This blog is a companion to thetokyofiles.com, my primary site. Here I will document the current state and history of Tokyo’s urban design elements. I like to think of this as a “Tokyo urban planning museum”. Lofty goals, I know.
A working list of interesting and/or important features of Tokyo’s urban design, urban planning, and development:
Geographic features
- Rivers and streams (see: the tokyo files: rivers 東京の川)
- Reclaimed land (e.g. Odaiba)
- (9) Slopes (zaka) 坂
- Imperial palace
- Notable bridges (Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Gate Bridge; Ryōgoku Bridge)
- High city, low city (yamanote / shitamachi)
Natural disasters and prevention
- Earthquakes (1923 Great Kanto Earthquake)
- Earthquakes: cross-braces on buildings / seismic retrofit 耐震補強
- Fire: (23) Street fire extinguishers;
- Flood control (see: Tokyo’s water infrastructure)
- Flood control: (27) River embankments and floodplains 堤防と氾濫原
- (26) Disaster Prevention Parks 防災公園 (bosai koen)
Elements of street design
- Rivers and streams
- Canal system (including funabansho 船番所)
- Bridges and intersections as building-block
- Narrow alleyways between houses
- (25) Traffic calming in Tokyo 交通静穏化
- (11) Narrow streets
- 「碁盤の目」 “Eyes of a Go board” street layout (referenced)
- Wide streets (e.g. new districts like Odaiba; Meiji Dori in Shinjuku)
Trains and subways (and “Transit-oriented development” TOD)
- Multiple “city centers” (e.g. Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Yurakucho)
- Yamanote loop
- Ubiquity of transit (point to a map at random…)
- Rental prices – impact of proximity to stations
- Station bars and restaurants
- Department stores (e.g. Isetan, Mitsukoshi)
- Underground shopping centers at stations (see: article)
- Malls at train stations / ekinaka 駅ナカ / role of train companies in development (e.g Atre malls)
- (8) Train crossings 踏切 (fumikiri)
- (22) Coin lockers
- See: Tokyo Station City: The railway station as urban place
- See: Culture and commerce thrive under Japan’s elevated train tracks
- See: Life under the tracks: Tokyo’s newfound fascination with eateries, bars and artsy spaces under elevated railway tracks is paying off big time
Trains and subways: History
- Privatization
- Electric rail
- Toden electric streetcar era
- Train station names
- Tunnels
- Former trains: impact on urban design; Example (14)
- See: Map of Tokyo-area private railways
Bicycle infrastructure
- Bicycle parking 駐輪場
Embellishments and street life
- (13) Street gardening 路上園芸 (potted plants, etc.)
- Bottles of water (to keep cats away) 猫よけ / ペッ景 (example)(example 2) (example 3)
- (6) Provisional spaces
- Community bulletin boards 町内会用屋外掲示板
- Sento, public bathhouses (Twitter)
- (21) Public toilets / bathrooms in parks
- Safety workers at construction sites
- Cute traffic cones (see: The New York Times)
- Fixes and improvisations (“Fixes“)
- (15) Outdoor closets
- 5pm chime
- Trash collecting truck / Yakimo man
Trees and plants
- Type of trees & planting history
- Tree maintenance: “over-pruned” and propped-up trees
- (10) Fences and walls built around trees
- (13) Street gardening 路上園芸 (potted plants, etc.)
Environment and ecology
- River health
- Farmland (e.g. persistence of small farms)
- Buildings with living ‘green walls’ (e.g. Tokyu Hospital 東急病院, Ookayama Station)
- Urban farming (see: Ten Unique Urban Agriculture Projects in Tokyo)
- Recycling and waste disposal (garbage incinerators)
- Renewable energy (example)
- “Smart towns” (e.g. Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town; Yokohama Smart City Project)
- See: The Zero Waste City: Tokyo’s Quest for a Sustainable Environment
Land transformation
- Land reclamation
- River straightening / River engineering 河川工学
- (33) Land Readjustment Projects 土地区画整理事業
Retail commerce
- (30) Shotengai shopping streets 商店街 (list)
- (30) Shotengai entrance signs / “glory arches” 栄光のアーチ
- Shotengai street lamps / lamps that look like jewels 宝石になった街路灯
- Covered shopping streets
- The Ginza
- Convenience stores コンビニ (conbini) (map)
- Vertical retail & restaurants / mixed-residence building 雑居ビル
- Tiny restaurants
- Restaurant chains
- Vending machines
- Store shutters
Pleasure and sin
- Asakusa (historical entertainment district)
- (17) Yoshiwara pleasure district (red light district / Soaplands)
- Snack bars, Hostess clubs, etc.
