Urban Spaces in Japan

Urban Spaces in Japan
Author: Christoph Brumann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2012-06-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136318836

Urban Spaces in Japan explores the workings of power, money and the public interest in the planning and design of Japanese space. Through a set of vivid case studies of well-known Japanese cities including Tokyo, Kobe, and Kyoto, this book examines the potential of civil society in contemporary planning debates. Further, it addresses the implications of Japan's biggest social problem – the demographic decline – for Japanese cities, and demonstrates the serious challenges and exciting possibilities that result from the impending end of Japan's urban growth. Presenting a synthetic approach that reflects both the physical aspects and the social significance of urban spaces, this book scrutinizes the precise patterns of urban expansion and shrinkage. In doing so, it also summarizes current theories of public space, urban space, and the body in space which are relevant to both Japan and the wider international debate. With detailed case studies and more general reflections from a broad range of disciplines, this collection of essays demonstrates the value of cross-disciplinary cooperation. As such, it is of interest to students and scholars of geography and urban planning as well as history, anthropology and cultural studies.

Projected Cities

Projected Cities
Author: Stephen Barber
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2002
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781861891273

The books that comprise the Locations series address the links between film and society. In Cinema and Urban Space Stephen Barber explores the use of urban images in film from early to contemporary cinema.

Strong Towns

Strong Towns
Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119564816

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Urban Spaces in Japan

Urban Spaces in Japan
Author: Christoph Brumann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2012
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0415695457

Urban Spaces in Japan explores the workings of power, money and the public interest in the planning and design of Japanese space. Through a set of vivid case studies of well-known Japanese cities including Tokyo, Kobe, and Kyoto, this book examines the potential of civil society in contemporary planning debates. Further, it addresses the implications of Japan's biggest social problem - the demographic decline - for Japanese cities, and demonstrates the serious challenges and exciting possibilities that result from the impending end of Japan's urban growth. Presenting a synthetic approach that reflects both the physical aspects and the social significance of urban spaces, this book scrutinizes the precise patterns of urban expansion and shrinkage. In doing so, it also summarizes current theories of public space, urban space, and the body in space which are relevant to both Japan and the wider international debate. With detailed case studies and more general reflections from a broad range of disciplines, this collection of essays demonstrates the value of cross-disciplinary cooperation. As such, it is of interest to students and scholars of geography and urban planning as well as history, anthropology and cultural studies.

Learning from the Japanese City

Learning from the Japanese City
Author: Barrie Shelton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2012
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 041555439X

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Making of Urban Japan

The Making of Urban Japan
Author: André Sorensen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2005-08-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134736576

During the twentieth century, Japan was transformed from a poor, primarily rural country into one of the world's largest industrial powers and most highly urbanised countries. Interestingly, while Japanese governments and planners borrowed carefully from the planning ideas and methods of many other countries, Japanese urban planning, urban governance and cities developed very differently from those of other developed countries. Japan's distinctive patterns of urbanisation are partly a product of the highly developed urban system, urban traditions and material culture of the pre-modern period, which remained influential until well after the Pacific War. A second key influence has been the dominance of central government in urban affairs, and its consistent prioritisation of economic growth over the public welfare or urban quality of life. André Sorensen examines Japan's urban trajectory from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, paying particular attention to the weak development of Japanese civil society, local governments, and land development and planning regulations.

Emergent Tokyo

Emergent Tokyo
Author: Jorge Almazan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2022-04-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781951541323

This book examines the urban fabric of contemporary Tokyo as a valuable demonstration of permeable, inclusive, and adaptive urban patterns that required neither extensive master planning nor corporate urbanism to develop. These urban patterns are emergent: that is, they are the combined result of numerous modifications and appropriations of space by small agents interacting within a broader socio-economic ecosystem. Together, they create a degree of urban intensity and liveliness that is the envy of the world's cities. This book examines five of these patterns that appear conspicuously throughout Tokyo: yokocho alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, low-rise dense neighborhoods, and the river-like ankyo streets. Unlike many of the discussions on Tokyo that emphasise cultural uniqueness, this book aims at transcultural validity, with a focus on empirical analysis of the spatial and social conditions that allow these patterns to emerge. The authors of Emergent Tokyo acknowledge the distinct character of Tokyo without essentialising or fetishising it, offering visitors, architects, and urban policy practitioners an unparalleled understanding of Tokyo's urban landscape.

Urban Water in Japan

Urban Water in Japan
Author: Rutger de Graaf
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2008-06-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0415453607

Water control is essential to Japan, as more than half of its invested capital is concentrated in elevations under sea level and the majority of the island nation is exceptionally vulnerable to flooding. To avoid potential crisis, the Japanese have developed exceptionally innovative water management practices. Offering the unique perspective of Dutch engineers, considered the world’s most progressive urban water experts, this volume provide a detailed look at how Japan has developed its modern water system. It looks at the system of Tokyo city, discusses river management practices and urban flood control throughout the country, and considers the impact that these innovations have had on delta regions.

Residual Futures

Residual Futures
Author: Franz Prichard
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2019-04-23
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0231549334

In the postwar years, an eruption of urbanization took place across Japan, from its historical central cities to the outer reaches of the archipelago. During the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese literary and visual media took a deep interest in cities and their problems, and what this rapid change meant for the country. In Residual Futures, Franz Prichard offers a pathbreaking analysis of the works wrought from this intensive urbanization, mapping the ways in which Japanese filmmakers, writers, photographers, and other artists came to grips with the entwined ecologies of a drastic transformation. Residual Futures examines crucial works of documentary film, fiction, and photography that interrogated Japan’s urbanization and integration into the U.S.-dominated geopolitical system. Prichard discusses documentary filmmaker Tsuchimoto Noriaki’s portrait of the urban “traffic war” and the remaking of Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics, novelist Abe Kōbō’s depictions of infrastructure and urban sociality, and the radical notions of landscape that emerge from the critical and photographic work of Nakahira Takuma. His careful readings reveal the shifting relationships among urban materialities and subjectivities and the ecological, political, and aesthetic vocabularies of urban change. A novel cultural history of critical urban discourse in Japan, Residual Futures brings an interdisciplinary approach to Japanese literary and visual media studies. It provides a vital new perspective on the infrastructural aesthetics and entangled urban and media conditions of the global Cold War.

Public Places in Asia Pacific Cities

Public Places in Asia Pacific Cities
Author: Pu Miao
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401728151

PUMIAO 1. The Subject Matter: Urban Public Places 2. The Location: Asia Pacific Region 3. The Purpose of the'"Book: For the Makers of Public Places 4. The Three Perspectives of the Book: Description, Criticism, and Intervention 5. Perspective One: Characteristics of Asia Pacific Cities and Their Public Places (1) High Population Density (2) Large Cities (3) Mixed Uses (4) Government-Centered and Pro-Development Culture (5) The East-versus-West Bipolarity (6) Small Amount of Public Space (7) Absence of Large Nodes and Overall Structure in Public Space (8) Intensive Use of Public Space (9) Ambiguous Boundary between the Public and the Private Summaries of Chapters 1-5 6. Perspective Two: Current Issues and Debates (1) Identity Formal Identity Functional Identity (2) Sustainability High-Tech versus Low-Tech High-Density versus Low-Density (3) Equality Equal Participation Equal Accessibility Summaries of Chapters 6-9 7. Perspective Three: Major Trends in Design and Theory (1) The "Grey" Relationship between the Public and the Private (2) The Transformation of Traditional Typology (3) Indigenous Decoration, Color and Material in New Applications (4) The Tropical Public Place Summaries of Chapters 10-17 8. Conclusion Pu Miao (ed. ), Public Places in Asia Pacific Cities, 1-45. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2 P. MIAO 1. The Subject Matter: Urban Public Places A visitor to Kuala Lumpur will hardly forget the experience of strolling among the fragrant fruits sold under the overhang of the five-foot walkway during a tropical downfall.