TRA}ISPORT PIÄIIIIING
I}I
JAPNI PROII A EIJROPEA}T PERSPEC:T1V'H*ltichael
WegenerInstitute of Spatial
PlanningUniversity of
DortmundF. R. G.
For e trenaport planner in e Europ€an country, a look on transPort planning in
Japan is a faecinating exp€riance, After the Socond llorld llar, Japan haa eucceeded
in constructing a highly €fficient trsnBport syaten ahost froi gcratch in an in- credibly short tile. Ttle fatroua 'bul.let' train §äin(ans,en, tha Japan€s€ exPra3alraY
aysteE, the tunnelB and bridgeB linking th6 Jepansse islandB ard th€ land reclalation proj€cts for new aea- and airporte are truly ilpreB6iva engineering achievement§, end
in no other country one can find eo D6ny €xp€rinenta lrith nee technologicaUy ad- vanced tranBport systattrs and net{ forns of tran8port inveate€nt end Eanagenent.
Yet a look on Japan can a16o teach a lesson about the riBk6 of unconstreined engineering and econolic retionality if they are not contro]led by e land trse and
transport policy guided by social and environnental concern. The raPid groeth of transport infraetructure in Japan has contributed to th6 iEbalances in ragionel growth and problsms of overägglo[eretion in aetropolitan areas such aB exploding land prices, congestion, noiEe intrugion and pollution, Howevar, there arc alBo ißpreEEi.vo exanples of succesaful anvironmental regrulation and control in transPort.
ftris paper gives an overvieH on the developDent of transport plarning in JaPan
froE the b€girudng to th6 present, conparea it eith currsnt trenda and policies in
Europ€ and askE whether aotr6 part8 of th6 Japanese 6xp6rience tray 36rve a§ Eod€18 f.)r transport plaruning in Europ€.
Introduction
llith
tire Single European Market comingeloser, further
advan.esil.
§urc- peanlntegration
beinglikely
andbarriers
betlreen East and l{est Eurcpe grad-ually
being removed,transport policy
issuesäre
gaining neh' i['lpc:'-;.^ir:e onthe political
agendain
Europe. Newfixed.tinks
such as the Char.n.i T'-innel o!' ne!, high-speedrail
1j.nes prorniseto
fundarrentally changethe acrcrsibiii.ty
§urface
of
thecontirit:,it, while at the
sametine
the underprovisionüf
iräns-port infrastructure in peripheral
regions and largeparts of
east Eurcpe pre- sents new problems and challenges.In this situation,
athe
Secondliorld i,lar,
Japanon Japan
is a fascinating
experience.After
succeeded
in
constructing ahighly efficrent
look
has
transport
system almost fromscratch in
anincredibly short time.
The::.rinous'bu1let' train
Shinkanser, now almostthirty
yearsoId, still sets
unmatchedstandards
for
speedr comfort,punctuality
andsafety.
The Japanese exprcs§'rlä]system, ihough
still not
comparable t.o thoseof
some Europeaneountriee,
has developedwith
impressive speed and connects even remote regionswith
t.heurban
centres.
Noother
archipelago country haslinked its islands with
so manytunnels
and h,ridgesf someof
thembreath-taking
engineering aehieve- ments. The land reclamationprojects for
new sea- andairports are
sturrning demonstrationsof
how man can changethe
faceof
ourplanet.
Andin
nc ethercountry
one canfind
so manypilot
implementationsof
nel, technologically advancedtransport
systemsfor the 21st century.
Japan hasalso
more thanother
countries experimentedwith
new formsof transport
inveslment and man- agementallowing for
extensiveprivate sector
involvement.Paper prepared
for
theAssociation,
TeJ Aviv,Annual. l,Ieeting
of the Israeli
Transport Research24 Hay 1990.
