In Japan, the direct payment scheme for mountainous areas was introduced in order to enhance multifunctionality of less-favored areas in 2000. A comprehensive ex post assessment showed that the scheme effectively contributed to prevention of abandoned cultivated lands, maintenance and enhancement of multifunctionality of agriculture, continuous assistance for agricultural production, and revitalization of community. In 2005 a second round of the scheme started and urged encouraging core farmers, improving productivity, and reinforcing inter-village coalition as to promote autonomous and sustainable rural economies. A new different scheme such as 'measures to conserve and improve land, water and environment' was launched for strengthening conservation and management of rural resources over all areas in 2007. It covers one third of paddy fields with regards to maintenance of water facilities and practice of group eco-farming beyond less-favored area. A lot of public programs have been developed for rural revitalization recently. Additionally some have a complementary role to enlarging cultural multifunctionality in rural societies. We could interpret the institutional progress as an evolutionary path of rural development and environmental schemes for the past decade. Much experience of community works through the direct payment scheme for mountainous areas may have resulted in accumulation of social competence for elaboration of rural management..

In the rural communities in less-favored areas (mainly hilly and mountainous areas) in Japan, the number of settlements which cannot maintain the community functions by themselves has been increasing because of the progress of depopulation and aging, so the necessity for achieving mutual supplementation of the community function by the settlement reorganization has been increasing. This paper consists of the following three points. 1) General view of settlement reorganization policy in Japan. 2) Case study of the T district in Japan. 3) Possibility of the settlement reorganization by the policy measures which obligate community members to work together. Main results are as follows. 1) There are several settlement reorganization policy measures, but many are still the model project stage, and not yet spread, so it is necessary to wait and see how these measures will develop. 2) The number of the residents of small-scale aging settlements who do not hope for the reorganization, nor feel the necessity of reorganization shall not be few. This will make great difficulty in the settlement reorganization process. 3) A local area activity promotion conference which derives from a former administrative unit like a former village has many functions to the settlement reorganization. 4) In the rural communities in less-favored areas, the policy measures which obligate community members to work together have widely spread. These are expected to play the supplemental role for the settlement reorganization. It is necessary to discuss among residents the activation plan and the future vision of the community, as well as to discuss the settlement reorganization.

The purpose of this study was to develop an in-service education program on multifunctionality of agriculture and rural areas. The in-service education program for general agricultural education was developed by reviewing literature, analyzing domestic in-service education programs. The program consisted of 3 fields - understanding, experiencing multifunctionality, and applying it to classroom, and contents validity was evaluated by 3 experts. And the program was applied to 268 elementary and secondary school teachers. Before and after the in-service education program, the survey was conducted. The survey questions were about motivation of participation, satisfaction level of program, and so on. Based on the analysis of survey data, some recommendations were suggested.

Recently, management and restoration efforts using the plants promote the disturbed habitats such as a set-asides or field boundaries. But, side effects are coming out because of using the exotic plants in restoration process. This study was conducted to select the native plant species used for restoration through the vegetation survey and plant community analysis at small stream-side in rural villages. We surveyed at two small stream-sides in open field and high land area in 2005 as a case study. Total 126 species was found at small stream side in open field area. As the result of important value' calculation, Persicaria thunbergii 23.0%, Humulus japonicus 18.6%, Phragmites communis 4.4%, Bromus japonicus 4.2%, and Rosa multiflora 3.4% were in the order of important value. Total 92 species were found at small stream side in high land area. As the result of important value' calculation, Dactylis glomerata 16.1%, Artemisia princeps var. orientalis 11.0%, Persicaria thunbergii 10.9%, Humulus japonicus 9.3%, Phragmites japonica 5.2% and Phragmites communis 3.5% were in the order of important value. We selected some plant species to use in restoration after due consideration of problems of exotic plant and high coverage and density species, and ecological process; Persicaria thunberii, Phragmites communis, Bromus japonicus, Rosa multiflora, Equisetum arvense, Digtaria sanguinalis, Impatiens textori, and Artemisia princeps var. orientalis in open field stream-side, and Artemisia princeps var. orientalis, Persicaria thunbergii, Phragmites japonica, Phragmites communis, Artemisia selengensis, Panicum bisulcatum, Rorippa indica, and Equisetum arvense at hghland stream-side. We will verify the selected native plants and plan the utilization of the native plants in restoration at stream-side in rural village.

