Sustainable Compact City Strategy
Responding to the Declining andSuper-Ageing Population:

Compact City Planning through the Renovation of Public Transportation

Toyama CityBackgroundchoose to live in many different ways such as subur-

In order to achieve sustainable city planning andban living or urban living, a community where resi-

management responding to the declining and su-dents can always live full and active lives, and a

per-aging population, Toyama City is a pioneer in ad-community with sustainable city planning and man-dressing a compact city policy among all the cities inagement which takes responsibility for its future resi-Japan.

dents.

With its flat and broad inhabitable area, its high rates
of road construction and home ownership, Toyama
City has a spread out city centre and the structure oftramthe city has been built around traveling by car. This
has resulted in not only an increase in city manage-

City centre
Community life area

ment cost but is also inconvenient for those residents
who do not have the free use of a car. Thinking of thecity planning strategy necessary to achieve sustainable city management and take responsibility for futureresidents, while responding to the future decline andageing of the population, Toyama City is aiming toachieve “a concentrated type of compact city planning
through the renovation of public transportation.” The

Urban structure Toyama is aiming for (Image)city is aiming for an efficient and comfortable compact
city by strengthening public transport and integrating
many different lifestyle and urban functions alongsideconvenient public transport.

Purpose of ProjectThrough promoting the compact city policy, Toyama
City is aiming to develop a community where eventhose who do not have free use of a car can live withsecurity and comfort, a community where people canOutline of ProjectTo achieve the development of a compact city, Toyama City has implemented various different projects
under three different pillars of measures: “Revitalisingpublic transport,” “Encouraging residents to relocate tozones along public transport lines,” and “Revitalising
the city centre.”

For the first pillar “Revitalising public transport,” Toyama addressed the development and networking oflight rail transit (LRT). In 2006, the first full-fledged
LRT in Japan “Toyama Light Rail” was developed, andin 2009, the existing tramway was extended to create
the tram loop line in the city centre. Currently, a projectis being promoted to connect the LRT with the tramway under the elevated structure of a Shinkansenstation.
For the second pillar “Encouraging residents to relocate to zones along public transport lines,” Toyama
City set specific areas where people were encouraged
to live: the city centre, areas within 500 metres of arailway station or tram stop, and areas within 300 metres of a bus stop on a high-frequency service bus
route. Toyama City offers a subsidy to anyone whowants to build or purchase a house in these areas.

Hanging flower baskets and banner

Progress and Achievements
One of the features of Toyama City is that the city has
promoted city planning, to respond to the declining
and ageing population and focused on a long-term
vision for the future, long before the decline and theageing of the population became an obvious problem.

For the third pillar “Revitalising the city centre,” theall-weather open space with a large glass roof, “GrandPlaza.” was developed at the centre of the commercial
area in 2007 to create a base of activity where people
can gather and interact. In addition, to create opportunities for elderly people to visit the city centre, thecity issues “outing passes” which offer discounts on

In addition, to achieve real city planning, the city has
been taking a cross-sectoral and comprehensive approach covering various different areas including not
only urban policy but also welfare policy, environmental policy, infrastructure development, education
policy, and agriculture policy.

transport fares and hung “hanging flower baskets” toMoreover, the mayor himself goes along to the localcreate a better quality town which is enjoyable to walk

communities to proactively explain the measures, toaround. In this way, the city has been implementing

share the future vision with the residents and to pro-various different projects to enhance the situation in

mote public-private partnership projects. Furthermore,

the city centre and create a flow of people.

resident registry data is presented and analysed witha geographical information system (GIS), and visualised effects of the measures are then used to create
understandable explanations of the measures forresidents and for planning new measures.

Effects of Project
The compact city policy has achieved results slowly
but steadily.
In terms of the social dynamics of the population inGrand Plaza and light rail vehicle (LRV) on the loop

areas where people are encouraged to live, thoseline

moving-out of the city centre used to surpass thosemoving-in, but since 2008, those moving-in have

surpassed those moving-out. Also, in areas where

city’s resilience against all threats including natural

people are encouraged to live alongside publicdisasters. The city will not stop promoting projects totransport, the trend of those moving-in surpassing

achieve this goal.

those moving-out has continued since 2012. Concentration of the populations in areas where people are

Reference URL

encouraged to live has now started to take off.

http://www.city.toyama.toyama.jp/toshiseibibu/toshi

In addition, the number of tram users used to continue
to decrease but have started to increase sinceFY2007.

Improving

theconvenienceofpublicseisakika/kikaku/urbanimprovementproject.html(Japanese only)
http://visit-toyama.com/

transport has had an effect.
Measures to promote public investment and living in
the city centre have also yielded results including vigorous private investment and an increasing number ofprimary school pupils in the city centre.

ContactIn charge:
Urban Policy Division, the Urban Development Department
Tel : +81-76-443-2179

Outlook
It is most important to keep pushing ahead with thecompact city policy. In about three years, Toyama
Light Rail running north of Toyama Station and thetram running south of Toyama Station will be connected under the elevated structure of Toyama Station.
When this north-south connection is made, thetransport hub function of Toyama Station, the convenience of the tram, and access to the city centre will
all be dramatically improved.
With the population ageing, it is also important to thinkof city planning from the perspective of health, notonly in terms of the well-being of residents but also thecontrol of social security payments and sustainable
city management. Developing an attractive community
with convenient public transport where people feel
comfortable walking due to the compact city policy canproduce effects such as more opportunities to go out
and develop social capital, and can greatly contributeto extending healthy life expectancy.
Toyama City aims to develop an appealing and sustainable community where every resident can achieve
prosperity and live in security. To achieve this, basedon compact city planning, it is necessary to enhance
the city’s comprehensive strengths including welfare,education, culture and economy, and to enhance thee-mail : tosiseisaku-01@city.toyama.lg.jp