- Love hotels
- Pachinko, Karaoke
- (20) Smoking areas 喫煙所
Tokyo Architectural Forms
- See separate section: Japanese architecture
- 木密 [モクミツ] / mokumitsu = short for 「木造住宅密集地域」 “Wooden dense residential area”
- Signboard architecture (kanban kenchiku)
- Apaato and mansions
- Earthquake design
- (2) Narrow houses due to neighboring rivers
- Lifespan of houses / buildings (source 1, source 2)
Tokyo Urban Planning History
- Edo era
- Samurai estates
- Tokaido and the stages and gates
- Low city / high city
- Farmland clustered around rivers
- Meiji-era Land Tax Reform 地租改正 chisokaisei (1873) (Tweet)
- Earthquake of 1923
- Tokyo’s streetcar era (entry 1)(photos)
- Japanese military sites (Okubo rifle shooting range 大久保小銃射撃場)
- Allied occupation and land reform
- Post-war black markets (link)
- Elevated highways
- Tokyo Olympics 1964 (source 1)
- Metabolism
- Minoru ]Mori 森 稔 and mega-projects
- Tokyo Olympics 2020 (source 1)
Reclaimed land and conservation areas
- Odaiba
- Koto-ku / city of canals
- Haneda Airport
- Reclaimed rice paddies 田んぼ (tanbo) たんぼ (e.g. Ota-ku)
- Conservation areas (e.g. 水谷田んぼ Mizutani tanbo in Saitama)
- Satoyama 里山: woodlands / cultivated lower slopes (Wikipedia)
- “Urban countryside” 「都会の田舎」 `Tokai no inaka’
Rivers, streams, and canals
- Canals of Edo Tokyo
- Ginza, etc: Canals of the Ginza: floating through time on Tokyo’s central waterways 東京江戸「水の都」
- Outer Moat Loop Road 東京都道405号外濠環状線
- Irrigation, culverts 暗渠 (ankyo) and 公共溝 (“culvertization” 暗渠化)
- Public drainage ditches; open drainage systems; railings along roads
- Former / covered rivers and streams (see: Walking on water: the underground rivers of Tokyo)
- “Green roads” (see post: Walking on water: the underground rivers of Tokyo)
- Points of interest at confluence of former streams (e.g. Shibuya Station)
- “River roads” (former rivers and the houses that were shaped by them)
- Housing patterns
- Concrete lining of rivers / river widening
- Flood gates / Flood storage facilities
- (27) River embankments and floodplains 堤防と氾濫原
Planned Communities (and Housing projects)
- Garden cities: (4) Denenchofu, Seijo, (16) Tokiwadai
- Streetcar suburbs
- Danchi 団地
- Company housing / company-owned housing 社宅 = しゃたく = shataku
- Saitama, Kanagawa, and Chiba bedroom communities / New Towns
- Edge urban centers: e.g. Musashi-Kosugi, Kawaguchi
- Suburbs as part of urban fabric (not clean divide like American cities)
- Depictions in film (e.g. Good Morning) (See: Danchi in film 映画における団地, Part I: 1958-1980)
Parks and sports
- (12) Tokyo parks and cemeteries
- (24) Micro-parks
- (28) Future Tokyo: the new Miyashita Park, Shibuya 宮下公園
- Park and playground designs
- Tokyo Green Belt Initiative 東京グリーンベルト構想
- Park as communal living room (e.g. french horn player)
- Golf driving ranges
- Running (e.g. Imperial Palace)
- Rules regarding ball sports
Temples, and shrines
- Temple land ownership
- Temples and shrines on high land (Chiba area, e.g.)