The concept of RIS(Regional Innovation System) has widely been used in discourse and policy issues in Korea. But most studies of RIS concern on BT or IT industries combining with diverse regional agencies in urban areas. Some other studies were concentrated on general ideas or concept of the RIS. The purposes of this study are (1) to suggest a analytical method to select specialized industry in local autonomy, (2) to analyze the relationship between specialized industry and gross sales of agricultural products and stock farm products, (3) to analyze the relationship between gross sales of agricultural products and stock farm products and GRDP, and (4) to construct a model of RIS that fits particularly for rural areas. This study particularly accentuates that a specialized industry is more meaningful when it can raise GRDP, which eventually can give positive effect of RIS on regions.

The purpose of this study is to increase the utility in terms of the elderly's welfare. The data introduced in this paper were collected by the constructed interview method, and 192 aged interviewees were selected from 4 rural areas: Namhaegun, Uiryeong-gun Imsil-gun and Sunchang-gun. From the descriptive analysis of the data, the results derived are as follows: 1) The financial supports are needed to remodel rural village community facilities as senior centers. 2) It is expected that the facility be a center for the aged people's living in a village, and that have multiple functions of general care service network health care, meal support and making friendship spaces for them. 3) Share housing function is also added to the facility in emergency conditions.

The purpose of this study is to verify the result of the previous studies and to clarify the types and activation factors of maintenance activities of the naturally favorable water space through the participation of residents in rural areas, through a further survey of the area proposed as a program in the existing study review and previous study related to the participation of residents. The survey was conducted through the survey of 1,242 households and 1,335 persons intended for Japanese rural areas. The study result is summarized as follows. The types of the maintenance activities in the areas intended for the survey have been classified into 'rural type' and 'combination type' through the analysis results by the references like the comparison analysis, job percentage and main utilization purpose of facilities for each type of maintenance and operation activities. In case of the 'rural type' area, residents were doing maintenance activities centered on the group activities rather than personal maintenance activities. Also, the activities of maintenance & operation group members were more active than non-members, and the water-friendly utilization to the facilities was not directly affecting the maintenance activities of residents. In case of the 'combinational type' area, there was no common characteristic according to each area, and the participation percentage in the maintenance activities was low compared with the 'rural type' area. According to the analysis result based on the participation degree of personal maintenance activities, the repair of facilities as a naturally favorable water space, implementation of projects reflecting the opinions of residents, educational programs conducted in order to motivate the participation of residents, etc. have been analyzed as the factors affecting the activation of maintenance activities of residents. Through the above results, for continuous maintenance activities to be made with residents as a main body in the future, it is necessary to support maintenance groups on an administrative level and procure experts for the production and operation of programs that can increase the participation percentage of residents.

In this study, thirteen villages in Chonnam province were selected as case study sites and the spatial distribution of the facilities in the villages was examined to provide basic information fur the establishment of rural plans. According to the questionnaire survey, various problem such as environmental pollution, position, scene, management etc. was brought owing to cattle shed, and dissension was more or less seen by scale of facilities, management of facilities and waste, regional factor(stock farming management condition, life style and attitude of inhabitants) and topographical factor (height, position physical aspect of a mountain, distance with water resources etc.) etc.. The facilities could be classified into 6 types based on the their spatial locations: 1) Type 1, facilities located at the waterside; 2) Type 2, facilities located at the entrance of village; 3) Type 3 facilities, scattered in the residential area: 4) Type 4 facilities, collectivized in village; 5) Type 5 facilities, adjoining village; and 6) Type 6 facilities, scattered irregularly inside and outside of village. Based on the classification, possible implementations for the reduction of environmental impacts were suggested. The results of this study could be used as an example of study on the distribution, classification, and rearrangement of environment-impacting facilities in rural areas for improvement of their roles in providing amenity resources.

According to the growing concerns of the public with efficiency and effects of regional policies, their assessment works have become an important issue. Up to now, several studies have been carried out on economic effects of policies using conventional cost/benefit analysis, while there have been few studies on assessment of amenity oriented policies. From the above consideration, this study tried to develop An Annual Expenditure Assessment Model (AEAM) for amenity-oriented policy-making in rural area. As a pre-work for model development, the hierarchical indices system for rural development and the classification system of expenditure were designed. Being based on high significant relationship between rural amenities and local government expenditure, a linear optimization model for maximization of regional amenity was constructed. Through a case study of Sunchang-gun, Chonbuk-province, the model applicability was ascertained.

This study tried to construct a direction in regional planning concerning the structural relationship between the ratio of aged population and the industrial characteristics. We investigated this structural relationship incorporating the aged population index and the number of classified companies. We applied diverse statistical analyses to understand the relationship. We classified the number of companies to reflect regional industrial characteristics using the principal component analysis. We applied a multiple regression model to understand the relationship between these two indices. The aged population index represents the degree of being old divided by the ratio of juvenile population and aged population. We found that such industries as manufacturing, service, and conveyance increase the ratio of juvenile population. However, industries such as tourism, waterworks, forestry, agriculture and etc. have a positive effect on the aged population index. In addition to these findings, we believe that the efficacy of this study is the possibility that can be used as the basic data when central or local autonomous entities need to adopt rural development planning.

