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Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City
Tokyo is one of the most vibrant and livable cities on the planet, a megacity that somehow remains intimate and adaptive. Compared to Western metropolises like New York or Paris, however, few outsiders understand Tokyo's inner workings. For cities around the globe mired in crisis and seeking new models for the future, Tokyo's success at balancing between massive growth and local communal life poses a challenge: can we design other cities to emulate its best qualities?
Emergent Tokyo answers this question in the affirmative by delving into Tokyo's most distinctive urban spaces, from iconic neon nightlife to tranquil neighborhood backstreets. Tokyo at its best offers a new vision for a human-scale urban ecosystem, where ordinary residents can shape their own environment in ways large and small, and communities take on a life of their own beyond government master planning and corporate profit-seeking. As Tokyoites ourselves, we uncover how five key features of Tokyo's cityscape - yokochō alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, flowing ankyo streets, and dense low-rise neighborhoods - enable this 'emergent' urbanism, allowing the city to organize itself from the bottom up.
This book demystifies Tokyo's emergent urbanism for an international audience, explaining its origins, its place in today's Tokyo, and its role in the Tokyo of tomorrow. Visitors to Japan, architects, and urban policy practitioners alike will come away with a fresh understanding of the world's premier megacity - and a practical guide for how to bring Tokyo-style intimacy, adaptability, and spontaneity to other cities around the world.
Emergent Tokyo answers this question in the affirmative by delving into Tokyo's most distinctive urban spaces, from iconic neon nightlife to tranquil neighborhood backstreets. Tokyo at its best offers a new vision for a human-scale urban ecosystem, where ordinary residents can shape their own environment in ways large and small, and communities take on a life of their own beyond government master planning and corporate profit-seeking. As Tokyoites ourselves, we uncover how five key features of Tokyo's cityscape - yokochō alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, flowing ankyo streets, and dense low-rise neighborhoods - enable this 'emergent' urbanism, allowing the city to organize itself from the bottom up.
This book demystifies Tokyo's emergent urbanism for an international audience, explaining its origins, its place in today's Tokyo, and its role in the Tokyo of tomorrow. Visitors to Japan, architects, and urban policy practitioners alike will come away with a fresh understanding of the world's premier megacity - and a practical guide for how to bring Tokyo-style intimacy, adaptability, and spontaneity to other cities around the world.
250 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 13, 2022
Very interesting, and surprisingly readable, overview of a set of architectural patterns and neighborhood styles in Tokyo that emerged organically, rather than as a pure result of urban planning and purposeful effort. Being fairly well-acquainted with Tokyo, I found this fascinating, and the patterns they describe do contribute to some of my favorite areas: for example, the under-rail-track shops and bars of Koenji, and the low-rise, dense housing areas that cluster around many train stations. The alleys and unplanned common areas those give rise to result in a true "neighborhood" feel, unbroken by large car-oriented roads or high-rise apartments. The book gives terrific historical context for these developments, and by diving deeply into several examples of each pattern provides really interesting background of how they arose. Sprinkled with excellent diagrams and illustrations, the book is a fascinating analysis written in a readable way, without too much overly-academic dryness. Very enjoyable.
June 30, 2022
A stupendously smart look at the highly dense yet highly liveable and human parts of Tokyo and exactly how they work. Accessible, clear, important – one of my books of the year.
March 3, 2023
The authors have broken up the city of Tokyo into six major categories, Village, Local, Pocket, Mercantile, Yamanote Mercantile and Shitamachi Mercantile. This book does its best to destroy so many of those clichés and stereotypes that the vast majority of foreigners make about the streets of Tokyo.
It is interesting to see the evolution of the many districts and how they have morphed into their various, current states. We get some historical background and political motivations without getting overwhelmed with the details, which allows us some clearer perspective.
We find a tale of problems encountered, opportunities taken and lessons learned. We also see the vast differences between corporate-led Tokyo and Emergent Tokyo and how they each play out and their influence on the people and places around them.
So this is a decent account of one of the most fascinating and bustling metropolises on the planet. I thought some of the layout was a tad shoddy in places, but overall this largely succeeds in what it sets out to do and I certainly learned a thing or two along the way too.
