Research on the problem of small- and medium-sized enterprise and of regional restoration in Osaka

本研究旨在从不同的角度分析大坂中小企业的困境对地区社会的影响，通过讨论大坂的社会经济现状，为地区社会的复兴做出贡献。对小型制造业的主要地区的实际情况进行的调查表明，这些地区的问题不仅应被视为经济问题，工业衰退的问题。然而，在制造业衰退的背后，还存在着社会结构变动、老龄化问题、环境问题加剧等非经济因素。因此，仅仅把各种经济资源投入到工业中是远远不够的，还应该有一个“新”社会的综合框架，其中包括在地方社会中重建人的各种社会意义。本研究正是基于这样的视角，考察了欧洲，特别是意大利的各种不同的城市规划和区域恢复的实例。结果表明，要想恢复工业衰退地区的经济，就必须观察当地社会背后的各种社会资源，并对这些社会资源进行重组。此外，为了促进这种区域恢复项目，重要的是要建立当地社区的人的协会。也就是说，在地方社区内建立各种非营利或非市场化的合作关系和相互联系，有助于地方社会的复兴。下一步，将在日本的地区复兴实践中，特别是在产业衰退严重的地区，实现这些成果。

This study aimed to analyze, in the various different perspectives, the effect of the difficult situation of small- and medium-sized enterprise in Osaka on the regional society, and to contribute to the restoration of the regional society by discussing current social and economical issues in Osaka.Findings of the three-year-investigation into the actual conditions of the major areas of small manufacturing industries revealed the fact that the problem of these regions should not only be recognized as economical problem of industrial decline. It is however revealed that there are other not-economical factors behind the decline of manufacturing industry such as fluctuation of social structure, issues of aging, and aggravation of environmental problems. Thus, it seems not at all enough just to fling the various economical resources into industry but there should be synthetic framework of "new" society which includes the reconstruction of various social implication of people within the local society.This present study has, on the basis of such perspective, investigated various different examples of city planning and regional restoration in Europe, especially in Italy. As a result, it is revealed that in order for the restoration of regions of industrial decline, it is important to observe the various social resources behind the local society, and to reorganize such social resources. Furthermore, in order to promote such project of regional restoration, it is important to construct the association of people in the local community. In other words, construction of various non-profit-making or non-marketing cooperation and mutual networking within the local community can help restoration of local society.As the next step, it is planning to materialize these findings within the actual attempts of regional restoration in Japan, especially those areas where industrial decline is salient.