A STUDY ON THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL LANDSCAPES AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS, AND ON THE ACCUMULATION AND RE-REALIZATION OF THE INTRINSIC LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS

Local landscapes that could have been seen in our ordinary lives are now in a critical situation whereby they may collapse on a large scale around Japan. To turn these vicious circumstances around, it is strongly required to establish a new landscape theory that helps reconstruct an interactive relationship between local landscapes and local governance in communities. In this study, we investigated landscape elements, related aspects of social systems and activities, their interrelations and their changes in Kaida-mura village in Nagano prefecture. We clarified the fundamental principles of the interrelationship between a local landscape and social systems there. We then analyzed the characteristics of that interrelationship and positively observed that these interrelations are formed intrinsically within the local landscape and the local peopleas consciousness through their efforts toward the environment and through their heterogeneous social activities. When the intrinsic interrelationship comes into our consciousness again through landscapes, it may provides a basis for argument in seeking a new framework of a community. We noted the possibility of such argument helping reconstruct self-sustaining local governance.