ABSTRACT
In drawing out the main findings of the studies collected here, two notes of caution should be raised. First, machizukuri and other citizens’ movements spread and grew enormously in a period of economic stagnation during the lost decade-and-a-half since 1990. In 2006, Japan’s economy seems to have picked up again and land prices started rising in some urban areas for the first time after 15 years of continuous decline. New growth dynamics may emerge that could restrict the ability of citizens to gain greater influence in managing urban change. It is impossible to know what impacts changing economic conditions will have on citizens’ movements engaged in attempts to play a role in managing change in places where they live. Our focus here is on understanding the meaning and extent of past developments.