It is interesting to see the evolution of the many districts and how they have morphed into their various, current states. We get some historical background and political motivations without getting overwhelmed with the details, which allows us some clearer perspective.
We find a tale of problems encountered, opportunities taken and lessons learned. We also see the vast differences between corporate-led Tokyo and Emergent Tokyo and how they each play out and their influence on the people and places around them.
So this is a decent account of one of the most fascinating and bustling metropolises on the planet. I thought some of the layout was a tad shoddy in places, but overall this largely succeeds in what it sets out to do and I certainly learned a thing or two along the way too.
June 27, 2023
This is an incredible book for anybody interested in urbanism, and particularly in how localized, small scale patterns of urban development have emerged in Tokyo that define the city and make it what it is.
Really great analysis, with a lot of ideas and suggestions that anybody can advocate for in their own cities.
Really great analysis, with a lot of ideas and suggestions that anybody can advocate for in their own cities.
April 13, 2024
Such an insightful and intriguing read. I had visited Tokyo before reading, and recently returned. I was able to see the city in a whole new light, and patterns of development that seemed inexplicable before suddenly made sense!
I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in urban planning, tokyo, or both.
I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in urban planning, tokyo, or both.
March 9, 2023
Graphically stunning and full of patterns and observations on the city. However, its hand-wavy pro-regulation, anti-capital stance irked me quite a bit. For a book championing “emergence”, it really doesn’t like growth-oriented strategies. A shame to be full of so much contradiction.
November 15, 2022
I really loved this book! I work as an urban planner at a downtown development authority, and this book has many practical insights. I found it very helpful how Almazan traced various elements of Tokyo’s urban environment back to their origins and showed how they evolved over time. I’m already a believer in small-scale, bottom-up urbanism, but I still appreciated learning how these qualities have contributed to and enriched many Tokyo neighborhoods.
I loved the graphics as well. Almazan uses many creative maps/diagrams to illustrate concepts and change over time. The graphics provide great inspiration for reports/presentations/etc!
I loved the graphics as well. Almazan uses many creative maps/diagrams to illustrate concepts and change over time. The graphics provide great inspiration for reports/presentations/etc!
December 14, 2023
Emergent Tokyo seeks to unpack the conditions - the interplay between buildings, infrastructure, local culture and practices, legal codes and ground up responses to these conditions - that led to Tokyo's unique cityscape. In doing so, it seeks to counter the myths and cliches surrounding Tokyo's development - that it is somehow the "inevitable result of Japanese culture", or that Tokyo is uniquely chaotic unlike its more orderly Western counterparts. There is nothing "inevitable" about Tokyo's character; although it has been remarkably resilient, with its social fabric, sense of place and character surviving generations of natural disasters, political upheaval, and economic transformation, it is not indestructible nor immune to threats. And in unpacking the conditions of Tokyo's development, Emergent Tokyo seeks to offer an alternative to the "corporate led urbanism" which we see in so many megacities (including in Marunouchi and Roppongi in Tokyo today), so that others can "design Tokyo-esque adaptability and spontaneity" into their cities.
Emergent Tokyo explores the city's conditions of development by examining 5 Tokyo patterns: yokocho alleyways; multi-tenant zakkyo buildings; undertrack infills; ankyo streets; dense low-rise neighbourhoods. For each pattern, Emergent Tokyo examines 2-3 examples, deep diving into their development.
For yokocho alleyways, the warren of narrow streets with small bars and restaurants, Emergent Tokyo zooms into Shinjuku's Golden Gai, Shibuya's Nombei Yokocho and Nishi Ogikubo's Yanagi Koji, which sits in the suburbs along the Chuo Line. Emergent Tokyo notes that yokocho had their beginnings as temporary black markets that emerged in the post war period, which gradually transformed to bars for snacks and drinks from the late 1940s. The Stall Clean Up Order of 1949 did not eliminate these bars but sought to regularise them, by relocating them to nearby areas. Yokochos have a unique management structure - each lot is owned by an individual proprietor and the alleys are not public land but shared private property among all the landowners and maintained by them. (In the case of Nombei Yokocho, the land is by the association and each store owner owns only the building and the right to run their business.) The small footprint of each establishment lowers start up costs and risks, allowing them to serve as incubators for young restauranteurs. The small scale also allows owners to create niche offerings, allowing for diversity. Golden Gai landowners have faced pressures from developers to sell up so that the plots can be consolidated but in 1986, some bar owners banded together to protect their interests. This group also works to improve the collectively owned infrastructure in the area.
