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2021年9月25日土曜日

Never Ending Tokyo Projects: Catastrophe? or Rebirth?: Towards the Age of Community Design

Shuji Funo Never Ending Tokyo Projects Catastrophe? or Rebirth? Towards the Age of Community Design International IIAS workshop MegaUrbanization in Asia Directors of Urban Change in a Comparative Perspective International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) Leiden University Leiden 1214 December 2002


 Never Ending Tokyo Projects:

Catastrophe? or Rebirth?

Towards the Age of Community Design

 

 Dr. Shuji Funo


Introduction

Tokyo was only a small castle town at the beginning of 17th century but now is the capital, the largest metropolis in Japan, which has the population of over 12 million.  It is considered that the urbanization of Tokyo followed the orthogenetic process until the end of Edo era because Japan had closed the country from 1641 to 1853. only opening a port of Desima, Nagasaki to the Dutch. Japan had continued to be positioned at the periphery of European World Economy though silver exported through Desima had contributed to the development of European World Economy.  It might be interesting subject to be investigated historically that the population of Tokyo in the mid 17th century had already reached 1 million, which was competitive to those of European large cities like London, Paris etc.  Tokyo was a huge village-like mega city (huge urban village) in the mid 19th century.

The urbanization process of Tokyo from the Meiji restoration (1868) up to today is divided into several stages. Restructuring of Edo to modern capital Tokyo is the first program for the new Meiji government.  Industrialization began in 1880s and Tokyo started to be suffered from urban problems from 1890s. The first urban planning law and building code were legislated in 1919. Tokyo received critical damages by the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923). During wartime (1931-45), the urbanization of Tokyo was interrupted, but became the metropolis of East Asia. Japan expanded its territory to Asian regions constructing several colonial cities in Manchuria, Korean Peninsula and Taiwan(Formosa) where many experimental projects were realized based on the imported modern urban planning technologies.

Despite the greatest damage during the war, the postwar reconstruction of Japanese economy was completed roughly ten years after the end of the war. There were enormous concentrations of population and industries in and around Tokyo, the population of which exceeded over 10 million in early 1960s.

However, Japan's period of intensive economic growth gave way to a period of low, stable growth with the energy crisis in the 70s. The focus had been considered to be going to shift from outward urban expansion to the fuller development of already urbanized areas. But the bubble economy attacked the whole islands of Japan from the end of 1980s. Nobody could controll the activities of speculation. And the bubble economy had gone. The paradigm in terms of urban planning is shifting again. Tokyo is now suffering from the huge debt in the age of bubble economy.

 Many architects, planners and government officials in various levels for these 150 years launched many plans and projects to develop, improve and control Tokyo.  But almost all projects could not be accomplished or could only be implemented partly. It is usual in everywhere that the original ideas, visions and concepts are changed or distorted.  I will firstly pick up several projects, so called ‘Unaccomplished Tokyo Projects’ to discuss the questions: (1) what do the directors of new urban developments in Asia envision for the future, and (2) how do the directors manage to realize their ideas?   We might recognize the same problems of Japanese urban planning system from the beginning. 

   Tokyo had become a global city, which give influences to international financial markets in 1980s during which Japan had been grasping hegemony of World Economy as I. Wallerstein says[1].  Tokyo was completely connected to global networks, so the urban issues Tokyo faced were shifted to be in different dimension from other Japanese Cities.

Nobody control this phase of the global city. But the built environment of the city itself is of course important as living space and sites for services.

I would like to concentrate on the problematic of Tokyo after bubble economy and touch upon the new movement of community based planning in Japan after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which revealed the weak points of the tradition of urban planning system in Japan.

I would like to leave the general matter on Tokyo to several books written in English we have until now. Roman Cybriwsky revised his book “Tokyo: The Changing Profile of an Urban Giant”(1991) to “Tokyo: The Shogun’s City at the Twenty-First Century”(1998)[2] from which you can get good information on contemporary Tokyo and basic bibliography on Tokyo. P.P. Karan and Kristin Stapleton (ed. 1997) [3], “The Japanese City” includes 3 articles on Tokyo.

Jinnai Hidenobu wrote an excellent book “Tokyo”[4] from the viewpoint of a special anthropology.  We have “The Global City New York, London, Tokyo”[5] by Saskia Sassen from the view of World Economy.



 Fig. 0-1 Source: Paul Knox & John Agnew: ‘2 Patterns in the Economic Landscape’, “The Geography of the World Economy”, Edward Arnold, 1994


. An Overview of Tokyo:

 

1.     Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Tokyo Metropolis is located at approximately the center of the Japanese archipelago in the southern Kanto Area, bordered to the east by the Edogawa River and Chiba Prefecture, to the west by mountains and Yamanashi Prefecture, to the south by the Tamagawa River and Kanagawa Prefecture, and to the north by Saitama Prefecture.

The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area is made up of Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. It is a surprise that around 26.3% of Japan's total population live in Metropolitan Area.

 Fig. Ⅰ-1 Japan and Tokyo    Fig. Ⅰ-2 Prefectures in Tokyo Metropolitan Areas 

Tokyo is a vast self-governing unit consisting of 23-ku (ward), 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages and is divided into two major areas, 23 ku area and Tama area. The Tama Area is adjacent to the 23-ku areas. It has become urbanized but is also blessed with an abundance of ponds, rivers, forests, and other natural environmental advantages. However the Tama area is merely a bedroom town area for people commuting to the 23-ku areas

at present. Each ku is an administrative area of the city. The total area of all 23 ku covers about 621 square kilometers.

  Although it is not known well, Tokyo has several islands that have a total area of about 406 square kilometres. The population remains steady with about 30,000 persons. This area possesses a pristine natural environment abundant with marine resources. Being geographically isolated and financially weak, with a small administrative scale, the islands are faced with serious problems related to improving basic living standards through further development of marine and air transportation network services and medical care facilities. Agriculture and fisheries, which support the island economy, are faced with a shortage in labour.

 

2. The Population of Tokyo

The population of Tokyo Metropolitan Government is up to 12.17 million (as of October 1, 2001), which is 9.5% of Japan's total population, the largest population of any of the 47 prefectures. Tokyo's area, 2,187.0 square kilometers or 0.6% of the total area of Japan, is the 3rd smallest of the prefectures. The population density is 5,565 persons per square kilometer; Tokyo is by far the most densely populated prefecture in Japan. The 23-ku areas are home to 8.21 million persons, the Tama area 3.94 million and the Islands 27,000. Tokyo has 5.518 million households, and the average household comprises 2.2 persons.

The population movement between Tokyo and other prefectures in 2000 showed 444,000 persons moving into Tokyo while 391,000 persons moved out, a total movement of 835,000 persons for a net population increase of 37,000 persons. Regarding total movement, the trend of depopulation has been prevailing since 1967, with the exception of 1985. In 1997, there was a net population increase for the first time in 12 years, and 2000 again showed a net increase. Looking at the total movement between Tokyo and the three adjacent prefectures (Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures), 208,000 came into Tokyo with 205,000 moving out, a total movement of 413,000 persons or 47.6% of the total, for a net population decline of 3,000 persons. As far as natural population movement is concerned, births numbered 101,000 with deaths numbering 84,000 for a net increase of 17,000 during 2000. The degree of net increases has been declining yearly since 1972, with the exception of 1994 and 1996.