There are recently many studies on evaluating the economic value of multi-functionality of rural areas. However, the regional difference of economic value leads a problem of different evaluation on its economic value for each region in its application to government policy. This problem causes an increase in cost because it creates restriction in policy decisions which put their importance on the time of their execution. This study investigates the propriety of value transfer using Meta Analysis after evaluating the social and cultural value of rural areas among their functions based on CVM model. It finds that the regional difference in the willingness to pay is 0.13% to 31.42%.

This study was carried out to propose some useful advices for the improvement policy of the minor rural roads. For the detailed case studies on structural improvement level of the minor rural roads, 5 county areas in Chonnam Province were selected ; Damyang (peri-urban), Gurye(remoter mountainous), Jindo(remotest island), Yuongam(intermediate flat) and Bosung (intermediate semi-mountainous). In each county, the official survey data on pavement types, widths and ratios of district(Myun in Korean) and parish(Ri in Korean) roads were collected. There were no apparent differences between district and parish roads in terms of structural improvement level, while the former was ranked higher than the latter in the minor rural road improvement law, so, the present hierarchial classification system of rural roads should be readjusted. And above a third of minor rural roads in the case study areas did not meet the statutory minimum level of road width, which means the necessity of substantial upgrade of road improvement works in rural areas.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of land-use and population change in rural area by new expressway. Chungbu expressway constructed in 1987, going through the south area of Kyunggi province from Seoul, was selected as a case expressway, and also 2 cities and 18 subdivisions of county in its surrounding area, as a case study area. To analyze the change characteristics before and after the construction, land-use maps of 1986 and 1996 were collected, including the census data for the years in cities and counties yearbooks. Remote sensing technology was applied to classify the land-use maps with six types of land use. Geographic information system was also used for spatial analysis, such as the land-use and accessibility changes. A 5 km buffer zone from interchange of the expressway showed about two times increase of urbanized built-up area than a 5 km buffer zone from the expressway. Accessibility from Seoul and cities was improved in most areas, which is accessing to Seoul through existing Youngdong expressway. Ten rural areas showed increased population with accessibility of average 52 minutes to Seoul and 19 minutes to cities, while eight areas showed decreased population with average 73 minutes to Seoul and 35 minutes to cities. This shows that the threshold value, which is time distance to Seoul and cities for population increase or decrease, one and half hours, respectively. Urbanized area was increased in most areas, even in population decrease areas, so this indicates that there are thinning rural areas, increasing urbanized area while decreasing population.

This investigation aims to provide basic data for rural village planning and rehabilitation planning. Public infrastructures of forty selected villages have been surveyed. Provision of facilities, user satisfaction, perceived problems, and conditions of maintenance have been surveyed for three classified types of infrastructures; 1) public utility spaces such as community hall, and parking lots, 2) public production infrastructures such as warehouses, and irrigation facilities, and 3) public infrastructures for living environments such as roads, water supply, and sewage system. All twenty smaller villages (ki-cho-ma-ul) had problems of poor conditions and insufficient spaces with community halls. Most of the smaller villages suffered from lack of public production infrastructures, or had problems of insufficient spaces and poor maintenance conditions. They also lacked good access roads with adequate right of ways. Only three villages were provided with sewage systems. In the twenty larger villages (myun-bo-ma-ul), though public utility spaces were provided for most of them (as an example, sixteen villages had welfare centers), they were not large enough and they were maintained in poor condition too. On the one hand twelve of the larger villages had farm machine service centers, only a few villages were equipped with warehouses. Many more public infrastructures for living environments were found in larger villages. However, only a few villages had pollution control facilities. Multidimensional scaling revealed groups of distinctive characteristics, in terms of public infrastructures, among smaller villages. It did not show any noticeable distinctions among larger villages.

This study, a sub-one of comprehensive research works titled under "Rural Resources Evaluation System", tried to verify utility/applicability of the developed model system through the case study works on 3 sample villages, Backya, Uyan and Suyu, representing the lowland, upland and seashore villages respectively. From the various surveying and collecting works including the official/statistical data collection, map analysis, in-situ investigation, field survey and written material review, the original data set were obtained and manipulated into final input data for resources grading. After then, by the automatized calculation procedure of "Rural Resources Evaluation System", score results for resources evaluation were finally produced with the total maximum score being 1,000. Through comparing works among score results of 3 case villages and between score results and areal characteristics of each case village, the applicability of the system developed in this study was well confirmed.