Zakkyo (meaning "vertical miscellany") buildings, the multi-storey , multi-tenant buildings containing a mixture of offices, and a range of consumer establishments, their facades plastered with neon signs, are the polar opposite of large department stores and office towers. The latter required developers with "the patience and capital to acquire and merge multiple plots over the years or even decades". By contrast, zakkyo buildings are often pencil thin buildings sitting on narrow plots. These came about as a result of regulations on building heights and access to natural heights (which shaped the form), and ground up processes where different commercial enterprises moved into the buildings and placed commercial signages on the staircases and elevators to advertise their offerings. The next generation of zakkyo buildings built on this foundation, with wider entrance lobbies, panoramic elevators and more orderly displays of advertisements. Emergent Tokyo zooms into the zakkyo of Yasukuni Ave, near Shinjuku Station, Kagurazaka Street in Shinjuku Ward, and the Karasumori zakkyo block in Shimbashi.
The authors contrast zakkyo buildings with other buildings like shopping malls; while both draw the public into vertical spaces, shopping centres "do it by routing pedestrian flows internally in ways that decrease the pedestrian density of their surrounding environs and walling themselves off from the public view [while]….zakkyo buildings achieve their vertical density by opening directly onto the street…when they cluster together they not only preserve pedestrian laneways but strengthen their central, connective role in public life". Like yokocho alleyways, the authors argue that zakkyo buildings offer a prime urban location for relatively small establishments. One will see independent and smaller businesses in zakkyo buildings even in fairly central locations, as opposed to franchises and chain stores.
On undertrack infills, these sprang up under the elevated sections of railway tracks, raised up to avoid competing with vehicular traffic at crossings under the national policy of "grade separation". The spaces under elevated railways were initially occupied by black markets after the war but the authorities (like in the case of Ameyoko Shotengai) regularised these by working with the railway companies to offer micro-lots to vendors under the tracks. Subsequently, those built in the 1960s and 1970s were built with the commercial use of undertrack space explicitly in mind. While viaducts can disrupt the urban fabric, in Tokyo, undertrack infills have helped to stitch together the urban fabric. But HOW the undertrack infills are designed have a profound impact on the urban fabric; undertrack spaces designed as windowless, inward-facing shopping malls deactivate the street while those that face outward and have independent shops add life to the street. Emergent Tokyo features three undertrack infill sites: Ameyoko Shotengai under the elevated JR lines between Ueno and Okachimachi Stations, the undertrack infills at Koenji Station on the Chuo Line and the Ginza Corridor, a 12m deep and 420m long undertrack area in the Ginza district.
On ankyo ("dark canal") streets, former watercourses that have been covered over and turned into paths and roads, Emergent Tokyo examines them as communal spaces of calm in a busy, sometimes frenetic, metropolis. Given that many ankyo are narrow, they tend not to have much vehicular traffic. Emergent Tokyo looks at 3 sites: the Mozart-Brahms Lane in Harajuku (near Takeshita Street); Yoyogi Lane and the Kuhonbutsu Promenade near the suburban station of Jiyugaoka.
Finally, on dense, low-rise neighbourhoods, the authors highlight that notwithstanding the stereotypical image of Tokyo as this neon-lit metropolis of ultra-modern buildings, the city is actually home to numerous intimate, highly-communal residential neighbourhoods. In particular, they examine the suburban neighbourhood of Higashi-Nakanobu in Shinagawa Ward, the historically planned district of Tsukishima in Chuo Ward and the north end of Shirokane.
Overall, it was fascinating learning about Tokyo's urban development context - how Japan's system of strong property rights has made it challenging for real estate developers to do large scale redevelopment; it was only with the 2002 Law on Special Measures for Urban Renaissance, which designated specific areas of the city as special zones where existing urban regulations were suspended, that developers could negotiate case-by-case deals with local government officials to redevelop these parts of the city. The authors note that this was something "the old system never would have permitted".