According to the January 1, 2001 Basic Registry of Residents, Tokyo's population of 11.823 million fell into three age categories as follows: juveniles (ages 0-14) numbered 1.427 million; the working age population (ages 15-64) numbered 8.471 million; and the aged population (65 years old and over) numbered 1.905 million. These represent 12.1%, 72.8% and 16.1%, respectively, of the overall population.

According to the National Census in 1995, the Working Age Group, when broken down into 3 industrial groups, showed 31,000 persons (0.5%) in primary industries of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, 1.615 million (25.6%) in secondary (mining, construction and manufacturing) industries and 4.547 million (72.1%) in tertiary industries of commerce, transportation, communication and services.

According to the National Census in 1995, the working population, broken down into 4 employment groups, indicates that 29,000 persons (0.5%) were employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; 1.544 million (24.8%) in manufacturing and transportation related employment; 1.784 million (28.7%) in sales and services; and 2.867 million (46.1%) in clerical, technical and management occupations.
 The National Census in 1995 lists the daytime population of Tokyo as 14.572 million people, which was 2.837 million more than the nighttime population figure at 11.735 million. The difference is caused by the population of commuting workers and students, constituting a daytime influx from the 3 neighboring prefectures (Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures)
. Taking the nighttime population as a base of 100, the daytime population factor is 124, indicating that the daytime figure is over 1.2 times the nighttime level. 
The daytime population, broken down by area, shows 11.191 million in the 23-ku area, 3.348 million in the Tama Area and 32,000 persons in the islands. Their respective factors are 141, 89, and 101, with the 23-ku figures noticeably higher. Remarkably, the three Tokyo core ku - Chiyoda-ku, Chuo-ku and Minato-ku - have a factor of 1,030 (nighttime population 243,000 persons with a daytime 2.5 million) indicating that their daytime population is more than 10 times the nighttime population.


Fig. I-4 Trends of Population of Tokyo and Gross Metropolitan Product

Table -1 The Population of Tokyo



 

3.  A Brief History of Tokyo

    The origin of the city[6] goes back to the foundation of a small castle called Edo in 1457, which was built by a feudal lord named Dokan Ohta in the region. But had been only a small castle town before the end of 16th century. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) occupied the town in 1590 and made it the central governmental city since he established a military government, the Tokugawa Bakufu (Shogunate) at Edo, in 1603, although Kyoto, where the Emperor resided, was still the formal capital of Japan. The Edo era lasted for nearly 260 years until imperial rule was restored (the Meiji Restoration) in 1868.

                                                     Fig. -5 Edo in early 19th century

  Tokugawa Shogunate closed country to foreign countries except Dutch[7] from 1641 to 1853. Japan had no migrants from outside during so-called Sakoku (closed country) era. Political authority in Japan was divided among a centralized, bureaucratised military regime (the shogunate) and some 250 bureaucratised feudal domains.  It is thought that Tokyo might be a unique example in terms of urbanization in the process of formation of Modern World System.


                   Fig. -6  Diagram of Edo Spatial Structure

   Although I have no space here to describe the detail process of urbanization of Tokyo, as the centre of politics and culture in Japan, Edo grew into a huge city in the eighteenth century. According to the reliable record, Edo was consisted of about 300 neighbourhood units in Kanei Period (1624-44), which increased up to 933 n.u.  in 1713, and 1678 n.u. in 1745. The estimated population is 350,000 in 1695 and 500,000 in 1721.  This is the point for later discussion that Edo was the special city for administration and a half of the inhabitants belonged to the class of Busi (knight) who formally resided in the country. So the total number of inhabitants in Edo was over 1 million in the end of 18 century, which is beyond those of London and Paris.  It is said Edo was the largest city ---it might be better to say the huge urban village---in the world in early 19th century in terms of population.

When the Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end in 1868, Edo was renamed Tokyo, which means Eastern Capital. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, which at last became the capital of Japan both in name and reality.

  Japanese society was opened to the world and suffered from drastic changes. During the Meiji era (1868-1912), Japan began its voracious absorption of Western civilization. Social structure was rapidly transformed according to destruction of old regime of Edo period. In 1869, Japan's first railway, between Tokyo and Yokohama, was opened, and the first steam locomotive started running in 1872 on the line from Shimbashi to Yokohama. In 1885, the cabinet system of government was adopted and Japan established the political system of a modern nation-state with the drafting of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan in 1889.

Industrial Revolution in Japan started in 1880’s and Tokyo absorbed a huge number of populations from rural area, the population of which reached to about 2million at the beginning of 20th century.  Three famous slum areas were formed within Tokyo from 1890s.

During the Taisho era (1912-1926), the number of wage earners increased in Japan's cities and an increasing proportion of citizens came to lead consumer lifestyles. It is thought that Japanese Economy was involved in World Economy in 1920s.

 In September 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo and the fires caused by the earthquake burned the city centre to the ground. 140,000 people were reported dead or missing and 300,000 houses were destroyed. After the earthquake, a city reconstruction plan was formulated but because the projected costs exceeded the national budget only a small part of it was realized.

The Showa era (1926-1989) started in a mood of gloom because of Great Kanto Earthquake and economic crisis.  Japan was just in front of Wartime (1931-45). In 1927, however, Japan's first subway line was opened and in 1931, Tokyo Airport was completed in Haneda and in 1941 the Port of Tokyo was opened. By 1935, the number of people living in Tokyo had reached 6.36 million, comparable to the populations of New York and London at that time.

In 1941 the Pacific War broke out. In 1943, to prosecute the war, the dual administrative system of Tokyo-fu and Tokyo-shi was abolished and they were consolidated to form Tokyo Metropolis. (The Metropolitan administrative system was thus established and a governor was appointed). In the final phase of World War II, Tokyo was bombed 102 times, including the heaviest air raid of the war on March 10, 1945, in which many citizens lost their lives and property. The war came to an end on August 15, 1945 when Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Much of Tokyo had been laid waste by the bombings and by October 1945 the population had fallen to 3.49 million, half its level in 1940.

In May 1947, the Constitution of Japan based on the doctrine of democratic sovereignty and the Local Government Act was promulgated. The first Governor of Tokyo was elected under the new system. In 1949, Tokyo Metropolis started the 23-ku systems. Japanese economy steadily recovered during the 1950s, in part due to the special procurement demand arising from the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, and in the 1960s Japan entered a period of high-level economic growth. In 1962, the population of Tokyo broke the 10 million mark. In 1964, the Olympic games were held in Tokyo and the Shinkansen was opened, forming the basis for Tokyo's current prosperity.

By the beginning of the 1970s, the excesses of high-level economic growth became apparent in environmental problems such as air pollution, river pollution and noise pollution. At the same time, the Oil Crisis of 1973 brought the period of high-level economic growth to a halt.

In the 1980s, Tokyo again enjoyed rapid economic growth through internationalisation and the emergence of the information society. Tokyo became one of the world's most vital and attractive major cities, boasting advanced technology, information, culture and fashion, as well as a high level of public safety. On the other hand, this rapid growth exacerbated urban problems such as environmental pollution, traffic congestion and disaster protection measures. Furthermore, from 1986, land prices and stocks shot up through the "bubble economy."