I.IEGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
Yet a look at
Japan mayalso
teacha
lesson aboutthe risks of
uncon-strained
engineering and economicrationality if they are not controlled
bya
land use andtransport policy
guided bysocial
and environrnental concern.The spectacular growth
of transport infrastructure in
Japan has contributedits
shareto the
imbalancesin regional
gror.rth and problemsof
overagglomera-tion in
metropolitan areas such as exploding landprices,
congestion, noiseintrusion
andpollution.
However,there are also
impressive examplesof
suc-cessful
environmentalregulation
andcontrol in
transport.This paper consists
of three parts.
Thefirst part
gives an overview ofthe
developmentof transport planning in
Japanfrom itg
beginningto
thepresent. In the
secondpart the
Japanesesituation is
comparedrith
currenttransport trends
andpolicies in
Europe.In a
concludj.ngpart it is
askedwhether some
parts of the
Japanese experience may serve as modelsfor
trans-port
planningin
Europe.The paper
is
based on researchof the
authorduring a
one-yearstay
atthe University of
Tokyo, Japan, and onthe results of a
survey on transport researchin
19 Europeancountries, including Israel,
conducted bythe
Networkon Communications and Transport
Activities
Research (NECTAR)of the
EuropeanScience Foundation.
Transport Pl"nning
in
Japan:Historical
ViesAs an
industrial nation,
Japanis
a latecomer.After
250 yearsof isola- tion
under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japanstarted its industrialisation
periodwith the
foundationof the
modern Japanesestate nith the Heiji restoration in
1868, whenthe
Europeancountries
had already developeda
sizeable indus-trial
base. As a consequenceit
took Japan almostuntil
1950 before less thanhalf of its
economicallyactive
population workedin agri.culture, fifty
yearslater
thancountries like
Germanyor Britain
(t{egener and Shibasaki,1989).Prewar Japan
Until
theearly Meiji
days, long-distancetransport
i.n Japan waslargely
seatransport or
walkingor carrying
goods on unpavedtrails
winding throughthe hilly
countryside. Eventhe
IoJcajdo,the
famous Eastern sea route was not more thana
narrow cobble-stonedroad.
Thefirst railway,
between Tokyo and Yokohama,did not
appear before L872, andit
tookuntil
1890 and 1891 beforethe
western and northernparts of
Japan werelinked to the capital by rail.
The
rivers in
mountainous areas werelargely
unsuitedfor
shipping.Inside the cities
aqainwatking, carrying
and beingcarried (by
palan-quin)
were the majortransport
modes. Mostcities,
such as Edo (today Tokyo),uere
designedas castle
townswith deliberately
narrow and windinq roads.Some had moats and canals on which boat
traffic like in
Venice was possible.The
Heiji
period broughtthe
rickshaw and the horse-drawncarriage
andlater the trolley
andthe electric
tramway. However,the
narrow roadsof the
pre-Meiji cities
werepoorly fit for vehicles. Intra-urban rail travel
startedwith the
openingof the ring or
Yamanoteline
i.n Tokyoin
1910.In the period
betweenthe
warsprivate rail lines
shapedthe spatial organisation of large cities in
Japanlike in
noother country.
These com-panies developed
agricultural land
alongtheir originally electric
tramwaysfanning out
fromthe central area as residential
suburbsfor the
growingnumber
of white-collar office
workers andso contributed to the
seeminglyendless urban sprawl
characteristic for
Japanesecities
today.I.IEGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING
IN
JAPANThe Growth Period
After
the war,the
provisionof
food and energy, housing and the preven-tion of natural disasters
weregiven highest priority.
