The Progress of Informatization and American Metropolitan Areas

ABSTRACT

As informatization continues at breakneck speeds, there are a variety of discussions concerning the potential transformation of cities and regional areas due to diminishing time and distance constraints. This report investigates the situation in the United States-the site of the most advanced information technology and information networks in the world-in order to answer the question, "In what ways are representative major metropolitan areas actually changing?"

First, this report analyzes the kind of relationship between the growth of informatization and changes in the concentration and dispersion of people and businesses in the metropolitan area as a whole. It was found that there is a strong correlation between the growth of computerization and the spread of suburbanization of residence areas, working regions, and firm locations. However, because the trend of suburbanization in the U.S. has continued since the second world war, it is difficult to prove that this kind of decentralization of people and businesses was actually caused by informatization. Moreover, it is impossible to identify a causal relationship between the acceleration of decentralization and the development of informatization. In any major metropolitan area, the growth of transit systems, land prices, the disparity of amenities, various administrative policies and other non-informatization factors are thought to have a major influence.

Second, based on the analysis of many cases of individual and business behavior, this report examines how the development of information technology-specifically, telecommuting and ITS-is changing ways of living, working, and the movement of people. If this information technology continues to diffuse even more, there is a possibility that it will change the structure of cities. However, if information is applied for the purpose of solving the inherent problems of each city, the directionality of change in the entire metropolitan region will differ according to region.

Third, based on analyses of actual cases of urban development, this report investigates how city development is changing as a result of the growth of informatization. In the future, if urban development is conducted utilizing the development of information technology, there is the potential to transform cities, as companies that were heretofore based in city centers could be enticed to move to the suburbs or depressed areas.

When examined at the individual level of major metropolitan areas, there are no major changes caused by the development of informatization at the present stage. If computers, fiber-optic cables, internet homepages and other aspects of informatization continue to spread excursively, then rather than planning to alter city and local regions, it would be more appropriate to place the individual regions' problems first, and to apply information technology for the purpose of solving those issues.