| Title |
A Study on the Patterns and Factors of Change in Coal Town after Mine Closure - Focused on the Coal Mine Area of Japan |
| Authors |
박성원(Park, Sung-Won) ; 오오츠키토시오(Otsuki, Toshio) ; 다니구치나오히로(Taniguchi, Naohiro) ; 야스타케아쓰코(Yasutake, Atsuko) |
| Keywords |
탄광주택지; 인구감소; 쇠퇴지역; 거주환경; 산업전환; 일본 Coal Towns; Depopulation; Declined Regions; Residential Environment; Industrial Transformation; Japan |
| Abstract |
The aim of this study is to shed light on the status of region-wide transformations that ensued in residential mining towns of Japan in Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures post coal mine closures. It primarily uncovers key correlative factors that have been shaping regional transitions amidst a national coal mining decline. The study confirms three major findings as follows. Firstly, not all coal-dependent regions and their respective mining towns have collapsed alongside the severely declined coal mining businesses (post-closure of the mines) in absolute terms. Based on the analysis for the period of mine closure, this study articulates 4 distinct transformative patterns in such regions. Furthermore, the regional transitions have shown a correlation between each region’s characteristics and the degree of a transformative pattern that followed. Secondly, coal towns (or cities) that have been solely dependent on coal mining have been more adversely affected by the demise of the coal-mining industry. As such, we affirm industrial diversification as a positive driving force behind regional sustainability and development. Lastly, it was confirmed that to develop a residential area, it is necessary to have trans |