However, transportbecame an issue
after
1950 whenthe
sudden growth sparkedby the
Korean llar had revealedthe
inadequacyof ports, railways
and roadsfor
the needsof
therapid
economic development. Sincethis
timetransport policy
has continued toplay a
majorrole in national
development planningof
Japan.In a first
pe-iioa
U"t*een 1950 andthe
mid-19?0s,the construction of
modern transportinfrastructure
was consideredto
be a keyfactor for the
promotionof
growthi.n
a rapitlly
developingindustrial
economy (Ohta, 1989)'In
1950 Japan hadan
extensivebut inefficient railway
network.All tracks
had narrow gauge andin
mountainousterrain
were slow and winding.Therefore
it
was tlecidedto start a totally
new standard gauge network oftrunk railways. In
tg64the first 'bu11et train', the fokaiilo
Shinkansensuperexpress, went
into operation
between Tokyo and Osaka' The Shinkansen runs on a dedicatedtrack with
speeds upto
250 kmh andstiIl
todaysets
un- matched standardsin comfort, punctuality
andsafety. In
1975the
Tokaidoline
was extendedto
Hakataon the
southernisland of
Kyushu. Thetrains travel the
1,070 km between Tokyo and Hakatain six
hours(figure
1).'rt7';'\ -,
-
ne.:i,M 1..<
- - - Dever.-r:a6nl Plannrng Lrnes (5 rnes) 8as!: Pl?rned L,nes (12 [^es)
Figure
1.
The Sijn,kansen networkin
Japan.WEGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
In the
sameperiod it
was decidedto
developa
new systemof
nationalexpressways
to
supplementthe insufficient traditional
roadsof the
country.In the first
Conprehensive Nationai Deve)opment Planof
1952the
improvementof
majortransport
routes hadthe function to link
growthpoles
such as the'new
industrial cities'
dispersed overthe
countrywith
theexisting
agglome-rations in the Pacific belt
between Tokyo and Osaka.In
1955the
Cabinet ap-proved
the construction of 32 routes of 'arterial
motorraysfor
national development' comprising 7,500 km. Thefirst
expresslrays constructed were the Meishj.n Expressway between Nagoya and Kobe (1965) andthe
Tomei Expressway between Tokyo and Nagoya(1959). Until
1975, 1,500 kmof
expressways $rere completed (Figure 2).In addition
an extensive programme wasinitiated to
enlarge harbourfa- cilities in
connectionwith the
'newindustrial cities'. This led to a
con-centration of
heavyindustry relying
on watertransport mostly on landfilI sites
reclaimed fromthe
sea along thePacific
coast. Another progranme aimedat
the expansion and modernisationof airports to
servethe
qrowing domestic andinternational air travel. For
Tokyo,a
newinternational airport
wasplanned
at Narita,
70 km eastof central
Tokyo. However, dueto violent poli- tical protests it
tookuntil
1978until it
was completed.rn operai@ (4 091 7 km) under pia.nrng
Figure
2.
Expressway networkin
Japan.[r\ /\
lr'tr2'
\-- :---
lt
,\
I -/t
t,_z .f
I{EGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
During
the
stupendous economi.c growth Japan experiencedin the
1950s and1960s, population and
industry
became increasingly concentratedin
the major metropolitan areas,in particular in
thePacific belt region.
Incomedispari- ties
betweenthe central
andperipheral
regions increased, andwhile
problernsof
congestion and overagglomeration appearedin
the metropolitan areas, non-metropolitan regions suffered from
ecclomicdecline
and depopulation. The Second Comprehensive National Development Planof
1959 addressed these prob- lems by promotingthe
developmentof
remote areas. Lj.keits
predecessor,it
promoted
the
extensionof
high-speedtransport
networks,this time not
as a keyfactor for
more growthbut
as a meansfor
spreading developmentpotential
throughout thenation.
Successive plans were enactedto
extendthe
expressway and Shinkansen networks andto link the
j-slandsof the
Japanese archipelago bygiant
bridges andthe
Seikan underseatunnel.
Alsoport activities
were tobe developed,
this time
onthe
Japan Sea si.de, anda
newinternational air- port
wasto
be plannedfor
the 0saka (Kansai)region.
