Urban And Regional Development
A - Overview
To support
sustainable development and growth in developing countries, it is essential to
develop economic and social infrastructure in urban and rural areas where
people gather and live as well as transportation infrastructure that serves to
transport goods and people who live there.
We
actively promote residents’ participation and collaboration with NGOs, etc., to
develop infrastructure that takes into consideration “for what and for whom,”
focusing on the users and peripheral residents and not just targeting
infrastructure development alone.
1.
Transportation
The purpose of cooperation in the field of transportation is to contribute to income generation and better living conditions, as well as to promote economic stimulation through the efficient transportation of people and goods. The demand for improved transportation infrastructure, such as roads, railways, ports, and airports, remains substantial throughout developing countries and the rest of the world. The need for maintenance, management, repair and modernization of aging facilities is expected to increase rapidly.
However,
development of a transportation infrastructure has the potential to cause
environmental problems and it is therefore necessary to consider the impact on
natural environment and social development and countermeasures to deal with
problems.
In addition,
transportation infrastructure development requires a substantial amount of
funds and securing financial resources for that is a big issue. It is difficult
to develop the entire necessary infrastructure with limited public funds. It is
becoming increasingly important, therefore, to consider securing various
financial resources, for example, introducing private funds, in providing
transportation services expected by users sustainably and efficiently.
2.
Urban and Regional Development
In developing countries, urbanization is progressing due to population growth and influx from rural areas. While the progress of urbanization has had positive impacts in terms of economic development and efficient urban management, it leads to problems unique to urban areas such as deterioration of the urban living environment, heavy traffic, deterioration of public security, emergence of slums (a group of houses where people with low incomes live in a poor environment). Furthermore, urban fringe areas and rural areas face various problems such as the decline of regional economies and lack of public services.
These problems which occur
in urban and rural areas are an inter-affected complex of various phenomena and
solving these problems one by one has limitations. It is therefore necessary to
consider specific urban or rural areas spatially and take a comprehensive
approach in addressing development issues in a medium and long-term
perspective.
B - Our Efforts
Through
development in the transportation sector and urban and regional development in
developing countries and regions, we increase the reliability
and safety of people’s living situations and promote smoother transportation
and development of sustainable urban and rural living environments, thus
contributing to economic growth and improvements in living standards.
Through
development in the transportation sector and urban and regional development in
developing countries and regions, we increase the reliability
and safety of people’s living situations and promote smoother transportation
and development of sustainable urban and rural living environments, thus
contributing to economic growth and improvements in living standards.
In the field of
urban and regional development, in order to facilitate economic and social
development focusing on the people living in urban and rural areas, we
formulate urban development master plans and integrated development plans and
implements technical cooperation related to these activities.
Formulation of
urban development master plans and regional development plans includes analysis
of issues and tasks facing urban and regional areas, creating medium and
long-term visions, formulation of development policies, and recommendations of
concrete action plans to realize them.
The formulation
of these plans creates mutual consistency among a group of projects and
clarifies inter-relationships and priority orders of those projects. Thus, effective and
efficient implementation of plans will be possible. our technical cooperation
in urban areas includes support for formulation of urban plans, strengthening
of human resources capacity to improve living environment, and improvement of
geographic information system to promote effective urban development.