At the beginning of the 1990s the bubble economy collapsed and, with the continuing economic recession since then, tax income has decreased and the Metropolitan Administration now faces a critical situation.

Now, standing at the dawn of a new historical starting point at the beginning of the 21st century, Tokyo are suffering from financial difficulties derived from due bill in the age of "bubble economy".

 

. The Unaccomplished Tokyo Projects[8]

  It might be convenient to divide the development of modern urban planning in Japan into several stages as follows for retracing the urban projects related to Tokyo. I would like to pick up several Tokyo projects from each stage and discuss their backgrounds and results. We shall reconfirm the same issues underlain in Japanese urban planning system repeatedly.

 

1 Development of Urban Planning in Japan

(1) The period introducing the European way of urban reform (1868-87):

One of the most urgent tasks of Meiji New Government is to remodel Edo to a modern capital competitive to European capitals like London and Paris. Central government invited and hired the foreign engineers[9] to make up the new face of Japanese capital before catching up with the level of industrialization in western countries. The modernization of Tokyo in the Western image was a prime objective.

Two projects are symbolic in this period. One is of Ginza commercial block project, which refashioned the entire Ginza district in red brick after the great fire in 1872. Brick structure was adopted not only for fire protection but also for a showpiece giving a European flavor.  Brick structures, however, were abandoned soon because of a frequent earthquake in Japan. Newspaper at that time condemned the Ginza project that is not suitable for Japanese climate and induces beriberi.

The other is Hibiya Governmental Offices Concentration projects (1886-87) at Kasumigaseki. Herman Ende and Willhelm Beckman from Germany were invited to plan and design the central district of Tokyo. The project was not implemented by objection James Hooprecht, a civil engineer, who had planned Berlin Plan in 1862, because of financial pressure.  H. Ende abridged the project and only two buildings were constructed on the site, half of which is now Hibiya Park, which is the first western type of public park.

  

(2) Tokyo Shikukaisei Jorei (Tokyo Urban Improvement Ordinance) period (1880-1918):

The first legislation in Japan to facilitate city planning, Tokyo Shikukaisei Jorei, was enforced in 1888. It was made of 16-point initiative that created a city planning board and set in motion various improvements to infrastructure, especially in the downtown area. The greatest attention was given to road construction. The model was Great Reform of Paris by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussman(1809-91). However, because of outbreaks of cholera, attention became to given to supplying water and removing sewerage. The great reform plan of road network was interrupted[10].

 

(3) The period establishing the urban planning system (1910-1935):

The Toshi Keikaku Hou “Town Planning Act” was adopted in 1919 with the first “Municipal Area Building Law” in Japan. Toshi Keikaku that means urban planning in Japanese was firstly used in the late 1920s. The emphasis continued to be on infrastructure to establish a modern industry. The act and building law adopted the zoning system to delineate fire-protection zones and to identify districts within the city for the special use. It also provided for land adjustment such as the straightening of roads and property lines in suburban areas that were soon expected to change from farms to houses. The concept and method of land readjustment were introduced from Germany.

“New Tokyo” Plan was launched by S. Fukuda, a city architect-engineer in 1918. He estimated that the population of Tokyo would be 6.76 million after 50 years (1961) and the area would be 3.6 times of the area at that time, on the assumption that the density should be 250 persons/ha.  “New Tokyo” Plan individually proposed were only on the paper.

The first true test came with the Great Kanto Earthquake[11] of 1923. Goto Shimpei, mayor of Tokyo, was put in charge of reconstruction and drew up the plan. He was a national figure who had experiences as an administrator in Taiwan and had proposed grand plans for the city just before the emergency. His plan included laying out new street lines and wider streets, reorganization of the rail network, improvements to water and sewer systems and creation of open spaces. However, only a few elements of the master plan were actually accomplished, because the cost was to have been considerable and because of opposition by powerful landowners. The issues of land acquisition are the point of urban planning from the beginning.

The Dojunkai (Foundation for Restoration after Great Kanto Earthquake) established based on the donation from foreign countries became the first body supplying public houses in Japan. Japan began to build collective houses called apartment with detached and semi-detached houses by Dojunkai. Dojunkai also started slum upgrading projects and carried out the land readjustment projects

 

(4) The period during wartime (1931-45):

Ironically speaking, we had the only chance to realize the idea of modern urban planning in the colony like Taiwan (Formosa), Manchuria (North Eastern China) and Korean peninsula. Datong City Plan and Dalian Plan in China are famous Japanese colonial projects. Japanese architects considered the colony as experimental field to realize the idea of modern architecture and modern urban planning. Colonial urban planning recalls us that urban planning with top down process needs the political power of states for realizing the idea. Architects and planners learned a lot from Nazi’s planning idea in this period.

“Tokyo Green Belt Plan” was proposed by a committee of central government in 1939.  The plan including the green belt that circled the whole Tokyo, protection of scenic spots and in part air defense, had no time and money to be implemented.

(5) The period of reconstructing (1945-54)

Fig. -6  Tokyo Green Belt Plan 1939

 

   The Japanese metropolises received the greatest damage during the war. Something of the same can be said about what happened after the end of World War II.  It is not a wonder that the authority had prepared the reconstruction plan after war.  Ishikawa Eiyo, Tokyo government’s chief planner prepared a “War Damage Rehabilitation Plan” that adopted a symmetrical radial and ring-road network for Tokyo with spaced green belts and separation of land uses through zoning. However it is too idealistic to be implemented.

   Land readjustment projects were planned in many districts of Tokyo but it took much time to be decided. Much competition related to reconstruction programs were held, but nations ruined economy did not allowed their implementation. 

Just one year after the war, the Special City Planning Law was enacted and large-scale reconstruction plans were laid for several cities. The Capital Construction Law was passed in 1950. This law established the Capital Construction Committee, a national organization devoted to the goal of Tokyo's reconstruction, determined the Emergency five-year Capital Construction Plan. However, under the severe economic conditions that prevailed, it was impossible to effectively realize these plans and they were left for the next generation to solve.

 

(6) The period of urban development (1955-68)

   The postwar reconstruction of economy was completed roughly ten years after the end of the war. There were enormous concentrations of population and industries in the metropolises, particularly Tokyo, and depopulation in the provinces. Problems such as the rapid expansion of urbanized areas, shortage of housing, increased land use prices and confusion in land became manifest in the metropolitan areas, and their solution became an extremely urgent policy issue.

     A Capital Region Development Plan came to be seriously considered in order to control such excessive concentration of population. To this end, a Capital Region Development Law was enacted in 1956 to replace the Capital Construction Law of 1950.     

     This Plan was modeled on the Great London Plan by Sir Patrick Abercrombie’s concept for London and was based on the idea of strong controls. In order to carry it out, a law promoting the construction of industrial satellite cities and another restricting factory location in existing urbanized areas was passed in 1958. These industrial satellite cities were intended to be similar in function to English New Towns, but most of them were built as new industrial developments in the suburbs of exiting cities.