However, as the econom-ic
growthof
Japan continued,the centralisation of
population and economicactivity in the
Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka megalopolis went on.The Period
of
Stable GrovthThe energy
crisis of
1973 broughta
sudden endto the period of
high growthof the
Japanese economy.At the
same time mounting problemsof
water andair pollution
fromindustrial
sources requireda radical
changeof
eco-nomic
poli.cy. It
wasin this period that
Japan embarked onits
presentpolicy of
promoting growthin
high-technologyindustries with high export orienta- tion.
The 1970salso
marked Japan's comrnitmentto
introducestrict
measuresof
environmentalcontrol for industry
andtransport, as
witnessedby
the adoptionof the
emissioncontrol
standardsfor
carsof California, the
mostaevere
in the world.
The problemof regional disparities
received even moreattention,
and againtransport infrastructure
was assigned a keyfunction in
making remote regions more
attractive.
TheThird
ComprehensiveNational
De-velopment Plan (1977) proposed
to
extendthe
Shinkansen network byfive
noreli.nes beyond
the
two newlines
already underconstruction
(see Figure1)
andthe
expresslray system from 4,500to
10,000 km (seefigure
2).At
the endof the
1970s the concentrationof
population and employmentin the
metropolitan areas seemedto
have stopped andthe
income gap between the regions narrowed,but after
1982the
Japanese economy picked up new growth andthe large cities, in particular
Tokyo, took over newfunctions in inter- national financial
and high-1evel business serviceswith the effect that
thespatial polarisation of the territorial structure of
Japan recommenced withnew
force.
The F'ourth Comprehensive National Development Planof
1987, whichis in effect still today,
hopesto
transformthe
"Tokyo-centered unipolar concentrationpattern" into a
"dispersedmulti-polar pattern" for the
high-mobility society of the
21stcentury.
Forthis
purpose,the
presenttree-like transport
systemoriented
towards Tokyois to
be convertedinto
a more neu-tral Iattice-like
networkproviding
more equalaccessibility to all parts
ofthe country.
To achievethis, the plan calls for
12 more Shinkansenlines
(see Figure1)
andfor a total of
14,000 kmof
expressways (seeFigure
2).Transport Planning
in
TokyoDuring
l{orld l{ar II half the
housesin
Tokyo were destroyed byair
raids andits
population had decreased from 7million to
3million. After the
l{ar ambitious plansto
fundamentally reorganise Tokyo hadto
be scaled downfor lack of
fundsfor
land readjustment (Hanayamaf 1985).At the
sametime
remi-gration
and growingrural irunigration
broughtthe population
backto its
prewar population.
TEGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
During the years
of rapid
economic growthin the
1960s, the Tokyo metro-politan
area grew by 500,000 persons annualIy, from 18miltionto
24miIIion, half
bynatural increase, half by migration.
The huge housing demand couldonly
be met by movingfarther
andfarther out into the
suburbs.Infrastruc- turä
improvement concentrated onpublic
housingin
orderto relieve the
grow-ing
overcrogdingof rush-hour trains.
Fromearly after the war
Tokyo hascontinuously extended
its
subway systemto its
present 10lines with
212 kmof track.
gne ingeniousspecialty of the
Tokyo subwayis
howit is
linkedwith the
commuterrailways outside
the Yamanote loopeither at or
onestation
beforetheir terminals. In
some casesthe
commuter and subwaylines stop
atthe
sameplatform for
easytransfer. In other
casesthe
commutertrain
evencontinues
into the
subway networkcarrying its
passengersuithout tlansfer
into central
Tokyo. Todaypublic transport (including bus)
accounlsfor
70percent
of the
50million tlaily
passengertrips in the
Tokyo metropolitanär"".