Emergent Tokyo argues that the regulatory system in place that allows for small, fragmented ownership, rather than privileging large developers, has created the conditions for diversity, resilience and community. For instance, "the system [in yokochos] allows owners and managers to customise their spaces, invest in them as a long term project, and get involved in decision-making affecting the yokocho as a whole. This emphasis on smallness and fragmented egalitarian ownership has fostered an emergent sense of community and shared responsibility." But what wasn't quite clear to me was how strata titled malls in places like Singapore - where individual units are owned by different owners rather than a single landlord - has led to the opposite outcome where unit owners have traditionally underinvested in common facilities.
Emergent Tokyo is a lovingly researched book with gorgeous, detailed visuals - maps showing how land use and plot sizes evolved over the years, building cross-sections to show building use and its evolution over time, photographs. Whether you are someone who is interested in urban design, or you just love visiting Tokyo, this book has something for you. I borrowed Emergent Tokyo from the library but really wanted to buy the book and a plane ticket to Tokyo to visit all the places that the book examines.
4.5 stars.
Emergent Tokyo explores the city's conditions of development by examining 5 Tokyo patterns: yokocho alleyways; multi-tenant zakkyo buildings; undertrack infills; ankyo streets; dense low-rise neighbourhoods. For each pattern, Emergent Tokyo examines 2-3 examples, deep diving into their development.
For yokocho alleyways, the warren of narrow streets with small bars and restaurants, Emergent Tokyo zooms into Shinjuku's Golden Gai, Shibuya's Nombei Yokocho and Nishi Ogikubo's Yanagi Koji, which sits in the suburbs along the Chuo Line. Emergent Tokyo notes that yokocho had their beginnings as temporary black markets that emerged in the post war period, which gradually transformed to bars for snacks and drinks from the late 1940s. The Stall Clean Up Order of 1949 did not eliminate these bars but sought to regularise them, by relocating them to nearby areas. Yokochos have a unique management structure - each lot is owned by an individual proprietor and the alleys are not public land but shared private property among all the landowners and maintained by them. (In the case of Nombei Yokocho, the land is by the association and each store owner owns only the building and the right to run their business.) The small footprint of each establishment lowers start up costs and risks, allowing them to serve as incubators for young restauranteurs. The small scale also allows owners to create niche offerings, allowing for diversity. Golden Gai landowners have faced pressures from developers to sell up so that the plots can be consolidated but in 1986, some bar owners banded together to protect their interests. This group also works to improve the collectively owned infrastructure in the area.
Zakkyo (meaning "vertical miscellany") buildings, the multi-storey , multi-tenant buildings containing a mixture of offices, and a range of consumer establishments, their facades plastered with neon signs, are the polar opposite of large department stores and office towers. The latter required developers with "the patience and capital to acquire and merge multiple plots over the years or even decades". By contrast, zakkyo buildings are often pencil thin buildings sitting on narrow plots. These came about as a result of regulations on building heights and access to natural heights (which shaped the form), and ground up processes where different commercial enterprises moved into the buildings and placed commercial signages on the staircases and elevators to advertise their offerings. The next generation of zakkyo buildings built on this foundation, with wider entrance lobbies, panoramic elevators and more orderly displays of advertisements. Emergent Tokyo zooms into the zakkyo of Yasukuni Ave, near Shinjuku Station, Kagurazaka Street in Shinjuku Ward, and the Karasumori zakkyo block in Shimbashi.
The authors contrast zakkyo buildings with other buildings like shopping malls; while both draw the public into vertical spaces, shopping centres "do it by routing pedestrian flows internally in ways that decrease the pedestrian density of their surrounding environs and walling themselves off from the public view [while]….zakkyo buildings achieve their vertical density by opening directly onto the street…when they cluster together they not only preserve pedestrian laneways but strengthen their central, connective role in public life". Like yokocho alleyways, the authors argue that zakkyo buildings offer a prime urban location for relatively small establishments. One will see independent and smaller businesses in zakkyo buildings even in fairly central locations, as opposed to franchises and chain stores.
