Future hospitals from the viewpoint of "hospital geography"

The aim of this paper is to discuss what future direction will be indicated for Japanese healthcare buildings. The paper falls into two parts. Brief comparative study between USA and Japan is described in Part I, because current Japanese health care system was influenced a great deal at the first stage of its development since the end of the World War II, and it will be necessary to understand the fact at first. In Part II, the concept of "Hospital Geography" will be proposed as a new point of view for planning of healthcare buildings in 21st century.