Currentplans provide for the construction of three
more subway andseveral more commuter
rail
1ines.Road
construction
lagged behind.StiIl in
1960 mostresidential
streetsin
Tokyo were unpaved. On1y few major thoroughfares had been widenedafter the
war. Mass motorisationhit
Japannot
beforethe
1960s.In
preparationfor the
1954 olyrnpics, Tokyo superimposed an extensive expressway system overits
irregular street
network. As no land had beenset
asidein a
long-range land useplan,
the expressways hadto
be constructed using the space over existi-ng roadsor, in central
Tokyo, formercastle
moats. Today Tokyo's expressways,despite their hiqh toll fees, are heavily
congested. Asfor lack of
spacewidening
of the inner sections is hardly possible, current
improvements con-centrate on the completion
of the regional
network. Eventuallythe
expressway networkwill
bea
systemconsisting of radial
expresswaysleading into
cen-tral
Tokyo connectedby several
rings.Today
the
Tokyometropolitan
area hasa
populati.onof
30million,
ofwhich 11
million live in
Tokyoitsetf. Its
commuters come from an area ex- tending overfour
prefectureswithin
50 km fromcentral
Tokyo.Present
Situation
and)utlook
Today Japan,
45 years after its total defeat,
has become oneof
the major economic powersof
the wor1d.In this
periodit
has almost from scratch developeda hiqhly efficient
comprehensivetransport
system. Today Japan'stranspärt infrastructure
comparesin
densitywith
manyof the central
Europe- an countrieswith a
much longerhistory of transport
(see Table 1).The Shinkansen, now almost
thirty
yearsold, still sets
unmatched stan-dards
for
speed,comfort, punctuality
andsafety. ilith the nearly
completedlink
connectingits
two Tokyoterminals
and new evenfaster, quieter
and moreIuxurious
trai.nsj.t
impressively demonstrates thepotential of
'tradj-tional' railway
technology combinedwith
advanced telecommunications.The Japanese expressway system, thougrh
sti11 not
comparableto
those ofsome European
countries,
connects remote regionswith the
urban centres andhas
quite radically
changedthe accessibility
surfaceof the country. In
the metrJpolitan areas, advanced roadinformatics
technologies are usedto util-
ise the existing capacity
and as much as possible prevent congestion.No other archipelago country has
Iinked its
islandswith
so many tunnelsand
bridges,
someof
thembreath-taking
engineering achievements. The 53-km Seikan tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaidopresently is the
longest underseatunnel in the world.
Thegigantic
new Seto-Ohashibridge linking
Shikoku toHonshu,
is
oneof the largest
suspension bridgesof the
world.I{EGENER: TRANSPORT PTANNING IN JAPAN
Table
1.
Transportinfrastructure in
selectedcountries,
1985 (m/km2)Country Railways Motorways Other Roads
Belgium France
Germany, F.R.
Greece
Italy Israel
Japan Netherlands Portugal Spain
United Kingdom
L20 64 110 18 34 42 68 68 39 25 69
50 11 34 0 20 10 11 48 2 4 L2
4,3t2 L,470
t,942
305 975 607
2,984 2,32t
s70 331
t,522
Source: Euro8tat, StatiBtiEchaB Bund€Eart.
The land reclamation
projects for
new sea andairports are
stunning de- monstrationsof
how man can changethe
faceof our planet.
The newport
de- velopmentsin
Tokyo Bay and Yokohama,in
Kobe andfor the
new Kansai andfukuoka
international airports are not only
engineeringprojects of
impres-sive
magnitude andaudacity, they are also
expressionsof the
unbroken con-fidence of the
Japanese peoplein the future of their country in the
21stcentury.
In
Japantransport is
today oneof
the majorfj.elds of
technological ex- perimentation.In
noother country
can onefind
so manyplans, projects
andpilot
implementationsof technologically
advancedtransport
aystems. There are presently twodifferent
HAGLEV (magneticlevitation)
systems under devel- opment; oneof
them,the
.6jaear Express,is
designatedto run
ona
new moredirect inland route
between Tokyo and Nagoya,a portion of
whichwill
beconstructed as
a reference line for final testing. In several cities
thereare
already today monorail systemsof
various designsin operation, e.g.
the Alweg monorail (now almost 30 years o1d) leadingto
Tokyo's Hanedaairport, the
KobePortliner or the
Kitakyushu Urban l{onoraiL, many more tRT systems,including a
Linear l,tetro(with linear
motor) are understudy.