Pedestrian culture
- Sanpo (strolling / walking)
- (11) Walking in the middle of narrow streets
- Waiting for cross-walks / fumikiri
- Pedestrian overpasses (Tweet)
- (22) Coin lockers
Cultural values and behaviors
- Child safety: children walking to school by themselves (see: Why Are Little Kids in Japan So Independent?)
- Child independence (see: Putting the wheels on my first errand: はじめてのおつかい Hajimete no otsukai)
- Free play and adventure parks
- No eating in public / on trains
Demographics
- Street design for elderly (PDF)
- Safety measures for children (example)
- Relationship between ‘Salaryman’ lifestyle and urban design
Cars and roads
- Taxis
- Car parking
- Tolls
- Parking lot and driveway “tube slopes” 鉄管スロープ (Twitter)
Mega projects
- Land buying process
- Hillside Terrace (Daikanyama)
- Sunshine City サンシャインシティ
- Tokyo Midtown (Roppongi)
- Roppongi hills (What Would Jane Jacobs Think If She Saw the Process of Building Roppongi Hills?)
- Sky Tree
- Toranomon hills and MacArthur highway
- (18) Saitama Super Arena and Keyaki Hiroba Plaza けやきひろばプラザ
- Shinjuku Eastside Square 新宿イーストサイドスクエア
Theory and imaginative plans
- Metabolism (A Plan for Tokyo, 1960)
Industry
- Fishing
- Factories & light industry (Kawasaki, Kawaguchi, Koto-ku, etc.)
- Factory train lines
- Energy (nuclear, etc.)
Government and law
- Administrative units (23 wards / ku, etc.) (See: A brief history of Old Tokyo)
- Which governments have jurisdiction?
- (1) Sunshine rights 日照権
- Zoning laws / Land taxation
- Land ownership / inheritance/ abandoned land / vacant lots / redevelopment
- (7) Daishindo 大深度地下 (deep underground) land-use law
- (3) Koban police boxes / the social function of police
- (5) Gated communities
- Act on Countermeasures against Water Damage in Specific Cities 特定都市河川浸水被害対策法
- Manual concerning installation and management of spill control facilities installed along with housing development 宅地開発に伴い設置される流出抑制施設の設置及び管理に関するマニュアル
Neighborhood typologies
- Tokyo station / Ginza
- Mixed-use neighborhoods
- Residential city with at-grade train crossings (e.g. Ikegami line)
- Danchi 団地 & housing complexes
- 郊外住宅地 = suburban residential area
- Large blocks with new apartments / buildings (e.g. Tenno isle; Odaiba)
- Garden cities and upscale suburbs (Denenchofu, Seijo, Tokiwadai; “luxury villas” 高級別荘 at Sakura-shinmachi)
- Western suburbs
Tokyo Sprawl
- Train network
- Contribution of housing complexes to sprawl
- Narita Airport (protests: Farmers’ League Against Narita Airport)
- Commuter culture: as seen in film (e.g. “Wisdom on the Hill”)
- Number of commuters and where they come from
Tokyo Urban Planning Controversies
- Gentrification / ‘high-rise gentrification’ (Twitter)
- Sprawl and crowded subways
- Narita airport (see above)
Map of topics discussed in this blog:
Glossary:
- 都市デザイン = urban design (toshi dezain)
- 都市環境デザイン Urban environmental design
- 環境デザイン Environmental design
- 東京一極集中 = Tokyo centralization / Tokyo over-concentration
- 都市化 = urbanization
- 街づくり = town planning, urban development, community development
- アーバンデザイン = urban design
- アーバンデザイナー = urban designer
- 都市設計
- 都市整備 = urban development / urban improvement
the tokyo files: urban design 東京の都市デザイン 