Land use plan and changes in the land use planning system toward its realization: A case study of Sapporo City

The purpose of this study is to clarify the long-term evolution of land use planning and land use planning system operation, as well as the actual status of the population distribution and urban area formation at each stage, using the City of Sapporo as a case study. Sapporo City formulated its first basic urban plan in the 1959 Sapporo comprehensive city plan (SCCP). Since its launch in 1971, the Sapporo long-term comprehensive plan (LTCP) was consistently employed as a masterplan, and land use plans have been established within it. SCCP emphasizes the need to control expansion of urban areas due to the crisis of sprawling urban proliferation. In response, LTCP developed a land use plan consisting of multiple cores and three types of residential areas sorted by their density. To achieve this goal, the land use planning system was revised. In this process, the basic approach to urban planning has remained consistent for almost half a century. Namely, "Positioning LTCPs as Urban Masterplan", "Controlling the outward expansion of urban areas" and "Multi-centered core urban structure and layout of residential areas" were continued. In parallel, the plan was flexibly modified in response to changing socioeconomic conditions.