Bus passenqerinformation
systemsproviding online
information about approaching buses to passengersat
bus stopsare
standard equipmentin
most Japanesecities.
Another
field of
experimentationis the institutional setting of
trans-port.
Japan hasa
longtradition of private
railways which were economically successfulwhile the national railway
company JNR accumulated an enormousdebt. In
1987 the government decidedto divide
JNRinto six private
companieseach
in
chargeof
oneregion of the country
(p1usa freight
company).All
these companies have
since
reportedprofits.
AIsoin
1987the national air- line
JAL wasprivatised.
The expresswaysin
Japan were fromthe
beginningfinanced as private toll roads by semi-public
companies under goverrunentcontrol. Public transport in
metropolitan areasis
financedwith the
help ofpublic
subsidieson
investment,but increasingly it is also
attempted toextract
someof the
necessaryfunds from land
ownersbenefiting
from thetransport
improvement using value-capturepolicies
(Hayashi, 1989). Becauseof high densities
and consequentlyhigh
Ioadfactors
mostpublic
transport companies operateprofitably, therefore public
subsidies on operations arepractically
unknown.I{EGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
An
Aiternate
ViewHowever,
it is also
possibleto
lookat transport
planningin
Japan from a morecritical point of view.
Fromthis
perspective Japan may teacha
lesson about therisks of
unconstrained engineering and economicrationality if
theyare not controlled by a land
use andtransport policy
guidedby social
andenvironmental concern.
There can be no doubt
that the
spectacular growthof transport infra-
structure in
Japan hascontributed its
shareto the
imbalances j-n regional growth and problemsof
overagglomerationin
rnetropolitanareas.
Despite the numerous acclamationsof the national
goalto
reducedisparities
between theregions,
theactual policies
alwaysreinforced the
already overpoweringrole
of the capital region. It is a
remarkablefeature of transport
planningin
Japanthat
notwithstandingthe significant
changesin the overall
goalsof national
planning,the policy
recomnendations always suggested the extensionof high-Ievel transport infrastructure in the
formof
high-speedrail
and ex-pressway
lines
leadingto
and from Tokyo.Similarly, transport planners in metropolitan areas,
when confrontedwith the
growing consequencesof
overagglomeration suchas
exploding landprices,
congestion,noise intrusion
andpollution,
haveinvariably
resortedto
recomrnending even more expressways, wider roads andstill
moreefficient public transport
systems (Toyota Corp., 1990).fn
the Tokyo metropolitan areathis
hasled, in
conjunctionwith the
mechanismsof
apractically
unregrulat-ed, highly
speculative land market,to the
present enormous expansionof
the densely populated area and extremeduration of
commuting timesto the still
centralised
workplaces.
The dilemmaof the transport
planneris that
each improvementof
thetransport infrastructure, while it
seemsto offer
a short-term
solution to the capacity bottlenecks, in the
longrun actually
Horsensthe situation as j.t stimulates further lantl price
increases andso
forceslower-
and middle-class householdsto settle
evenfurther
out.Another
effect of
exaggerated landprices in
metropolitan areasis that
landfor transport infrastructure
becomesprohibitively
expensive. The char-acteristic
responseof
Japanesetransport
plannersto this situation
are plansto build
'deep-underground' subwayor
expresswaylines in the
centralareas, i.e. in
tunnels more than 50 metres below ground where, according totraditional
Japanese 1egalpractice,
land propertyrights
do no Ionger apply.One example
of
'deep-underground' expresswayis the
projected new National Route 20 across Tokyo'scentral districts.
