Metropolitan Spatial Structure and its Determinants: A Case-study of Tokyo

In this paper, to describe accurately the spatial structure of the Tokyo metropolitan area, the cubic-spline density function approach is applied and modified. It is shown that, during the 1975-85 decade, there was a substantial suburbanisation in the whole study area, while its three directional regions displayed three different spatial patterns. In identifying the determinants of the spatial dynamics, a varying-parameter model is proposed to confirm that increasing income and decreasing transportation cost would cause suburbanisation. The spatial differences in the directional region are also related to their different values of income and transportation cost.