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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how, in the face of demographic change, cities develop approaches that create new spaces and opportunities for intergenerational exchange and sustainable forms of governance. Special attention will be drawn to the "open park" in Kyoto.

Paper long abstract

Despite its high concentration of universities and students, Kyoto City has experienced profound demographic change, as population aging, outmigration of university graduates, and the suburbanization of families have eroded the tax base and intensified pressure on municipal finances and public services. In response, the city has sought alternative approaches to urban governance that extend beyond conventional state-centered models.

One such response has been the development of new governance arrangements involving non-state actors. In 2021, Kyoto City launched a pilot program inviting private organizations to assume management responsibilities for selected public parks. While this initiative may be interpreted as reflecting broader trends of neoliberal decentralization and responsibility shifting, it has also created new opportunities for collaboration among public authorities, civil society actors, and local communities. Public parks, in this context, have become sites for experimenting with more inclusive and flexible forms of governing shared urban resources.

An initiative that emerged from this pilot program is a monthly “open park” event jointly planned and organized by multiple stakeholders in a public park in Kyoto. The event aims to establish the park as an open community space, promote interaction across generations, and ensure free and unrestricted access to the park. By encouraging participation from residents of different age groups and backgrounds, the initiative positions the park as a platform for intergenerational exchange and collective engagement.

This paper examines how the “open park” initiative facilitated experimentation with new forms of local participation and collaborative governance, with a particular focus on intergenerational interaction. It asks how, and to what extent, the initiative succeeded in creating a shared community space accommodating diverse interests, and how these practices reshaped governance at the neighborhood level. I argue that the configurations emerging from the “open park” represent a meaningful shift in participatory urban governance in Kyoto. The analysis draws on qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews from two fieldwork phases, as well as news reports, pamphlets, and policy documents.

By highlighting emerging practices of collaborative governance and intergenerational exchange, this paper contributes to scholarship on civil society, machizukuri, and urban governance in Japan.