spaces on roads.

Furthermore, the MLIT promotes openness of road spaces to help develop and manage infrastructures in a new initiative for partnership between public and private sectors that is financed by private funds and to create new business opportunities that open urban road spaces to the private sector. One example of such efforts is the amendments made to the Act on Special Measures Concerning Urban Renaissance in FY2011 that introduce exceptions to road occupancy regulations opening a way to create opportunities for festivity and human exchange (such as installing open cafes). Another is the inauguration of a program for strengthening the international competitiveness of the nation's industries and developing sites for international economic activities (such as sponsoring international events) in FY2013 under the Act on National Strategic Special Districts. Also, in FY2014, the “Act for the City Center Vitalization” was amended and an institution for the vitalization of central urban areas was established (such as installing open cafes).

## 2 General Endeavors to Build an Intensive Urban Structure

While regional cities have so far expanded their sphere of urban areas gaining primary impetus from population influx into them, diminishing population now threatens a degradation of the livelihood facilities in the upsized urban areas, with regional economies and vitality decaying. Under these circumstances, it would be essential to promote the concept of “compact” and “networked”, which gathers medical, welfare, commercial and other urban facilities at hubs or at livelihood hubs and induce dwelling around these hubs to keep up certain population densities while enhancing networks of public transportation to assure ready access to these hubs in order to let the inhabitants live a healthy and comfortable life, maintain economic activities and ensure sustainable urban management.

In larger cities, urban development friendly to elderly people needs to be pushed, as by placing medical care and welfare facilities around their homes on the basis of the concept of a comprehensive regional care system to address rapidly surging aging populations and the associated advances in the demand for medical care and nursing care services. Accelerated community planning with charms and walkability to encourage the outing of elderly people would also be important.

The Amended Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Reconstruction was enforced in August 2014 to proceed with comprehensive implementation of these measures, inaugurating a location rationalization planning system to propel compact community development. The MLIT is committed to supporting the municipalities in their efforts to downsize their cities and restructure and network public transportation in the surrounding areas while seeking coordination with relevant measures through the medium of the “Compact City Formation Support Team,” which is organized of representatives of the government ministries and agencies concerned in its bid to facilitate the implementation of municipal efforts leveraging this system.

## 3 Urban Planning and Infrastructures Development Taking Advantage of Regional Characteristics

(1) Emergency development of urban planning roads instrumental in encouraging private investment

The development of urban planning roads is significantly instrumental in facilitating urban reconstruction because it encourages the reconstruction, etc. of roadside buildings. For those routes under construction whose completion is bottlenecked because of only a small lot of land yet to be purchased, the local governments (project implementing entities) announce their pledges to complete the construction within a certain period of time (completion time declaration routes; as of April, 2014, 112 routes were declared by 53 project implementing entities) to speed up the development of the project benefits.