Carola Hein is Associate Professor in the Growth and Structure of Cities Program at Bryn Mawr College, USA.Philippe Pelletier is Professor of Geography at Lumiere-Lyon 2 University, France.

• 1. Introduction: Decentralization and the Tension between Global and Local Urban Japan 2. Local Initiatives and the Decentralization of Planning Power in Japan 3. Concentration and Deconcentration 4. Financial Problems in the Japanese Local Public Sector in the 1990s 5. Centralization, Urban Planning, Governance, and Citizen Participation in Japan6. Machizukuri in Japan 7. Whose Kyoto? Competing Models of Local Autonomy and Townscape in the Old Imperial Capital 8. Conclusion: Decentralization Policies

Carola Hein is Associate Professor in the Growth and Structure of Cities Program at Bryn Mawr College, USA.Philippe Pelletier is Professor of Geography at Lumiere-Lyon 2 University, France.

• 1. Introduction: Decentralization and the Tension between Global and Local Urban Japan 2. Local Initiatives and the Decentralization of Planning Power in Japan 3. Concentration and Deconcentration 4. Financial Problems in the Japanese Local Public Sector in the 1990s 5. Centralization, Urban Planning, Governance, and Citizen Participation in Japan6. Machizukuri in Japan 7. Whose Kyoto? Competing Models of Local Autonomy and Townscape in the Old Imperial Capital 8. Conclusion: Decentralization Policies

Carola Hein is Associate Professor in the Growth and Structure of Cities Program at Bryn Mawr College, USA.Philippe Pelletier is Professor of Geography at Lumiere-Lyon 2 University, France.

• 1. Introduction: Decentralization and the Tension between Global and Local Urban Japan 2. Local Initiatives and the Decentralization of Planning Power in Japan 3. Concentration and Deconcentration 4. Financial Problems in the Japanese Local Public Sector in the 1990s 5. Centralization, Urban Planning, Governance, and Citizen Participation in Japan6. Machizukuri in Japan 7. Whose Kyoto? Competing Models of Local Autonomy and Townscape in the Old Imperial Capital 8. Conclusion: Decentralization Policies