    Earlier, the Japan Housing Corporation (now the Japan Housing and Urban Development Corporation) had been established in 1955 as semi-public organization to carry out large-scale housing construction and housing site development in metropolitan areas. This represented a task force for constructing large housing development and new towns, and its activities ushered in a new era in new town construction in Japan.

 The construction of new towns, gathering momentum, received great attention. New towns were built one after another in the suburbs, being intended for middle-income level families. The New Residential Built-up Area Development Law and the Law for the Infrastructure Development of New Cities are notable as measures that dealt realistically with metropolitan development. There were various advances in city planning and national land planning.

     However, it should be noted that the new towns that were created were very different from the self contained New Towns of England that provided both places of work and housing. This was in a sense the inevitable result of the conditions prevailing in Japan at the time and an expression of the nature of planning in Japan as well.

     It soon became clear that the Capital Region Development Plan was unrealistic in that it underestimated the pressures of industrial and population concentration in the metropolises. In particular, the idea of green belts was totally ineffective in the face of the sprawl into the suburbs in the 1960s. As a result, a reevaluation of the plan became necessary. The Capital Region Development Law was revised in 1965, and the second Capital Region Development Master Plan was established in 1968.

   Kenzo Tange proposed  “Tokyo Plan 1960” following K. Kikutake’s “City on the Sea”(1958) and “Tower City”(1959). “Tokyo Plan 1960” that insisted the linear structure in place of radial system was the project that changed the former policy of city planning. Many architects including K.Kurokawa (“Rurban City”, “Spiral City”), F. Maki (‘Group Form’),…who had belonged Metabolism Groups launched the ideal projects for the future city emulously as well as the Master Architect in the modern age.  A. Isozaki also proposed the project called ‘The City in the Air’.

   The prominent urban projects by star architects were only proposed for two or three years in the beginning 0f 1960s. Realization seems out of their concerns because of their proposal were lacking for procedure and money for implementation. We can say their image of future city was temporarily realized as the formation of the sites for Expo’ 70.  It is a rare case that K. Kikutake’s “City on the Sea”(1958) was realized as “Aqua polis” in 1975.

 

   The 1964 Tokyo Olympics transformed landscape of Tokyo radically by constructing Shuto Kosoku (Metropolitan highway) and many facilities like National Gymnasium. However, little was done to build a better living environment at that time and citizens had suffered severe water shortage and air pollution in the late 1960s. 

  

(7) The period establishing new urban planning system (1968-85):

   “Town Planning Law” was revised in 1968, when the urban planning system was barely established.

   Japan's period of intensive economic growth gave way to a period of low, stable growth with the energy crisis. The focus had been considered to be going to shift from outward urban expansion to the fuller development of already urbanized areas.

   Paradigm concerning urban planning and housing shifted from large scale projects to small scale projects, from new construction to urban renewal, from high rise flats to low-middle rise town house, from quantity of dwelling units to quality of life and so on. The idea of ‘B (Bebaungs)-Plan’ was introduced in this period.

   Planning in Tokyo began to move in new directions after mid-1960s, the reason why citizens had become fed up with the poor condition of the city and the slow pace of improvements to their neighborhoods. Minobe Ryokichi, a university professor who had been criticizing the urban policy as a Socialist-Communist coalition was erected as the governor in 1967.  He talked about clean rivers and blue skies and promised to work toward a more healthful Tokyo. He became a popular two-term governor until 1979 that reoriented much about planning in the city but almost brought the city to bankruptcy.

       

(8) The period of anti-planning in the age of  “bubble economy”(1982-1993):

    What came after the stable growth period was bubble economy. Nobody could expect the bubble economies attack the whole islands of Japan from the end of 1980s.

    Suzuki Shunichi occupied the seat of governor after Minobe in 1979 and served four terms till 1995. He called his vision for the city ‘My Town Tokyo’. His administration put together a series of three comprehensive plans: 1982, 1986 and 1990. The biggest difference from the previous administration was an emphasis on the CBD and other major commercial districts, where construction of large, showy projects was intended to advance Tokyo as an international business center and metropolis.

  Criticism of Suzuki-era planning focused on its affinity for large, flashy construction projects said to be] too expensive and maybe even unnecessary.  

    

(9) The period of community design after bubble economy(1995-):

 But the bubble economy has gone. The paradigm in terms of urban planning is shifting again. There will be fewer large-scale projects and greater interest in creating communities and enriching the people's immediate environment; instead of plans concerned with hardware, i.e. facilities. There will be greater interest in creating urban culture.

Then Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 revealed the weakness of the tradition of urban planning in Japan.

 The waterfront became a principal issue in the gubernatorial election of 1995.

Promising voters to cut back on waterfront construction erected Aoshima Yukio, known as a TV comedian. The stop of ‘World City Exposition Tokyo’96- Urban Frontier’ symbolize the end of the age of bubble economy and infinite expansion.

 

 

2      The Fundamental Issues of Japanese Urban Planning System

We can summarize and point out general issues of Japanese city and urban planning, looking back the history of urban planning of Tokyo.

 

    a The lack of originality:

We have always been importing the concepts and systems of urban planning from the western countries. We introduced the way of Baron Haussmann's grand project of Paris in 19th century at the beginning, Nazi's idea of national land planning during the world war II, the concept of Greater London plan after the world war II, German B-plan in the early 80s, and so on. It is not bad to learn the foreign systems, but it does not necessarily work well in different context.  We need the ideas and methods rooted in realities in Japan.       

 

    b The absence of subjectivity in urban planning: passiveness of people:

  Who plan and design the city is not clear in Japan. Local government that is controlled by central government cannot decide any matter related urban planning.  In addition, we have not established the systems of people's participation and advocate planning.

 

   c The weakness of financial background specialized in urban planning:

     We have not special funds for urban planning. That depends on the budget year by year.  The policy may easily be change by the mayor who also be replaced by election. The unstable planning board is also problematic. The officials in local government move from one board to another board frequently. We need the professionals in urban planning in and by urban planning board. 

 

   d The immaturity of public sense that limit the private right for urban planning:

     Japan is said to be the freest country as for designing the building. It is because that no close relation between the building code and the urban planning law (block regulations).  Cityscape is getting chaotic though architects who are responsible for the coordination enjoy the freedom.

 

   e  'Scrap and build' urban process:

   We have been repeating scrap and built process for this half century after the war. Urban planning had neglected the urban historical heritage. The poorness of urban stocks is a big problem for the future.

 

 

. Urban Policy and Strategies of Tokyo: The Problematic:

 

1      Post Modern City Tokyo: Tokyo at its Zenith

 

  (1) Supersaturate City: Disappearance of Frontier

   In the mid-1980s, Tokyo reached to a kind of climax or a saturation point in terms of horizontal expansion. So-called “Tokyo Problem” and ‘Tokyo Reform’ were a main topic of those days. Many scholars and critics discussed the issues derived from monopoly of Tokyo and the possibilities of moving capital. It is abnormal that about 1/4 of the total population of Japan live in Metropolitan area of Tokyo.

