The interpretation of settlement behavior in shrinking areas can provide insights into sustainability strategies in shrinking communities. However, the choice to settle in areas undergoing shrinkage is hard to interpret when considering residents as rational decisionmakers. To attain a deeper understanding of this decision-making process, a framework of residential decision making (RDM) considering a subjective environmental evaluation dimension, psychological dimension, and cognitive dimension is proposed. This process was further validated by conducting a questionnaire survey in Japanese communities. The results of the structural equation modeling reveal that the RDM framework proposed is applicable to RDM in shrinking communities. By considering geographical differences, we further found that residents in suburban communities tend to consider overall satisfaction with their location when deciding whether to stay, whereas residents in mountainous communities value emotional satisfaction factors such as place attachment when considering continuous residence. Different residential preferences contributing to the formation of RDM factors were also revealed between communities. The results of this study imply that sustainable development strategies to assist shrinking communities should be tailored to their geographical characteristics. Further, a regional design that can enrich residential experiences and neighborhood communication is important for promoting population settlement.

Each year, a large amount of waste paper (WP) is generated in Japan, and due to the change in lifestyle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the WP collection and recycling system in Japan faces new challenges. Although the government of Japan has installed WP collection systems, the efficiency of these traditional WP collection systems is too low, and this causes inconvenience to the governments, residents, and other stakeholders. On the other hand, some recycling companies in Japan are trying to establish a nontraditional WP collection system by setting their own WP collection stations in cooperative supermarkets. Yet, the efficiency of this new system has not been clarified. This research aims to investigate the current status, operational characteristics, and the role of recycling companies’ WP collection stations in the Japanese WP collection system. By performing trade area analysis and stepwise OLS regression, this research will evaluate WP collection stations’ efficiency. Moreover, this research will also discuss how the new WP collection system improves WP collection efficiency and residents’ convenience. The results show that WP collection stations efficiency is particularly high in large supermarkets with many parking spaces and long business hours, as well as in areas with many families with children. Recycling companies’ WP collection system could create a system, which can satisfy resident, government, and recycling company interests at the same time.

Public facilities that have NIMBY (not in my backyard) structure involve both a social dilemma, in which individuals' decisions to prevent the worst outcomes for themselves undermine the public interest, and a moral dilemma focused on the majority versus the minority. This study examined the cognitive-neural processes in judging whether to prioritize the site residents or the citizenry as a whole within the context of NIMBY. Our ROIs were the right angular gyrus being related to concern about the worst possible outcomes for others and oneself, the amygdala associating with emotional aversion to prioritizing the majority, and the vmPFC, which integrates the aversion into "all things considered" judgments. As a result of comparing ingroup conditions for which a NIMBY facility may make participants worst-off position and outgroup conditions for which this possibility is denied, the right angular gyrus was activated in both conditions. The amygdala was activated only in the ingroup, and the vmPFC exhibited a stronger tendency in the ingroup. We concluded that the cognitive-neural processes in judgments on NIMBY facilities are common to both decision-making to avoid the worst-off position for others and for oneself and moral judgments between the majority and the minority.

Depression remains a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social capital provides support for those struggling with this condition. However, we know little about its multidimensional role as a correlate of mental health. We collected data from 896 participants in three major cities in the United States, Brazil, and Japan between December 31, 2020, and March 3, 2021. Using these data, we conducted a multiple linear regression for correlates with depression measured with the PHQ-4 using social cohesion and controls for demographic factors, such as age and gender. Bonding social capital strongly correlated with depression across the three cultures, while other factors varied according to the location. In Brazil and the United States, a substantial correlate was age. To manage the high prevalence of depression, policymakers should encourage strong social ties within communities.

Aims: The present study aimed to develop a theoretical model that explores the influence of recalling place memory on cooperative behaviors in local communities.Methods: Five hundred ninety‐five Japanese residents (mean age = 49.75 years) participated in an online survey, in which they received one of the three interventions: (1) positive memory; (2) neutral memory and (3) negative memory. Participants were instructed to recall their place memories within their living areas and provide ratings for their place attachment, emotional valence, perceived self‐interest, and willingness to engage in cooperative behaviors.Results: The results revealed that individuals who recalled positive‐valenced place memories exhibited a higher willingness to engage in cooperative behaviors. Additionally, this study reveals the previously unreported mediating role of place attachment and perceived self‐interest in promoting cooperative behaviors.Conclusion: The findings hold significance in elucidating the relationship between place memory and cooperative behaviors, offering novel insights for community management.

近年，我が国では集中豪雨や地震などの自然災害が頻発している．そこで，国土交通省は2020年2月に立地適正化計画に関する法律を改定し，居住誘導区域内に災害ハザードエリアが含まれる場合，新規立地抑制や移転促進等を新たに追加した．そのため，居住地の災害ハザードエリア毎に居住継続意識構造を分析することは，移転促進や災害対策などの施策を立案する上で有用であると考えられる．分析の結果，土砂災害警戒区域及び洪水浸水想定区域では地縁に対する評価が，津波浸水想定区域では生活の質に対する評価が最も居住継続に影響を与えることが明らかとなった．