The 4th research meeting of Regional Management Project

Date：4.February.2005 (Friday) 19:00-21:00
Place：Meeting Room of Department of Human Environment, 24F, Boissonade Tower, Ichigaya Campus, Hosei Univ.

"Swedish decentralized society"
Kazuyoshi Ito (Industry Promotion Department, Economic Affairs Bureau, City of Kawasaki)Problems and Their Transition in City Areas' Underground, Associated with Environmental Change of Groundwater -from the example of Tokyo-
In recent years in Japan, there is a shift toward a decentralized society. The specific make up of such a society are not yet clear. When we look at the precedent in Europe and the United States, we should be aware of not only such fiscal issues as the transfer of resources from the national government, but also of the essential change in the nature of the relationship between citizens and administration. In G_teborg, Sweden during the economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s, the government confronted a regional economic crisis caused by the failure of the shipbuilding industry due to the oil shock of 1973. Afterward, from the collapse of the shipbuilding industry, the city recovered through new industries like building of a science park. As the biggest port city in Scandinavia and the home to both the Volvo and Saab companies, G_teborg has already developed new policies as an 'environmentally sound local government' and as an 'industrial research city.' Weaving in past and present political, economic, and cultural aspects, I will focus on Sweden's G_teborg to offer a comparison with Kawasaki City and also discuss thinking and direction about a future decentralized society.
The special characteristic of Sweden's decentralized society it that it is possible to make freely a committee that responds to a region's particularities. In G_teborg, a population of 450,000 is divided into 21 regions with local committees, which are granted from the kommun (municipality) both political authority and fiscal responsibility to deal with medical, elderly, the environmental issues. District committees consist of also Diet members, whose top members are all politicians, but the City Council members are volunteers who are paid only for their travel expenses.
In Swedish political history, the current political system developed amidst a rivalry between the Socialist Democratic Party, who held power between 1932 to 1976, and the moderate Center Party's coalition of conservative and reform parties. Social equality and universal employment were achieved through policies based on market based economic principles and resolving political conflicts through "consensus politics." The Social Democratic Party focuses on labor issues, and the Environment Party on environmental issues such as global warming.
In Kawasaki City today, concrete institutional reform is being carried out with the aim of a fostering a decentralized society within the limits of the Japanese legal system. One such reform is to reconsider our ombudspersons. Working with local NPOs, we changed our thinking to have citizens make reforms for what were legal reforms performed by the city administration. A second reform regards the problem of hillside vegetation allowed under the recent reform of the Building Standard Law which emphasizes the rapid flow of information within local governments and provides a framework for the making of local rules. A third reform is the overhaul of the city administration. That is, how can we make something like Sweden's district committees within the intricacies of Japan's Local Government Law? In order to introduce the energy of the citizenry into the local government, we are addressing this issue of the horizontal connection of the city administrators.

Books referred to:
Ito, Kazuyoshi. "Restorative Community Planning in Sweden-Urban Revival for 'People' as the Key to the Knowledge Centered Industry." Tokyo: Shinhyoron, 2003.
Ito, Kazuyoshi. "Decentralized Society in Sweden--The Local Government of G_teborg as a Case Study." Tokyo: Shinhyoron, 2000.