Asimilarly technical solution
toa
problem whichis essentially
apolitical
one arethe vast
land reclamationprojects
underwayin
Tokyo Bay becausethey
areprofitable only if they
arecalculated
onthe basis of the
same exaggerated landprices they originally
were intended
to bring
down.One
of the darkest sides, finally, of the extraordinary
grolrthof
thetransport
systemin
Japan areits
environmental impacts. Althoughair quality in
Japanese urban areas has improved considerablysince its
peakin the late
1950,in particular with
respectto sulfur dioxide
and carbon monoxide,lit- tIe
improvenent has been madefor
nitroqen oxide(tlishioka,
1989). Thissitu- ation is
mainly dueto
the unanticipated increaseof diesel
engines i.n trucks as today more than 90 percentof all
goodstransport in
Japanis
performed bytruck.
Transport noiseis
another unresolved environmental problem. Accordingto
0ECD (1985) estimates morethan
80 percentof all
peoplein
Japan wereexposed
to transport noise of
more than 55 dBAin
1980, and giventhe
rapid increaseof car
ownershipin
Japanif
anythingthis situation
must have got worse. Al.so wherethe
Shinkansentravels
through densely populated areasof,
say,
Nagoyaor
Osaka,serious
problemsof
noiseintrusion
occur.WEGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
On
the other
hand,the
progressin
envirorunentalquality
made by Japansince the early
1970s must becalled
amazing.In
almost everyrespect,
beit
on a per capita or per
GDPbasis, transport-related
emissionsare only
afraction of
what theyare in
comparable Europeancountries
such as l{est Ger- many,the
United Kingdomor
France(llisfrioXa,
1989).It is a faniliar
sightto
seein
Tokyo'sstreets air pollution displays installed in the early
1980s (whenpollution levels
werestill
muchhigher)
showingall
zeroes,i.e.
meas-urements below
the indicator
range.Japan and Europe Coupared
In this section the situation of transport planning in
Japanwill
becompared
with current transport trends
andpolicies in
Europe. The presenta-tion in this section is
based ona
survey ontransport
planning and researchin
19 Europeancountries, including Israel,
conducted bythe
Network on Com- munications and TransportActivities
Research (NECTAR)of the
European Sci- ence Foundation. A more comprehensive accountof the results of the
surveyis
givenin
Nijkamp, Reichman and Wegener (1990).Despite many
differencei
between the countriesin
Europe,there
are sev-eral
comrnontrends in the
socioecononic contextof transport.
Someof
themare similar to the
developmentsin
Japan suchas, in the
areaof
demographyand
Iifestyles,
the declineof birth rates
and householdsize, the
increasinglife
expectancy andthe general
increaseof
household incomesand, in
the economicfield, the transition from traditional to sophisticated
products,the
growing importanceof
small and medium-sizedfirms with highly qualified
workers and
the revolution in international trade
dueto
telecommunications.Also in the
tecänological contextthe
same trendsexist
bothin
Japan andin
Europe:the
impactsof microelectronics on traffic
management and vehicleproduction, the
impactsof
advancedmaterials
onvehicles, tracks
and com-munications systems, and
the
impactsof
computerisedlogistics
on production anddistribution patterns. 0ther trends
and developmentsin
Europeare sig- nificantly different
from thosein
Japan such as the tendencyto shorter
work hoursor the
much strongertrend to decentralised,
lor.r-density housing.As a consequence, there
are in
Europe asin
Japanlargely the
same basictrends in
?ransport Behaviour:In
passengertransport there is
a common trendto faster
and hence lonqertrips fuelled
bythe
growthin car
ownership, de-spite stiIl large differences
betweenthe
Europeancountries. In
Japan car ownershipis still relatively
1ow comparedwith
European countriesof similar affluence,
sothe
growthpotential before saturation is sti1l
substantial.I,Iith
growingcar
ownership,also the proportion of car tri.ps
growsat
the expenseof trips
bypublic transport, bicyele
and wa1k.At the
same time the compositionof trips is
changing:less
worktrips, but
more shopping, busi- ness andleisure trips - this trend is still less
pronouncedin
Japan. In goodstransport there is in all countries a
dramatic growthin
transport volume asa
consequenceof
more consumption and increasingspatial division of
labour andinternationalisation. this is
accompanied bya shift
fromrail to
roadwith
overcapacities onrailways
and serious congestion on express- ways.In this
respect Japan has progressedfurther
than most European coun-tries, with the
possible exceptionof Italy
andthe
United Kingdom.Transport
policies in
Europe have respondedto
these developmentsin
avariety of
ways, and here moredistinctive differences
between Europe andJapan appear: The energy
crises of the
1970s hadlasting
impacts onthe
way peoplethink
abouttransport.