   However, new frontiers were sought for further development of Tokyo because of affluent money to be invested. The first target was unused public land within the central district and down town. Large real estate company launched many redevelopment projects and many winklers attacked and purchased the downtown area. There were the districts whole building had disappeared.

  The second frontier is the sky. Tokyo still has more space in the air than New York. The Manhattan Project, which renews the CBD, was launched.

  The third frontier is the underground, so called geo front.  The project to create a city with 500,000-population underground of Tokyo was proposed seriously.

   The fourth target was waterfront where the dockyards, factories and son had been located on.    ‘World City Exposition Tokyo’96” planned on waterfront was named ‘Urban Frontier’.  

 

    (2) A Global City: 24 hours city

    Tokyo became one of the global financial centers, which attracts international businessmen in 80s.  The demand of office space for them was one of the reasons that need bubble economy. Tokyo is now completely involved in international networks and active for 24hours.

    Tokyo invited a huge influx of foreign workers she had never experienced before. The registered number of foreign residents reached 327,000 (as of October 1, 2001) and represented 2.5% of the total population that seems less than those of the city in developed countries, but 1.3 times more than the total figure 10 years earlier. 

 

    (3) Cyber city: Artificial City

     We are losing the opportunity to contact directly with nature in our daily life.  Every space in Tokyo becomes to be artificially controlled by computer.  Aluminum sashes which can airproof the space tightly had been prevailed 100% all over Japan in the 60s, which means all dwelling units are now air-conditioned. So called intelligent office buildings became in fashion in 80s. Domed stadium where indoor climate is freely controlled completely and football game can be played even in storm might be the model of the future city.

     

    (4) Virtual City: Temporary City

   Paradigm seems to be shifted again from a huge city to compact city, from flow to stock, from newly build to maintenance………..     However, scrap and build process is still going on in Tokyo which is losing the historical memory of the city. We are living in the image of the city, denying the reality, or in virtual reality.  Tokyo is l a temporary metropolis like a huge site for international exposition.

     

    (5) The Death of City: The City Completed

    The city might be completed at the critical point it will be saturated. But does it mean a death of the city if it will lose the frontier? The real city is limited physically and cannot be expanded infinitely. The global environmental issues teach us we need the maintenance system of the urban space based on the natural ecology.

     The system of production and consumption of spaces are economically controlled by investment technology.  If we have one possibility to shift the mechanism of producing spaces, the system will be based on eco-system in the region.

2 The Tokyo Plan 2000

 New governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Municipality, S. Ishihara, a famous novelist, the former congressman and opinion leader, is now launching new policies some of which resist the orientation of central government, with powerful leadership.   

He set 16 policy goals, the first of which is “Create an Urban City that Facilitates a Balance of Job and Residence” which is consisted of two strategies:‘Promotion of inner city residence’ and ‘Fundamentally reform the Metropolitan housing system’.  The former strategy includes bringing workplaces and residential areas closer together in the Tama (suburban) area.  In short, it is insisted that residence and work place should be near.

  The second goal related to urban planning is “Improve Tokyo's Convenience as a City with the Smooth Interaction of People, Goods, and Informationwhich is consisted of several strategies: ‘Resolve chronic traffic congestion early’, Aim for the improvement of public transportation services and collective development,Create an efficient inter-city distribution system’ and so on.

   Two goals above are expectant treatments needed from the beginning. The third goal “Create a Hometown with Abundant Nature and Culture” is also old-fashioned slogan, but one of the strategies ‘Create the "face" of Tokyobacked by its history, culture, and geographical features seems a new flavour. The strategies include (1) Improvement of the "face"Shore protection improvement Restoration of the Tokyo JR Station and revitalization of gardens that are cultural assets Underground electric cables and road landscaping, (2) Utilization of the "face" the establishment of facilities such as open terrace cafes at the water's edge or on wide pedestrian paths ・Guides that are easy to understand for pedestrians, (3) Communicating the "face""Tokyo Location Box (tentative)".  All are the strategies of the community design level.

   Following goals are not directly related to urban design and physical planning.

  Goal 4:Nurture Unique and Talented Human Resources

  Goal 5: Remove Unreasonable Social Restrictions and Create a Society Where People Can Choose Various Kinds of Lifestyles Depending on Their Motivation and Ability

   Goal 6: Promote Management Innovation in Enterprises, New Businesses, and Startups to Revitalize Industry

 

Goal7 “Decrease the Level of Danger in the Area and Create a Safe City” i.e. ‘Create an earthquake-resistant city structure’ is common goal of local government after Great Hanshin Earthquake.  Local government are expanding designated areas for fire prevention by introducing a new fireproof districts system. Suggest and call for the national government to establish a new fireproof districts system that takes into consideration the characteristics of areas with closely packed wooden houses and designate new fireproof districts that are especially important in terms of fire prevention. In areas especially vulnerable to the spread of the fire, evacuation routes (mini fire containment zones) will be formed while preventing fire from spreading when an earthquake occurs.

  Goal 8 “Improve the Urban Environment and Protect the Health of Citizens” through ‘Take thorough measures with respect to diesel-powered vehicles’ and ‘ Promote detoxification of PCBs’ is one of the most sensational strategy citizens pay attention to.

   Goal 9 “Decrease Environmental Load and Create a Sustainable Society” is new goal in the age of Global Environmental Issues.  To introduce new energy sources for a decreased environmental load, to alleviate the heat island phenomenon and to establish an adequate disposal system for industrial waste are thought to be needed but the visual image of the city are not drawn yet.

 Gaols 10-14 below are related to social infrastructure and networks.

 Goal 10 ” Promote the Longevity of Social Infrastructure and Keep City Functions

Goal 11 “Promote Care Ability of Community and Create a Society That Supports Independent Living

 Goal 12 “Create a Society Where Children Can Grow up in a Healthy Environment

 Goal 13 “Create a Society Where Those Who Are Willing to Work Can Have Jobs

 Goal 14 “Provide Citizens with Appropriate Information so that They Can Take Proper Actions

 Lastly,  “The Tokyo Plan 2000” declared two goals.

 Goal 15 “Bring out the Potential of the Tokyo Metropolitan Megalopolis and Become a Driving Force for Japan in the 21st Century

Goal 16 “Create an Appealing Tokyo and Become a Peerless International City

 

3 Lessons from Great Hanshin Earthquake

   In the early morning on January 17, 1995, we had experienced the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The building collapsed killed over 6,000 people, flying objects (furnitures) and the fires. About 300,000 people have lost their houses and were compelled to live in the temporary shelters until the end of August 1995 when the emergency houses were barely completed. Just after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, I walked through the area damaged 30 km from east and west several times.   What I saw was the death of the city or the dying city. I had never known it could happen that the city dies.

     And at the same time I saw the scene that the city is going to be rebirth. I knew the importance of unity, autonomy and solidarity of urban community.  The Great Hanshin Earthquake taught us many things in terms of urban planning and urban communities.

 

  (a) The Power of Nature

      Those who live in the metropolis in the developed countries tend to believe we can completely control the nature. But we understand that is not correct when we have disasters, i.e., floods, typhoon and earthquake. We are likely to forget the fears of the nature. As the speed of urbanization grows faster, the waste land and swampy land that was formally unsuitable for human living  have been being developed. Cutting the hills and reclaiming the sea was thought to be killing two birds with one stone. Nevertheless, we never forget the power of the nature.

      It is very important to survey the sites carefully and assess the environment in detail when we construct the new towns.

      On the other hand, we can reconfirm the splendid power of the nature. I'd seen the trees in front of houses that protected them from fire. It is also very important to use the potentialities of the land and the natural surroundings.

  

  (b) The Limitations of Urban Development Strategies

      Those who were damaged the most severely this time are the weak of the societies living in the inner city, the handicapped, the urban poor, the foreigners and so on. The fact reveals the results and evidences that the local governments had not improved inner areas that had needed environmental improvement programs. They had given priorities over the developments of the new town like promoters and developers, because it is more effective to develop the city from the economical viewpoints. As a result, they had ignored and putted off the urban renewal projects. The Great Hanshin Earthquake reveals the limits of urban growth development strategies.      

     

  (c) The Weakness of the Networks of Urban Infrastructures

      The faults of systems of infrastructures are also recognized. All the railroad lines and trunk roads run from east to west and those from north to south are very few because of the conditions of topography.

      The systems of water, electricity and gas supply services, had the same faults. There are no alternatives and double systems. We need multi-pole network systems in place of one-pole centered systems.

        

  (d) The Scarcity of Public spaces

      The most useful facilities to recover the urban communities are public (elementary and secondary) schools for shelter and convenience stores for food supply. Neighborhood facilities are very important in case of emergency as well as in daily life. It was very serious that hospitals, offices of local government, fire station and police station were destroyed. We knew that the

We should build public facilities based on the high standards.

      The scarcity of urban public spaces (parks, playgrounds, sport fields) was fatal because we had even no spaces to build emergency houses after disasters. 

 

  (e) The Importance of the Autonomy of Urban Settlements

      The situations that people only had been seeing their houses being burned and hearing the call for help without anything to do because of no means were miserable. We need water, foods and other daily necessaries in the neighborhood units. We had buried the well and covered the river for convenience, so there was no water around us to put out the fire.  The urban settlements should be self-supported. The autonomy of urban community is so important to help each other.

 

  (f) The Possibilities of Volunteers in Urban Planning

      The volunteers worked hard and well to recover the damage. Japan had no volunteer system, but volunteers gathered spontaneously. We recognize Non-Profit Organization has to be organized as a network system to help the daily life as well as emergent situation.

      The reconstruction programs after Great Hanshin Earthquake do not necessarily go well because of many reasons. Community architecture has not roots in Japanese society yet. People's participation and bottom up process are inevitable in urban development, especially in urban renewal.                  

 

Conclusion

 

    Nobody control a global city like Tokyo. Nobody knows who are pressing the urban changes of Tokyo. Something invisible which we might say World Capitalist System in a word, guides the directions of transformation of Japanese capital.

However we can try to list up several directors who have keys to influence the directions of the urban changes of Tokyo. Governors should be basically responsible for the future of the city.  Strong leadership of governor even in case of Mega city like Tokyo is needed for realizing the idea though a giant bureaucratic system regulate the decision making process.  The brains of governor including so-called people of experience also have the possibility to be the directors.  We have moreover various actors as directors such urban planners; architects; road-builders; city administrators; real estate developers; financiers; non-governmental organizations; scholars; and visual, performing and literary artists.

Construction industry including real estate agents had strong influence in making decision of urban projects because it produced over 20% of GDP in the period of bubble economy. But the situation is now drastically changing the basic structure is still preserved in countryside.  The tertiary industries leaded by information technology industry are going to have the power to policymaking and over 70% of population belongs to the tertiary sector.  Governor cannot neglect the citizen’s initiative in terms of urban planning.

I will list the directors or systems to influence the urban changes in Japan in the following. We find no profession is responsible for visualizing the future plan of the city. I myself think the talent of “architect” to draw the spatial system is still needed in any levels of urban planning and design.

 

(a)  Market

Economic power still seems to be a driving force to change the urban form. But nobody is responsible for the results. Many new office buildings flats are now under construction in the areas on waterfront despite a long recession. The number of high-rise flats newly constructed in 2002 is said to be unprecedented.

  The rumor of  “2003 problems” that many companies will move from the inner city to the waterfront and many old office buildings will be left unoccupied is now spreading. And several companies specialized in conversion of old office buildings to dwelling units were established and are watching for business chances. The production of urban spaces is basically influenced by the speculative activities of real estate agents and investors.

(b)  Housing Industry

      The production of dwelling units is closely related to business fluctuations. 1.9 million units were built in 1973 but the number of units newly built decreased drastically to 1.15 million in 1974 because of oil crisis. In the period of bubble economy, the number rose up to 1.7 million, now down to 1.1 million. This kind of mechanism dominates cityscapes. Central government, therefore, control the number of dwelling units newly constructed every year by reforming a taxation system, for example, reducing of inheritance tax, acquisition tax and transfer tax.

    (c) Subsidy

       The central government has great power to give a subsidy to the local government for implementing the urban projects.  The planning system in Japan is based on top down system where the bureaucrats have the right to make decisions. All local governments, which have only 30% rights of self-governance, should get the budget from central government in carrying any project.

        Decentralization and restructuring are urgent tasks we should realize in every field of policy making.

     (d) Zoning: Building regulations

        Legislation is almost only issue to be discussed in terms of urban planning, especially zoning with height and volume regulation is a cue to control building activities. Central government has established the special board called “Urban Rebirth” and decided to deregulate building code and urban planning law to stimulate the building activities. Local government can now rezone the areas and decide the special district for restructuring. However, local governments, which are suffering from financial pressure, have no margin to propose the new projects.

      (e) Governor or Mayor

     Some of governors of 47 prefectures including Tokyo seem to be getting the voice and the initiative to central government.

     Governors and mayors should get the more rights and freedom to manage and plan the city. The main roles of mayors for these years are to get subsidies for constructing public buildings to distribute the money to building and real estate industry, in place of getting votes at the time of election. Now time is changing to self governance mayors have more leaderships. 

(f) Municipal Ordinance

Building regulations are the same all over Japan although the requirements for buildings differ region by region.  Central government in Japan does not want to admit the double standard within one country. Local governments only legislate municipal ordinances under the national laws. We need here again the powerful leadership and will of mayor to implement the unique idea.

    (g) Citizens: Participation

    Citizen’s participation is basically needed in practice. A formal procedure is prepared for people participation, but does not function effectively. It seems that people does not like to participate in the process of urban planning if it does not relate himself.

 

      

Supplementary discussion:

The Roles and Tasks of Town Architects in Japan

In 2000, I published a book entitled "The Naked Architect: An Introduction to Town Architect System in Japan”, in which I discuss the roles and tasks of new profession in Japan called "Town Architect" or "Community Architect".

The institution of "Town Architect" as it exists in Europe varies widely from region to region, according to local governments. I am not suggesting that current Western systems should be introduced directly into Japan. The starting point here is how to deal with the issues faced by Japanese architects. I developed the idea of system of "Town Architect" based on my observations of the realities in which Japanese architects and planners are working. My conclusion is that we need a new profession to act as a coordinator, mediator and facilitator between local governments and local communities. I am tentatively proposing to call this new profession "Town Architect".

Part of the background from which I have developed the system of "Town Architect" is the impact of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, from which we may learn many lessons regarding urban planning and community development. The Great Hanshin Earthquake demonstrated the fatal consequences of the lack of public participation in urban planning processes in Japan.

There is another important reason for Japanese architects to approach and advocate the local community. We are currently witnessing a change from an age of "scrap and build" to an age of "maintenance of stock". Japanese architects cannot survive if they enlarge their sphere of work.

1.What is 'Town Architect'?

'Town Architect' here is defined simply as a professional architect who is constantly engaged in town planning. Although local government should take primary responsibility for town planning, it is highly doubtful whether it can play an important role, due to the absence of a framework for implementation of projects based on the real needs of the community*2. It remains true that local government lacks autonomy in terms of urban planning, though the situation has been changing since the unified decentralization laws were enacted in April 2000.

The concept of 'Town Architect' is not new, and such work is being done by many planners and architects in Japan. However, the 'Town Architect' must have a real relevance for the needs of local communities, although he or she should not necessary live in the area. It is a fundamental rule that the 'Town Architect' must be constantly involved in the major issues of the community development.

The architect is basically an advocate for the client, and at the same time acts as a third party to coordinate the relationship between building contractor and client. The reason an architect is considered to be a professional, similar to a doctor or lawyer, is that the job is intimately involved with life and property. The 'Town Architect' is an advocate for local community, but does not only defend the benefits of local community, also acting to coordinate the interests of both local governments and local communities.

The basic definition of 'Town Architect' is as follows:

 

A 'Town Architect' establishes the organization and proposes meetings that promote community development. 'Town Architect' is an organizer, agitator, coordinator and advocate for town planning.

B 'Town Architect' is involved with the entire field of town planning, and need not be a licensed architect in Japan. The chief of local government (mayor) could also be called a 'Town Architect'

C 'Town Architect' is here referred to mainly in terms of physical planning, i.e. the form of towns and their spatial arrangement. However, we cannot separate the "software" from the "hardware". Management and maintenance of spaces is much more important than new construction. Nevertheless, we cannot neglect the quality of community development and characteristics of a town expressed as "townscape". 'Town Architect' is responsible for the form of towns and townscapes.

D Anybody who designs their own house can be a 'Town Architect' and architect. An architect is any person related to the built environment. I believe a trained architect has the ability to turn concepts into physical forms, and therefore should act as a 'Town Architect'.

2.Why 'Town Architect'?

There is a further reason why architects should take the role of 'Town Architect' and become involved with urban planning. Western architects undertake urban planning as a matter of course, but cases where architects have taken part in urban planning are very rare in Japan. The architect is generally considered to be a kind of carpenter or developer. Times have changed; the age of 'scrap and build' has disappeared with the bursting of the bubble economy. The 21st Century is said to be an age of 'stock'. We are already recognizing the limits of the globe in terms of energy crises, resource and food shortages, and environmental problems. It is obvious that we cannot continue to demolish buildings so easily. We must utilize existing buildings and our architectural heritage as much as possible.

Here we draw upon statistical data to outline the situation architects are facing in contemporary Japan. The proportion of GDP invested in the construction industry in Japan reached 20% immediately after World War II; it was 14.8% in 1997, and continues to decrease. The central field of industry in Japan has shifted from agriculture to construction, but further alteration of the industrial structure is inevitable. Current Japanese government policy is intended to reduce the quantity of public works, in order to help the Japanese economy by cutting down expenses and creating new industries through the introduction of IT (Information Technology). The quantity of investment in the construction industry in the USA was 74.2 trillion (billion) in 1997, which is approximately the same as Japan (74.6 billion), although as a proportion of GDP it is only 7.6%. In the case of European countries, the proportion is even less: 4.3%(B in Britain and 4.5% in France.

It seems highly likely that Japan will follow the pattern of Western countries in terms of building preservation, even though the main construction material in Japan (timber) is different from that of Europe (stone). If investment in the building industry decreases to the same level as the USA, it is not unlikely that the number of architects in Japan will be reduced to half in the near future, or even to one third, similar to Britain or France. "To be, or not to be" is the real question for Japanese architects.

It is obvious Japanese architects must change their roles and the tasks from those in 20th Century. Two new fields are extending before us: one is the maintenance of the existing building stock, and the other is that of town planning, both of which are based on the same background factors. The age of "scrap and build" architects, designing only new buildings, is over. Architects will be required to establish direct relations with the local community from the very beginning of a project, and to be responsible for the maintenance of a facility after completion. In any case, the architects' reason for being will be based on their relationship with the local community, so architects should become "Town Architects".

 

3.Japanese 'Town Architect'

In "Introduction", I listed the archetypal images of "Town Architect". These are superintendent of building permission (verification), design coordinator, commissioner system, master architect, inspector etc. Here, I will again classify the images of Town Architect into several levels according to their required roles and tasks.

 

 A Qualified Architect

Japan currently has about 300,000 1st class architects, 600,000 2nd class architects and 13,000 architects specializing in wooden construction, who are legally qualified. There are 130,000 architecture firms in Japan, most of which are small local offices deputizing the procedure of building checks by local government in place of the client. In addition to architecture practices specialized in design, there are also design-build organizations such as general contractors with design departments. I intend to omit this latter group in order to establish a simple base for the formulation of the System of Town Architect. Estimating a total of 150,000 teams and 1 million licensed architects, the primary question becomes: how do they get commissions? The point is, what roles are to be allotted to local architects? Local architects who are commissioned by local clients should take part in community activity and community planning. The carpenters and various craftsmen in pre-modern society had very close relationships to the local community, not only through repairing houses and working in gardens, but also as consultants to the local community. Professions such as the former local carpenters should be reinvigorated, and considered to be Town Architects.

B Network with Local Craftsmen
Town Architect needs to cooperate with local craftsmen and builders to maintain the local built environment by repairing and reconstructing houses. Interesting concepts of professions such as House Doctor or Local Housing Studio have already been proposed. Kyo-Machiya Sakuzigumi  (Group for Maintenance of Kyoto Town Houses), for example, went into action in1999.

C Superintendent of Building Permission
There are approximately 2, 000 superintendents in local governments all over Japan, responsible for checking the drawings and documents of every building, based on the Building Standard Act. As Japan has nearly 3,6000 cities, towns and villages, not every local government has the necessary superintendent. I base the idea of Town Architect on the existence of superintendents in each local government. Superintendents of building permission may be seen as a prototype for the Town Architect. Although superintendents of building permission only control building activity, the Town Architect coordinates a desirable townscape. Every local government should have at least one Town Architect who is responsible for the local townscape and contributes to its upgrading. We need at least outstanding 3,600 Town Architects in Japan. The current 2,000 superintendents may have a detailed knowledge of building code, but they are not specialized in design and therefore need the help of local architects suitable to be considered a Town Architect.

