The Declining Capital， IIAS NEWSLETTER， Leiden University， 31 July，2003
IIAS Newsletter Leiden University
Tokyo:
The Declining Capital
From its origins as a small castle town until the end of the Edo era, Tokyo’s
urbanization followed an orthogenetic process. In the mid-seventeenth century Tokyo’s
population numbered one million, in a league with London and Paris. By the eve
of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 Tokyo resembled a huge urban village. Twice
destroyed in the twentieth century – by earthquake in 1923 and aerial
bombardment in 1945 – Tokyo emerged as a speculator and builders’ paradise, a
true global city, in the 1980s. Today Tokyo proper counts over 12 million
inhabitants while one-fourth of the Japanese population lives in the greater
metropolitan area. The mega-city, warns the author, is
awaiting another catastrophe.
By Shuji Funo
The politically powerful construction industry was one of the motors of
rapid post-war economic growth. Relying heavily on the ‘scrap and build’
method, concrete and steel transformed the Japanese landscape. In the late
1960s, construction accounted for over 20 per cent of GDP. High growth gave way to a period of stable but lower growth in the wake of the 1973 energy crisis; heavy industries lost ground to light industries based on advanced science
and technology. The focus of urban development shifted from
outward expansion to the full development of already urbanized areas. Money generated by the speculative
bubble of the 1980s transformed Tokyo into a global city, wired to the
dynamic movements of the world capitalist economy.
The postmodern city: Tokyo at its zenith
The urban issues Tokyo faced in the mid-1980s were quite different from those
it had faced in the past. The city had reached its limits for horizontal
expansion. The ‘Tokyo Problem’ and ‘Tokyo Reform’ became pressing issues for
debate: scholars and critics discussed the negative effects of Tokyo’s
political, economic and cultural dominance, as well as possibilities for
relocating the Japanese capital.
In the 1980s Tokyo’s status as one of the world’s financial centres attracted
an unprecedented influx of foreign businessmen and workers. The resulting
demand for centrally located office space and 24-hour facilities sparked a
speculative building rush that dramatically transformed the cityscape. Western
architects with postmodern designs were invited to give Tokyo a fashionable
facelift, befitting its status as a global city.
Further urban development necessitated the search for new frontiers. The
first frontier was unused public land in the city centre. Downtown properties
were snapped up by investors, while large real-estate companies launched re-development
projects. Many of these destroyed the fabric of existing downtown communities. The
second frontier was the sky: Tokyo still had more space in the air than New
York. The Manhattan Project, revived after a long hiatus, is currently renewing
the central business district around Tokyo Station. The third frontier was
under the ground, the so-called geo front. A project to create an underground
city of 500,000 inhabitants was seriously proposed. The fourth and final
frontier was the Tokyo waterfront, hitherto the home to dockyards and
factories. Under the title ‘Urban frontier’, the World
City Exposition Tokyo ‘96’ directed expansion towards Tokyo Bay.
New technologies,
production systems, and
building materials shaped Tokyo’s urban transformation. Since the 1960s
air-sealing aluminium sashes have been de
rigueur, meaning that all dwelling units are now air-conditioned. So-called
intelligent office buildings came into fashion in the 1980s. Domed,
climate-controlled stadiums allow football games to be played in the midst of
storms. The daily lives of Tokyo’s citizens have become completely divorced from nature; most space in Tokyo is
artificially controlled by computer. Electronic
conglomerates enjoying symbiotic relations with government are prominent
players in this development process. So are the large construction companies, still
wielding considerable political power. Tokyo is a temporary metropolis that is constantly changing: in this
repeated process of scrap and build, the city is losing its historical memory.
‘The 2003 Problem’
Nobody controls a global city like Tokyo; nobody knows who is behind the
constant change. Something invisible, which we might call the World Capitalist
System, guides the transformation of the Japanese capital.
With the glory days of the bubble economy long gone and Tokyo suffering
from economic stagnation and post-bubble debt, a curious phenomenon can be
observed. Along the Tokyo waterfront many new office buildings and flats are under
construction. The number of high-rise flats newly built in 2002 is said to be unprecedented.
Now as before, this construction is driven by the
speculative activities of real estate agents and investors. While rumour
of ‘The 2003 Problem’ is spreading – companies will move to the waterfront
leaving old inner city office buildings unoccupied – predictable oversupply is
the result of individual
realtors and developers pursuing their own short-term interests, even as they know
they will later suffer.
The central government
has tried to influence the fluctuating annual number of dwelling units built by
reforming tax incentives. The current slogans of the central government are ‘Restructuring’
and ‘Urban rebirth’. What is actually happening, however, is the hollowing out
of the inner city. Ishihara Shintaro, governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Municipality, has declared sixteen policy goals,
the first of which is to ‘Create an urban city that facilitates a balance of
jobs and residences’. It consists of two strategies: ‘Promotion of
inner city residence’ and ‘Fundamental reform of the Metropolitan housing system’. The former includes bringing
workplaces and residential areas together in the suburban Tama area. The results have thus far been disappointing: the only change for most
people has been their place of work. The remaining hope is that old inner city office
buildings will be converted into homes.
The central
government has established a special board called ‘Urban rebirth’ and has opted
to deregulate building codes and urban planning laws to stimulate building
activity. Local governments can now rezone areas and make decisions on the
restructuring of districts. Most local governments, however, are suffering from
financial pressures and lack funds to realize new projects. And while policymakers believe promoting
building activity through deregulation is the only way to economic recovery,
the idea seems far-fetched.
Tokyo has its natural limits; the city cannot grow indefinitely. Obviously, the city needs powerful leadership and the participation
of citizens to implement new ideas. Unfortunately, while formal procedures for
citizen involvement have been proposed, they do not function effectively: people
seem reluctant to participate when their private circumstances are not
affected. Without citizen input, ‘The 2003 Problem’ seems here to stay. Though blackouts and drought already
threaten the metropolitan area each summer, the current
system of the production and consumption of spaces, however, is controlled by
the profit motive, not social or ecological responsibility. Tokyo, on its current
course, is awaiting catastrophe.
Dr Shuji Funo is professor at Kyoto University and a specialist in the field of
Asian design and urban planning. The Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) awarded
him for his PhD dissertation ‘Transitional Process of Kampungs and Evaluation
of Kampung Improvement Program in Indonesia’ (1991). He recently designed
Surabaya Eco-House, an experimental housing project, and is now conducting
research on Dutch colonial cities.
i53315@sakura.kudpc.kyoto-u.ac.jp
funo@archi.kyoto-u.ac.jp
[Illustration]
[1]
[caption] The
curious rush of building on the Tokyo waterfront, 2003
[credit] Courtesy
of Shuji Funo
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