On undertrack infills, these sprang up under the elevated sections of railway tracks, raised up to avoid competing with vehicular traffic at crossings under the national policy of "grade separation". The spaces under elevated railways were initially occupied by black markets after the war but the authorities (like in the case of Ameyoko Shotengai) regularised these by working with the railway companies to offer micro-lots to vendors under the tracks. Subsequently, those built in the 1960s and 1970s were built with the commercial use of undertrack space explicitly in mind. While viaducts can disrupt the urban fabric, in Tokyo, undertrack infills have helped to stitch together the urban fabric. But HOW the undertrack infills are designed have a profound impact on the urban fabric; undertrack spaces designed as windowless, inward-facing shopping malls deactivate the street while those that face outward and have independent shops add life to the street. Emergent Tokyo features three undertrack infill sites: Ameyoko Shotengai under the elevated JR lines between Ueno and Okachimachi Stations, the undertrack infills at Koenji Station on the Chuo Line and the Ginza Corridor, a 12m deep and 420m long undertrack area in the Ginza district.
On ankyo ("dark canal") streets, former watercourses that have been covered over and turned into paths and roads, Emergent Tokyo examines them as communal spaces of calm in a busy, sometimes frenetic, metropolis. Given that many ankyo are narrow, they tend not to have much vehicular traffic. Emergent Tokyo looks at 3 sites: the Mozart-Brahms Lane in Harajuku (near Takeshita Street); Yoyogi Lane and the Kuhonbutsu Promenade near the suburban station of Jiyugaoka.
Finally, on dense, low-rise neighbourhoods, the authors highlight that notwithstanding the stereotypical image of Tokyo as this neon-lit metropolis of ultra-modern buildings, the city is actually home to numerous intimate, highly-communal residential neighbourhoods. In particular, they examine the suburban neighbourhood of Higashi-Nakanobu in Shinagawa Ward, the historically planned district of Tsukishima in Chuo Ward and the north end of Shirokane.
Overall, it was fascinating learning about Tokyo's urban development context - how Japan's system of strong property rights has made it challenging for real estate developers to do large scale redevelopment; it was only with the 2002 Law on Special Measures for Urban Renaissance, which designated specific areas of the city as special zones where existing urban regulations were suspended, that developers could negotiate case-by-case deals with local government officials to redevelop these parts of the city. The authors note that this was something "the old system never would have permitted".
Emergent Tokyo argues that the regulatory system in place that allows for small, fragmented ownership, rather than privileging large developers, has created the conditions for diversity, resilience and community. For instance, "the system [in yokochos] allows owners and managers to customise their spaces, invest in them as a long term project, and get involved in decision-making affecting the yokocho as a whole. This emphasis on smallness and fragmented egalitarian ownership has fostered an emergent sense of community and shared responsibility." But what wasn't quite clear to me was how strata titled malls in places like Singapore - where individual units are owned by different owners rather than a single landlord - has led to the opposite outcome where unit owners have traditionally underinvested in common facilities.
Emergent Tokyo is a lovingly researched book with gorgeous, detailed visuals - maps showing how land use and plot sizes evolved over the years, building cross-sections to show building use and its evolution over time, photographs. Whether you are someone who is interested in urban design, or you just love visiting Tokyo, this book has something for you. I borrowed Emergent Tokyo from the library but really wanted to buy the book and a plane ticket to Tokyo to visit all the places that the book examines.
4.5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2023
I found the various graphs, diagrams, images, and especially the detailed views that supplemented the text a joy to look at and they helped me better understand what the author was trying to summarize about the city.
My favorite section was the one on ankyo streets. Ankyo means 'dark canal'. Tokyo used to be a water city of the likes of Venice, but most of the waterways were covered up (sometimes hastily) over the past century. This is a sad fact, but on the positive side many of these covered waterways are now used as intimate walking spaces and as extensions of residences or businesses. The narrowness of these streets along with the topographical lopsidedness compared to neighboring streets prevents car access. It seems fitting that on these streets you can see greenery growing as a result of the water still flowing underneath. The waterways are trying to provide something to us even as we have done our best to cover them up and forget about them.