D Commissioner System

We have several types of System of Town Architect. A Town Architect has the most rights if he or she is mayor or vice-mayor, and is responsible for all building activity. The system in which a committee consisting of several architects responsible for townscape is generally called a "Commissioner System". Japan has several examples of the commissioner system, including 'Kumamoto Art polis', Creative Town Okayama and Toyama Project Creating Faces of Towns, which are mainly organizations for selecting an architect to design a specific public facility. Town Architect is rather similar to a town planning council, building council and landscape council, of which the former two have a legal basis. Unified decentralization acts were enacted in April 2000. The existing council systems may be continued if they work effectively, otherwise a new system should be formulated that will be called "System of Commissioner System.

E. Area Architect (Community Architect)"

One commissioner or one committee is usually insufficient to cover the whole area supervised by a local government, so a substructure is necessary for local communities. System of Town Architect needs area architects who will serve the local community. It may be the case that local government or Town Architect Committee send area architects to each community. There are already such systems: various advisory systems, town planning conference system, sending consultant system. The community may request work from their area architects.

 

4.The Tasks of 'Town Architect'

What are the tasks of Town Architect? In "Introduction", I refer to various systems and methods that may be introduced, such as Town Watching, Making of Town Plan after One Century, Open Hearing Selecting Town Architect etc, most of which are related to the tasks of Town Architect. The most important tasks are those which area architects can carry out as extension of their daily work in the neighbourhood. The work of area architects is the basis of Town Architect. If the commissioner system is introduced as a "System of Town Architect", the commissioner's term of appointment should be strictly decided, and his or her practical work as an architect should be prohibited or limited during this term. Instead, the commissioner must be given wide powers and guarantees for his or her works and status. It is crucial that local governments initiate or support the Area

Architect System. Area architects give advice to citizens who are planning to design their own house, and make proposals to the local government based on surveys of the area. We already have various systems, known as Landscape Advisor System or "Landscape Monitor System". The adjustment of various ownership relations is an important task for the Town Architect in the process of implementation. A town architect who has basic design ability and has been trained in architectural practice should also study law and economics. In some cases, Town Architect plays the role of coordinator between inhabitants and developers.

It is of no use to discuss such systems only in the abstract. We require a variety of systems adjusted to local conditions and values rather than a single standard system. Learning from concrete instances is far more important than discussion, even if these are only small projects.

 

The principles are:
1. Start from the details of the familiar built environment.

2.     Continuous effort is most important. Specific events for campaigning are necessary, but will have little effect if done in isolation.

3.     Consensus amongst the local community is necessary to maintain the system.

4.     Participation.

5.     Disclosure is the principal with which to forge agreement in the neighbourhood community.

 Designing common space in the neighbourhood unit is the first step of the System of Town Architect. How to solve and manage the physical relationship of neighbouring houses is essential even in the case of designing an individual house. To establish a common rule for two adjacent houses and to create an intermediate domain between public and private space is the starting point of town planning[12].

 



[1] I. Wallerstein visited Kyoto to give us lecture titled ‘Geopolitical Cleavage of 21st Century: What Future for the World?’ in which he reviewed the constellation of world system for the last 3 decades in 20 century.

[2]  Roman Cybriwsky: “Tokyo: The Shogun’s City at the Twenty-First Century”, John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

[3]  P.P. Karan and Kristin Stapleton (ed. 1997) [3], “The Japanese City”, The University Press of Kentucky, 1997.  Roman Cybriwsky: “From Castle Town to Manhattan Town with Suburbs: A Geographical Account of Tokyo’s Changing Landmarks and Symbolic Landscapes”.  Kohei Okamoto:”Suburbanization of Tokyo and the Daily Lives of Suburban People”. William Burton:”The Image of Tokyo in Soseki's Fiction”

[4]  Jinnai Hidenobu: “Tokyo a spatial anthropology”, translated by Kimiko Nishimura, University of California Press, 1995.

[5] Sakia Sassen: “The Global City New York, London, Tokyo”, Prinston University Press, 1991.

[6] Archaeological evidence indicates that human settlement in the Kanto Plain dates far back into prehistory.

[7]  Grant K. Goodman: “Japan and the Dutch 1600-1853”, Curzon, 2000

[8]  Y. Ishida picked up 9 projects, which were not implemented in his book under the title  “The Unaccomplished Tokyo Projects”, Tikumashobou, Tokyo, 1992.  Here I address the other projects in this chapter.

[9] J. Condor from England is respected as a father of Japanese modern architects. He   taught the first generation of students at Kobudaigakko (Institute Technology) and designed a considerable number of buildings.

[10] As for the Japanese urban planning in Meizi era (1868-1911), T.Fujimori: “Meizi no Tokyo Keikaku”, Iwanamishoten, 1982

[11] It reduced some 60% of Tokyo to ashes. 104,619 people, most of which had lived in the densely built up area, died or were missing as a result of this disaster.

[12] Kyoto Community Design League (Kyoto CDL): We decided to initiate a social experiment called Kyoto Community Design League (Kyoto CDL) as a kind of simulation of the Japanese System of Town Architect. The inaugural meeting of the Kyoto CDL was held on 27th April 2001. A network of studios or laboratories of universities and colleges located in the Kyoto Municipal Area, form the matrix of the League. Currently, about 25 professors from 10 universities have expressed their will to participate and declared themselves in favor of the idea of the League. Several studios from the Kyoto University School of Architecture, including those leaded by Dr. S. Furusaka, Dr. M. Takada, Dr. T. Yamagishi and Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama, are participating in the League, and the editorial board is promoting the activities of the League.

Each studio takes charge of their allotted area(s), and carries out a kind of annual field survey, with a minimum observation period of one day, in order to make records of the area using common formats (photographs, maps, video films). The League holds general meetings twice a year, wherein each team reports the status of the area and proposes possible prescriptions. All areas are expected to be taken care of by every studio. Documents open to the public will be kept in the headquarters of the League. If some studios manage to establish a close relationship with the community in their area, they might be requested to implement a real project. The reason why I propose the university studio as the basic organizational unit is that they have staying power and a level of responsibility and obligation to the local community.

The organization of Kyoto CDL resembles that of Major League Baseball. A commissioner with a secretariat manages the headquarters of the League, holding general meetings and allocating the areas. 1. Participating Teams: The League is basically open to any group (architecture offices, consultant, etc)). Its matrix is a network of university studios and educational institutes, because we can expect lasting participation. The only membership requirement is successive participation. 2. Constitution of Team: Each team is headed by a manager (teacher) and consisted of coach (secretary representative of students) and players (students, community designers). 3. The work of Participating Teams: A. Field Surveys (Area Watching): Making records of the area using the GIS system.  B. Making Karte (prescriptions) of the area and proposals to the Local Community C. Participation in General Meetings D. Implementation 4. Steering Committee: The steering committee consists of coaches (students) leading the following tasks:  A General Meetings B Coordination of Teams C General Communication 5. Kyoto Community Design League (Kyoto CDL) committee: The Kyoto CDL committee consists of the managers of the teams and is headed by a commissioner with a secretariat.  A Registration of Teams B Allotment of Areas C Holding of General Meetings, Symposiums D Keeping of Records E Action Plan F Networking with Other Organizations

This idea of a community design league based on regional inter-university cooperation is easily implemented. The process and results of Kyoto CDL will be reported again in the near future.


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