rural revitalization

Aging, depopulation and stagnation are serious problems for the island communities of the Seto Inland Sea in Japan. The Setouchi International Art Festival (SIAF), engages with revitalizing twelve remote islands and their rural communities through art festival and tourism. The Triennale’s Director has claimed that the art festival has become a model for government policies for community revitalization and tourism. Issues however still persist, first in the ambiguity definition of the term “revitalization” itself, some critics have emphasized that art festivals use “borrowed art” exhibited on “borrowed land”. This research is author's notes during three years’ on-site fieldwork, in which he tries to examine the positive influences and negative impacts of art interventions and art festival tourism on SIAF's rural communities.

本文以日本濑户内海举办的当代艺术三年展为研究对象，从“当代艺术介入”“”艺术旅游“和”乡村地域再生“三个角度对其可持续发展进行分析与研究，并对当代艺术介入乡村的艺术观光模式存在的问题展开调研与分析，探讨了艺术节对当地社会的文化影响，指出该活动在促进当地可持续地域再生方面起到重要作用。

The article takes Japan Setouchi Triennale as A Case Study to anaylze and study its sustainable development from the aspect:"Contemporary Art Intervention", "Art Festival Tourism" and "Village Regional Regeneration". It also makes a survey on the problems existed in "art intervention in village" art tourism pattern to discuss the important role that art fetival played in local culture, the importance of promoting sustainable regional regeneration.

Aging, depopulation, and stagnation are serious problems for island communities in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. As a result, many of these communities have seen their distinguishing features and cultural identities disappear, and some face outright extinction. The Setouchi Triennale strives to revitalize twelve of these islands through art festival tourism. While it has been claimed that the art festival has become a model for policies aimed at community revitalization and tourism, the response of many local residents to the festival’s development model and certain issues caused by the presence of tourists indicate persistent problems. This research examines how a rural art festival influences local communities - particularly, whether a top-down initiative can boost tourism while also leading to bottom-up, sustainable community development outcomes. The conceptual framework of the research integrates art interventions, rural art festival tourism, revitalization, and creative placemaking in the context of island communities. Mixed methods field research was conducted on the largest Setouchi Triennale island, Shodoshima. The study found that Setouchi Triennale turned the island into an art destination and it is playing a significant role in supporting the revitalization of regional culture and local tourism businesses. However, the research identified very few bottom-up initiatives.

Due to industrial civilization, the decline of the countryside has become a global phenomenon. Spain is a good example that reflects this issue in the rural areas of the European Union because more than half of all municipalities in the country are at risk of extinction. This manuscript aims at combining social engagement and the application of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to propose a sustainable rural revitalization plan. Several multi-sectoral working groups participated in three consultation rounds to prescribe 52 customized actions directed to Pesquera-San Miguel de Aguayo area. Social (17) and environmental (16) dimensions collected the highest number of initiatives, whilst the institutional dimension was only addressed by eight proposals. Furthermore, 40 out of the 169 SDG targets of the 2030 Agenda were put forward in the rural strategy, which also contemplated most priorities adopted by the Rural Development Programme for Cantabria. A cooperative association was identified as the most preferred governance system in order to build a community spirit and promote social empowerment, inclusiveness, and gender equality. Municipal and regional authorities were not invited to join the participatory process in order to not constrain the involvement of the selected stakeholders.

This brief summarizes the preliminary findings of a research project on domestic urban-to-rural migration to the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. We focus on in-migrants who established small independent businesses on the islands, and particularly those engaged in tourism, creative industries and organic farming. The study explores the motivations, challenges and opportunities associated with living and establishing small businesses in island communities, and the implications for wider processes of revitalization of marginal rural areas. We used two main research questions as a guide: 1) which factors attract this type of in-migrants to the islands? and 2) is there evidence that their activities give a positive contribution to rural revitalization in these areas? The results of the study may offer insights that can inform local policies aimed at fostering the revitalization of island communities through the settlement of in-migrants. Moreover, considering the global scale of depopulation issues in marginal and remote islands, the findings might be useful to similar island communities in other parts of the world.

The article takes Japan Setouchi Triennale as A Case Study to anaylze and study its sustainable development from the aspect:"Contemporary Art Intervention", "Art Festival Tourism" and "Village Regional Regeneration". It also makes a survey on the problems existed in "art intervention in village" art tourism pattern to discuss the important role that art fetival played in local culture, the importance of promoting sustainable regional regeneration.

Recently, the Japanese governemnt initiated an administrative process which has resulted in the merging
of municipalities across the country. Since then, the quality of services provided to inhabitants by
the local government has declined in depopulated areas. As a result, it has been suggested that there
may be a role for self-organization in the revival of local governance.
In many depopulated areas, the distance between local government and the local community has continued to grow, and this has led to the newly established
local government transferring certain responsibilities to the local community. Consequently, the reorganization of the local community has become indispensable.
  Kawane Village is located in the mountainous area of Akitakata City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Despite having a rapidly aging population, this village has been
particularly successful in revitalizing local governance through reorganization of the local community. This research examines a variety of the community activites involved
, and the unique management methods behind them, in an attempt to ascertain the factors which have resulted in successful self-governance in this village.
  Since its establishment in 1972, the Kawane Promotion Association has experienced three crucial turning points.
Initially, the Kawane Promotion Association, which had previously consisted of only a few households, encouraged every household in the village to become involved in the
organization of cultural activities. Since the 1980s, the Kawanae Promotion Association has begun to act as arepresntative for the local community, for example, in dealing with
local problems and in communicating with the local government. Finally, sice the 1990s, the Kawane Promotion Association has begun to manage private land resources and offer welfare
services to individuals. The Kawane Promotion Association has instigated the development of eight related departments that are responsible for specific tasks or activities.
This research shows that the success of the Kawane Promotion Association likes in its unique style of management, whereby there is no central authority; instead, decision-making powers
are transferred among unitis as required, ensuring full participation by local residents.