I also enjoyed the section on undertrack infills, and I wish cities in the US would incorporate these. A lot of times the empty spaces underneath expressways and elevated rail tracks are pretty sketchy. It would be nice to have shopping or restaurant facilities built underneath. It seems like a much better use of space.
My favorite section was the one on ankyo streets. Ankyo means 'dark canal'. Tokyo used to be a water city of the likes of Venice, but most of the waterways were covered up (sometimes hastily) over the past century. This is a sad fact, but on the positive side many of these covered waterways are now used as intimate walking spaces and as extensions of residences or businesses. The narrowness of these streets along with the topographical lopsidedness compared to neighboring streets prevents car access. It seems fitting that on these streets you can see greenery growing as a result of the water still flowing underneath. The waterways are trying to provide something to us even as we have done our best to cover them up and forget about them.
I also enjoyed the section on undertrack infills, and I wish cities in the US would incorporate these. A lot of times the empty spaces underneath expressways and elevated rail tracks are pretty sketchy. It would be nice to have shopping or restaurant facilities built underneath. It seems like a much better use of space.
September 13, 2023
Excellent categorization of different types of urban areas in Tokyo. Tokyo is unique in its density and public transport and this book conveys how it has historically been achieved in Tokyo. Interestingly, Tokyo achieves many things desired in modern urban planning as espoused by Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl but with patterns that differ from those in other cities. Seeing Tokyo's implementation of various pattterns gives an idea of alternatives to standard ideas and acts as a foil to better understand what's desirable about the dense patterns of, say, Copenhagen. Additionally, this book succeeds excellently in explaining Tokyo's development as a result of just one historical path that is not a uniquely Japanese or Asian, but could have resulted in a Western city given different urban and political constraints.
My only quibble is that the anecdotes and description of current day make it sound like Tokyo is more moving away from spontaneous design rather than continuing the path of spontaneous design, contrary to the book title.
My only quibble is that the anecdotes and description of current day make it sound like Tokyo is more moving away from spontaneous design rather than continuing the path of spontaneous design, contrary to the book title.
February 12, 2023
La qualité des images n’arrive pas à sauver la pauvreté de l’analyse. Les informations sur les particularités de Tokyo ainsi que leurs origines sont intéressantes, mais la recherche s’arrête là. Quand les auteurs tentent de dresser le portrait des tendances actuelles, ils sont obnubilés par la vision manichéenne du corporatisme contre les forces émergentes.
Il n’y pas non plus d’analyse économique qui pourrait tenter d’expliquer pourquoi le Japon se sort relativement bien de la crise du logement dont la portée est internationale. S’il y a une leçon à tirer de cette ville, ça me semble être celle-là. Dommage que les auteurs n’aient pas vu l’intérêt de la documenter.
Il n’y pas non plus d’analyse économique qui pourrait tenter d’expliquer pourquoi le Japon se sort relativement bien de la crise du logement dont la portée est internationale. S’il y a une leçon à tirer de cette ville, ça me semble être celle-là. Dommage que les auteurs n’aient pas vu l’intérêt de la documenter.
June 9, 2023
A unique look at Tokyo from architectural and commercial communities' and (briefly) historical perspectives. Not claiming to be comprehensive, the focus is five structural community types: (1) tight alleyways, (2) zakkyo (tall, narrow, multi-purpose buildings with plentiful signage, (3) under-rail track phenomena, (4) ankyo (covered river streets), and (5) dense, low-rise neighborhoods. The author favors bottom-up emergent urban space development versus corporate uniformity with limited public space. Pages 196-99 provide further readings on Tokyo architecture, planning, and other relevant topics.
September 23, 2023
I absolutely adored this book. I've been so often frustrated by the tension between wanting cities to densify and build more and how "soulless" new development usually end up feeling. It's been hard for me to articulate why new development feels "soulless" and what it takes to give a city "soul", but I've always felt that Tokyo certainly had it.
This book clearly and beautifully explains the conditions that make Tokyo, how they arose, and why they don't have to be unique to Tokyo. It's given me an inspiring new framework for understanding cities, and I'm inspired to see how I can work to encourage more "emergent urbanism" in my own city of Seattle. Thank you Jorge and team!