The 1960sin
most Europeancountries, just
asI{EGENER: TRANSPORT PLANNING IN JAPAN
j.n Japan, were
the
yearsof rapid
improvementof the infrastructure in line with the
growthof the
economy.This
growthperiod
wasinterrupted by
the energycrisis.
From now onthe
emphasisin transport
planningshifted
fromthe construction of
newinfrastructure to a better utilisation of existing infrastructure
throughtraffic
management andcontrol - in contrast to
Japan where expansionof the transport infrastructure
remained the dominant goa1.At
the same timethe
economic recessionaffected public
budgetsHith
theeffect that less
money wasavailable for transport
investment. Asa
conse- guence,but also
as aneffect of
changing economicdoctrines, in
many coun-tries parts of the transport sector
were deregulatedor privatised,
althoughrarely
as extensively asin
Japan.In
conjunctionwith
thepartial retreat of the state
fromstrong interventionist action, transport
planning has becomemore incremental and short-range
-
a trendnot
foundin
thecentralist insti- tutional
setupof
Japan.The most important
difference
between Europe and Japan, however, may bethe
weight givento
environmental impactsof transport. At Ieast in the
moreindustrialised
countriesof
Europe environmental concerns todaYplay
a prima-ry role in transport planning.
Cartraffic restraint
measures such as speedlimits in residential
areas,pedestrianisation of inner-city streets or
park-ing restrictions in central
areas are nol, commonpractice. It is also
comrnonpractice that large transport projects are
fought throughthe courts
by en-vironmentalist
groups and sometimes delayed byyears. In
Japan, however, the environmentalist movementis still very
weak, and although 'coexistence be- tween people andcars' is
beingfrequently referred to
asa goal, this
goalstiIl
playsonly
a minorrole in the actual
policy-making and planning.Can
Ie
Learnfrou
Japan?The
next
decadeis
aboutto bring
fundamental changesof the spatial
organisationof society in
Europe. The socioeconomic and technological trends discussed abovewilI
generate newlocational patterns,
changethe relation-
ships betweencity
and countryside andwill bring
about new formsof spatial interaction.
Futurepolitical
changes- the Single
European Harket and the openingof the
bordersto
Eastern Europewill shift the
weights between the regions andset into
motion newtransport
and communication flows.These changes
will
mean new challengesfor transport
planningin
Europe.The
transition to the posti.ndustrial society will not
bewithout friction, but wiIl
be connectedwith social tension,
economicconflicts
and ecologicalrisks.
Transport planning and researchin
Europe arewell
preparedto
tackle these challenges. The awarenessfor the social
andecological
conseguences ofunlimited
growth andmobility
j.sincreasing.
However,ecological
concerns mayalso lead to a situation
where necessary innovationsare
delayedor
madeimpossible. Japanese
transport
planners, who have always lookedto
Europe astheir
modelto
fo1Iow, now sometimes laughat our
timidness.It
might bea
worthwhilegoal to find a
synthesis betweenthe
ecologty-orientation of the
Europeantransport
planner andthe
innovativenessof
hisJapanese colleague. The time
is
ending whenonly
the Japanesetransport
plan- ners cameto
Europeto learn
from our experience.In the future
we must learn from each other.10
I{XGENER: TRANSPORT PTANNING IN JAPAII
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11