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Sustainability
Volume 17
Issue 21
10.3390/su17219555
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Article

The Pandemic and the City: Empirical Evidence of Lifestyle and Location Preference Changes in Japan

by
Tsutomu Watanabe
1,* and
Dongyuan Mu
2
1
Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
2
Center for Urban & Real Estate Studies, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9555; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219555 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 3 September 2025 / Revised: 13 October 2025 / Accepted: 24 October 2025 / Published: 27 October 2025
Versions Notes

Abstract

This study examines how individuals’ preferences for four types of urban functions—residential, work-related, transportation, and leisure—shifted in Japan following the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the widespread adoption of remote work, mainly in large cities, strengthened preferences for residential amenities while reducing the importance of work-related and transportation functions. In contrast, smaller cities with limited infrastructure experienced more modest changes. Our analysis further reveals that, in metropolitan areas, preference shifts are less strongly associated with local and surrounding amenity conditions, suggesting more complex internal dynamics. By comparison, in smaller cities, the scarcity of amenities makes them play a greater role in shaping these changes.
Keywords: preference changes; population distribution; Japan; post-pandemic preference changes; population distribution; Japan; post-pandemic

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MDPI and ACS Style

Watanabe, T.; Mu, D. The Pandemic and the City: Empirical Evidence of Lifestyle and Location Preference Changes in Japan. Sustainability 2025, 17, 9555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219555

AMA Style

Watanabe T, Mu D. The Pandemic and the City: Empirical Evidence of Lifestyle and Location Preference Changes in Japan. Sustainability. 2025; 17(21):9555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219555

Chicago/Turabian Style

Watanabe, Tsutomu, and Dongyuan Mu. 2025. "The Pandemic and the City: Empirical Evidence of Lifestyle and Location Preference Changes in Japan" Sustainability 17, no. 21: 9555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219555

APA Style

Watanabe, T., & Mu, D. (2025). The Pandemic and the City: Empirical Evidence of Lifestyle and Location Preference Changes in Japan. Sustainability, 17(21), 9555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219555

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