This book clearly and beautifully explains the conditions that make Tokyo, how they arose, and why they don't have to be unique to Tokyo. It's given me an inspiring new framework for understanding cities, and I'm inspired to see how I can work to encourage more "emergent urbanism" in my own city of Seattle. Thank you Jorge and team!
January 1, 2024
3.5-4 stars. Critical urbanism that rejects Japanese cultural exceptionalism, but centres on the lessons that arise from Tokyo and how they can be applied to other cities. Very well researched, complete with detailed drawings/pictures. Good coverage towards the end of how Tokyo has been thought about by international and Japanese authors. Nonetheless, authors could have approached the intersection of neoliberal urbanism and what they term “emergent urbanism” more critically — the idea was glossed over without substantial exploration of what a meaningful intersection could entail (e.g., how to engender emergence within corporate-led urbanism).
March 21, 2024
This book takes a deep look at several particular urban amenities of Tokyo, recalling the history of why they exist and why they work. The paperback is full of amazingly detailed diagrams and photographs from across the city. It's very easy to imagine yourself being there or how these amenities could work in your own city.
Overall, this book is not a fetishization of Tokyo but an appreciation at a level so deep that it actually ends up feeling more like a blueprint for your own community. At the same time, it also goes a long way to explain these shouldn't be blueprints copy-and-pasted but reimagined based on first principles to build better communities everywhere.
Overall, this book is not a fetishization of Tokyo but an appreciation at a level so deep that it actually ends up feeling more like a blueprint for your own community. At the same time, it also goes a long way to explain these shouldn't be blueprints copy-and-pasted but reimagined based on first principles to build better communities everywhere.
August 26, 2023
One of the best laid out books I have ever read. The side of the paper is colored slightly to indicate the graphic sections, making it easy to navigate between chapters or to just skim the pretty diagrams if that's what you want. It has accurate and striking graphical / visual design. This beautiful book is well worth buying and keeping on your shelf.
Oh the actual content is alright. It talks about how light city planning and decentralized market forces produce the delightful lived environment of Tokyo. Seems true idk
Oh the actual content is alright. It talks about how light city planning and decentralized market forces produce the delightful lived environment of Tokyo. Seems true idk
August 21, 2023
Great readable look at what makes Tokyo, Tokyo. On top of explanations and analysis, there's lots of beautiful diagrams and photos of unique urban elements in Tokyo. It's a little bit skeptical of corporate development which may sound a bit suspicious to western YIMBYs but I think it makes a lot more sense in the context of Tokyo.
September 25, 2023
Any westerner in Tokyo ends up asking the 'how have they managed to make a megalopolis of 37 million so nice?' question, and there are loads of bad, cultural essentialist explanations lining up to answer it. This answers it instead via fine-grained urban history and good, clear diagrams, performing a major service in the process. Wished it had a chapter on toilets, however.
April 11, 2024
what an interesting book! my first deep dive of urban design that examines a specific city through a multi media approach. i can’t say how valid the authors are in how much weight they place on urban planning, but def fascinating to see the economic, political, cultural history behind tokyo’s city development
January 21, 2024
Fantastic book for anyone that loves Tokyo or urban planning. I love the former and have enjoyed learning more about urban planning and the damage that profit maximising developments can cause to the liveability of a city.
April 15, 2024
Interlibrary Loan for the WIN! This book did what it set out to do. Interesting read with maps + pictures about the growth of Tokyo, urban zoning/planning, what's happening now vs post war. If that's your jam, this is your book.
November 5, 2022
Great history of archericrture and design in Tokyo , excellent book aesthetic
January 20, 2023
Fantastic read for anyone interested in urban design, architecture, and/or sociology. Would also recommend for anyone visiting Tokyo.
August 30, 2023
This one was good
September 12, 2023
Enjoyed this and recommend it for anyone interested in urban planning or Tokyo.
March 10, 2024
Exceptionally good, readable, interesting, informative, well researched and appropriately democratic. The parts covering and lambasting nihonjinron also very thoughtful and well informed
August 18, 2022
An insightful and well-researched survey written in lay terms without dumbing anything down. The data-driven analysis and clustering of architectural districts was very interesting, and the numerous diagrams were highly illuminating.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews