Lecture：Shuji Funo： Never Ending Tokyo Projects： Catastrophe? or Rebirth?： Towards the Age of Community Design， ：International IIAS workshop： MegaーUrbanization in Asia： Directors of Urban Change in a Comparative Perspective， International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)， Leiden University， Leiden， 12ー14 December 2002
Never Ending Tokyo Projects: Catastrophe? or Rebirth?:
Towards the Age of Community Design
Dr. Shuji Funo（Kyoto University）
1
Introduction
I
am Shuji Funo from School of Architecture of Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto
University, Japan. My major subjects
are Housing and Regional（Urban
Area）
Planning. Beside the academic work, I wrote over 10 books on architectural
design and theory and am thought to be a kind of critic on architectural design
in Japan.
I have been deeply involved in the fieldwork
on kampungs in
Surabaya, Indonesia, for these over 20 years with Prof. Johan Silas (ITS
Institute Teknologi Surabaya). I am
really disappointed with his absence. He always teaches me a lot about what
human settlements are or should be. I
believe kampung is so interesting as a model of urban community. So I would like to have written an article on
Indonesian Mega cities. But Professor Dr. Nas requested me strongly to write on
Japanese city. I am not a suitable
person to discuss the problems on Tokyo, but dared to think about Tokyo this
time. I am afraid that the case of Tokyo
is completely different from the cases of the other Asian Mega cities.
2 Outline of paper
My paper consists of three parts. Firstly It sums up the basic information
on Tokyo - mainly in terms of urbanization process. Secondly, I am going to discuss many urban
projects on Tokyo with their backgrounds from the beginning of Meiji
Restoration. Thirdly, I would like to discuss the present stage and development
phase of Tokyo.
Tokyo had become a global city, which influenced international financial
markets in 1980s during which Japan had been grasping hegemony of World
Economy. Tokyo was completely connected
to global networks, so the urban issues that Tokyo faced were shifted to be in different
dimension from other Japanese Cities.
In the mid-80s,
Tokyo reached to a kind of climax or a saturation point in terms of horizontal
expansion. So-called “Tokyo Problem” and ‘Tokyo Reform’ were the
main topic of those days. Many scholars and critics discussed the issues
derived from monopoly of Tokyo and the possibilities of moving the capital i.e. decentralization. It is abnormal that about
1/4 of the total population of Japan lives in Metropolitan
area of Tokyo.
3 Tokyo Metropolitan Area
Tokyo is consisted of 23-ku (ward), 26 cities, 5
towns and 8 villages and is divided into two major areas, inner
city (23 wards) area and Tama area. The Tama Area has become urbanized and is merely a bedroom town area for people commuting to the inner city areas at present.
But it is also blessed
with an abundance of natural environmental advantages. Although it is not known well, Tokyo has several islands where about 30,000
persons live. This area also possesses a beautiful natural environment abundant with marine resources.
4 The Population of Tokyo
The population of
Tokyo Metropolitan Government is up to 12.17 million last
year,
which is 9.5% of Japan's total population, the largest population of any of the
47 prefectures. Tokyo's area, 0.6% of the total area of Japan, is the
3rd smallest of the prefectures. Tokyo is by far the most densely populated
prefecture in Japan.
The trend of
depopulation has alredy seen since late 60’s(1967). In 1997, there was a increase for the first
time in 12 years, and 2000 again showed a net increase.
5 A Brief History of Tokyo
Tokyo
was only a small castle town at the beginning of 17th century but
now is the capital, the largest metropolis in Japan. 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 mid-17th 1641 to mid-19th
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 investigate historically that the population of Tokyo in the mid 18th
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.
6 The Unaccomplished Tokyo Projects
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 suffer 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
control
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 incurred
in
the age of bubble economy.
● Anyway I have to
cut almost all the detail topics.
7
Two projects are symbolic in this period.
One is of Ginza commercial block project, which refashioned the entire Ginza
district in red brick. 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.
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 of 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.
8
The first legislation in Japan, Tokyo Shikukaisei Jorei, was enforced
in 1888. The greatest attention was given to road construction. The model was
Great Reform of Paris by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussman(1809-91). The first “Town Planning Act” was adopted in 1919 together with the
first “Municipal Area Building Law” in Japan. The act and building law adopted
the zoning system to delineate fire-protection. 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. “New Tokyo” Plan individually proposed were only on
the paper.
9
Ironically
speaking, we had the only chance to realize the idea of modern urban planning
in the colony. 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.
10
The
Japanese metropolises received the greatest damage during the World War
II. Land readjustment projects were
planned in many districts of Tokyo after the war but it took much time to be
realized. Many competitions related to reconstruction programs were held, but
ruined economy of the nation did not allowed their implementation.
A
Capital Region Development Law was enacted in 1956. This Plan was modelled on the Greater London Plan and
was based on the idea of strong controls. Industrial satellite cities were
intended to be similar in function to English New Towns. New towns were built one after another in the suburbs, being intended
for middle-income level families. However, it should be noted that the new
towns that were created were very different from the self contained New Towns
that provided both places of work and housing.
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
, F. Maki who had belonged to Metabolism Group, 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.
11
“Town Planning Law” was revised in 1968, and
the urban planning system was barely established. After oil crisis, 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.
What came after the stable growth period was
bubble economy. Nobody could expect that the bubble economy would attack the whole islands of Japan from the end of 1980s.
12 The
Fundamental Issues of Japanese Urban Planning System
I would like to summarize the Fundamental Issues of
Japanese Urban Planning System in Japan. We can point out general
issues of Japanese 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 plans and designs the city is not clear in Japan. Local government
that is controlled by central government cannot decide any matter related to urban
planning. In addition, we have not
established the systems of people's participation and advocate planning.
c The weakness of specialized financial instruments to support 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 limits the scope of urban planning
in favor of individual right:
Japan is said to be the freest country as for designing the building. It
is because that there exists 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.
13 Post Modern City Tokyo: Tokyo at its Zenith
I would
like to point out the new phase of Tokyo after mid 1980’s, here.
(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 the main topics of those days. 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 where 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 so on 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 attracted 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 that 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.
14 The Tokyo Plan 2000
15 Lessons from Great Hanshin Earthquake
16 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 the
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 as urban planners;
architects; road-builders; city administrators; etc.
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 though
the basic structure is still preserved in countryside. The tertiary industries led 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 as follows.
n(a)Industry & 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 and 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.
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.
n(b)Central Government & Local Government
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.
Some of the governors of 47 prefectures including Tokyo seem to be
getting the voice and the initiative to central government.
Governors and mayors should get 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 exchange of getting votes at the time of election. Now time
is changing to self governance so that mayors have more leaderships.
n(c) Legislation: Building regulations & Municipal Ordinance
Legislation is almost only an issue to be discussed in terms of urban
planning, especially zoning with height and volume regulation is a cue to
control building activities. Japanese 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.
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 their unique idea.
n
(d) Citizens: Participation
Citizen’s participation is basically a practical necessity. 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 to themselves.
17 The Roles and
Tasks of Town Architects in Japan
●If we have time, I would like to discuss the
profession of Town Architect who serve the local community. 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.
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