"diverse synergies among regions" Note $ ^{50} $ , a key philosophy of spatial planning in a sheer depopulating society, by reviewing the flow of people, goods and so on stirred by “compact” and “networked” on the basis of the analyses, case studies and more given earlier.

In the convection of people, goods and so on, the most important asset that helps create new values through innovations is human resources. The convection of people should be of vital importance. Redirecting the flow of people would be essential to responding to the problems of over-centralization of population in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

Obviously from a historical retrospective of the inter-regional migration of people given in Section 1 of Chapter 1, the postwar years have seen a continuing undertone towards the inflow of people into the three major metropolitan areas, particularly, Tokyo, in pursuit of better income and employment (see Figures 1-1-5, 1-1-8), suggesting that economic factors may have been the primary impetus for driving the movement of population between cities and localities. In the meantime, the lifestyle has diversified in line with the pace of social maturization, such that the urge for “return to countryside” to live a country life is said brewing among the urban residents. Creating an individualistic, attractive locality to respond to such trend is considered instrumental in encouraging the migration of people to localities (convection of people) and correcting the over-centralization of population in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

As analyzed in Section 1, Chapter 2, some proportion of would-be migrants seeks the charms of the countryside, including natural landscape, and a certain degree of convenience. To appeal to these people, it would be essential to have conveniences (urban facilities) consolidated within their walking distances and also to maintain their access to provincial cities and metropolitan areas (roads, railways, etc.) pursuant to the concept of “compact” and “networked” to encourage their migration $ ^{51} $ .

As already discussed in 2.(3) in Section 1 and 1.(2) in Section 2 of this chapter, moving ahead with the compact city initiative could rejuvenate the urban central zones and make them less energy-dependent as the urban facilities are concentrated and the conveniences of public transportation are augmented, promising further improvement in regional economic circulation. This could not only help create more local employment but also have a positive effect on the migration of younger people who are highly interested in employment and income.

Case studies of the implementation of the concept of “compact” and “networked” that has possibly stirred (or is expected to stir) the flow of people, goods and so on to lead to enhanced regional vitality and charms as cited by regional characteristics in 2. of this Section are reviewed below.

## Central Urban Area in Toyama City (Compact City)

As seen in 2 of this section, in the city of Toyama pursuing the compact city initiative, increasingly more users choose to use public transportation facilities, such as LRT, than before as the conveniences of these transport facilities have been enhanced. For example, the introduction of LRT leveraging former JR railway facilities (Toyama-ko Line) has kept the number of passengers increasing centering on seniors (see Figure 2-2-18). Further, since “Odekake Teikiken” (Outing Season Tickets) was launched to entitle seniors riding the city’s route buses to a uniform bus fare of 100 yen, elderly people who go out carrying the season ticket have been found to take more steps on the average than those who go out without it (see Figure 2-2-20). Thus, increased chances of elderly and other people to go out in this way might offer diverse benefits, such as increasing their chances to exchange with other people downtown, stimulating their spending and cutting their medical bills.