Institutional capacity and rural community planning in Japan: an event history analysis

Bottom-up and governance paradigms are becoming more prevalent in rural community planning in East Asia. Rural communities must enhance their institutional capacities, which are the baseline for planning future changes. However, few studies have analyzed the relationship between institutional capacity and rural community planning. Using a quantitative method of event history analysis, we compared the hazards of establishing conferences and plan approval from the Sato-dzukuri of Kobe City, Japan. We examined the effect of institutional capacity on rural community planning for the conference establishment and plan approval. We found that knowledge resources and relational resources are related to the proxy mobilization capacity for conference establishment. These resources are related to plan approval, although no relationship exists between conference establishment and plan approval. Conferences can be planned more rapidly than plans for approval can be, although both require substantial time. Communities with rural contexts present more rapid conference establishment than do suburban areas, whereas there are no significant differences in plan approval. This suggests that rural communities require more effort for the plan approval process. Rural community planning should judiciously address issues of institutional capacity regarding restrained knowledge resources and progress management, and should maintain vigilance regarding administration to achieve local governance.