This paper analyzes a policy-making process and discusses the role of policy process management in the Toyama Light Rail Transit (LRT) introduction project. Although the importance of decentralization in transportation planning is widely recognized, there has been no well-organized local transportation planning system in Japan. The Toyama LRT project is one of the exceptional cases where a local government has tackled with the local public transit planning. The paper unveils the planning process in this project with the intensive interviews with the local stakeholders. First, the paper will classify the process into four phases. Next, the paper will analyze the stakeholder behaviors, the main agenda, the framework recognized by the stakeholders, and the meetings in each phase. The paper then examines the policy process management of the Toyama City Council (TCC), and discuss the factors that influenced the successful introduction of the LRT, from the viewpoint of policy management. In summary, there are three factors involved: technology/topography, financial resources, and policy process management. The paper shows that well-organized policy process management contributes to smooth consensus-building; in this case, the process manager made the best use of the technological/topographical and financial factors and consequently guided the stakeholders to a consensus. Finally, the paper discusses the lessons learned from the Toyama LRT case. The paper points out the following key factors, each of which influences the policy-making process: appropriate vision-setting and strong leadership, meeting management, viewpoint shift under certain constraints, the involvement of experts, and the framing arrangement vis-à-vis individual negotiation.
Samenvatting