Georeferencing Historical Zoning Maps and Their Comparison with Current Zoning: GIS-Based Study of Japanese Regional Cities

Japan’s land-use zoning system, established with the 1919 City Building Act, has fundamentally shaped long-term urban spatial structures. This study clarifies the evolution of Japanese zoning by georeferencing historical maps and comparing them with contemporary GIS data for 11 regional cities. We introduced the Historical Zoning Consistency Index (HZCI) to quantify spatial continuity. Integrating HZCI, initial zoning proportions, and area growth rates, we performed principal component and cluster analysis to identify zoning transition patterns. Results reveal that while residential and commercial zones maintained high spatial continuity, industrial zones underwent extensive conversion. We identified three distinct typologies: a "Residential-Specialized and Growth-Restricted" type (stable development), an "Industrial-Maintenance and Expansion" type (robust retention of industrial zones alongside rapid expansion), and an "Industrial-Conversion" type (dynamic transformation of industrial lands). These findings provide empirical evidence for the structural transformation of urban land use, offering insights into the diverse evolutionary trajectories of Japanese cities.