
4 The Use of Backcasting to Promote Urban Transformation to Sustainability…