Efforts to Preserve Depopulated Communities Using Closed Schools and Their Impact on Community Residents: Case Study of the Tachinoyama Area of the Mino District in the City of Miyoshi, Tokushima Prefecture

Abstract

This study examines the case of the Tachinoyama area of the Mino district in the city of Miyoshi, Tokushima prefecture, to define the potential for projects using closed schools which intend to preserve communities in underpopulated areas. It also examines the effects of such projects on local residents. In Tachinoyama, a social enterprise from outside the area oversaw this project, which utilizes closed school buildings. The buildings house community businesses centered on developing communitybased daycare and preventive nursing services as part of a community-support project under Japan s nursing-care insurance system. The results include increased activity and better health for users and improvements in Tachinoyama residents sense of community preservation. In this way, these initiatives are not only an example of community building through a new public involving a public-private partnership, but also contribute to current research as an example of neo-endogenous development theory that critically engages with the circumstances of underpopulated locales.