Residents’ Attitude Shifts in an Environmental Dispute: A Case Study of a Golf Course Location Dispute

Since the concept of sustainable growth was advocated, the balance between development and environmental protection has been a most important problem. Nowadays the general public take great interest in environmental problems, and there are often protests against development, a trend which will become even stronger from now on. This paper, looks at one of the golf course location disputes that have arisen in recent years in Japan as a case study of an environmental dispute. We carried out a field survey, including many personal interviews with the local residents, and a questionnaire sheet survey. Focusing Analysis on the attitudes of the local residents towards the plan, we found an attitude shift of local residents in the dispute. At the outset, proponents and opponents were almost equal in numbers, and therefore there was serious conflict. However, 5 months later, opponents were in the majority, and the number of unconcerned people had decreased to 9%. Analysis of the cause of this attitude shift showed that the information provided during the dispute played a very important role: 1. The major cause of the attitude shift was the availability of reliable information. 2. Lack of information results in chaos, with the dispute becoming more serious. 3. For better agreement, reliable information and face-to-face discussions among the local residents are needed.