Public Space in Japan: A Catalog of Typologies and Brief Discussion of the Role of Public Space

PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN:

A Catalog of Typologies and Brief Discussion of the Role of Public Space

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Acknowledgements This document has been produced in part to fufill the requirements of PLAN 782: Tokyo Planning and Urbanism, a graduate City and Regional Planning course of Pratt Instititue’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. Our trip to Japan that enabled this research was made possible though a generous grant from The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP). We would like to graciously thank our fearless leader and professor Jonathan Martin Ph.D. for all of his comprehensive preparation, patients, and insight. Also we would like to thank Namiko Martin for helping organize the trip, Alexa Fábrega for being an amazing language and culture translator, and all of the Japanese professors and students for hosting our visit: Dr. Murao Osamu from the University of Tsukuba, Dr. Sasaki Yoh from Waseda Universtiy, Dr. Julian Worrall from Waseda Universtiy, Ms. Morokuma Benika, and Dr. Nakai Norihiro from Tokyo Institute of Technology. This document was produced by: Isabel Aguirre Iwona Alfred Johane Clermont Chris Hamby Joseph Kyle Kozar Jia Rong Zhu


Table of Contents Introduction 3 Methodology 5 Defining Elements of Public Space

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Typologies of Public Space

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Case Study Examples 21

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Introduction

Shared street public plaza near Shinjuku Station

View from the 52th floor of Mori Tower facing northwest, Roppongi

Space in Japan, particularly public space, cannot be defined in mere terms of physicality and form. The very notion of space in Japan is as much defined by history, scale, culture, and evolution, as it is by any specific physical entity or combination of any specific criteria. Even begging the question, “What is public space in Japan?” seems convoluted and misdirected because of the simple fact that public space in Japan is all space that is not private. According to Donald Richie, “private space [in Japan] is seen as so sacrosanct that public space is regarded as profane. Something which belongs to everyone belongs to no-one. As a consequence, there are few effective zoning laws, small civic endeavors, little city planning.”1 Rather, what organically bubbles and flows across the urban landscape in Tokyo is a complex evolution of the urban form. And layered within such complexity are the high commercial streets, tiny neighborhood parks and alleyways, and mega shopping malls that give us insight into the form and identity of public space in Japan. Upon first encounter one is struck by the dizzying diversity of scales in Tokyo, which stem from the collision of an essentially medieval city form with the eruption of new construction fueled by modern markets. According to Peter Popham “Modern architecture arrived in force only after World War II… There was no way for it to fit in, to enter into some kind of a relationship with the buildings that were already there, no criteria by which it could be judged harmonious or otherwise. As one of the badges of power in Japan’s new postwar world, a large and flashy building was the thing to have. When the money and the ambition were there, the buildings got built.”2 Consequently, layer upon layer of largerthan-life architecture and infrastructure is masterfully engineered into the existing networks of smaller-scale buildings and traditional roji (alleyway) neighborhoods. In this sense, Tokyo’s layered urban landscape can be likened to a rainforest with multiple levels of ecosystems functioning on top of one another; from the back alley food vendors of Shinjuku on the forest floor, to the offices, hotels and restaurants high in the canopy of Tokyo Midtown. Looking down on the city from a high vantage point, one quickly notices the complexity and layers of these ecosystems. Buildings appear to be placed haphazardly within property lots creating multitudes of non-uniform, difficult-touse, negative spaces. This came about due to an easing of 1 Richie, Donald. 1999. Tokyo: A View of the City. Reakition Books. p. 38 2 Popham, Peter. 1985. Tokyo: The City at the End of the World. Chapter 3: The Righteous and the Damned. p. 72


the regulation of residential property markets in the 60’s and 70’s, which included radically increasing height limits and promoted division of property ownership. In order for owners to avoid complex litigation and to take advantage of the freshly cut property lines they “were compelled to design irregular frameworks, following the equally irregular shape of the lots.”3 And as buildings in Tokyo are made-to-fit, so too is infrastructure. Roads, bridges, and pedestrian walkways are ambitiously stacked and woven to adapt to the rapidly evolving urban form. Multiple levels of residents, commerce, and mobility create an endless web of dichotomies: “human scale and megastructural scale, stability and mobility, permanence and transience, identity and humanity.”4 The utopian architect and thinker Kenzo Tange5 described the basic theme of urban design as “the spatial organization as a network of communication and as a lining body with growth and change.”6 The built landscape is comprised of various shells that are rapidly created and traded to satisfy the various needs of the human and social actions that occur within. “Today in Tokyo buildings are constructed and demolished at a bewildering speed… Urban spaces have been metamorphosed into symbols and have become superficial.”7 Accordingly, Tokyo’s urban spaces are predicated on the social constructs that inform their relative forms, scales and relationships. Within Tokyo’s continually evolving urban landscape are many varieties of public space. While the notion of public space is rooted in cultural and historical contexts, it has equally evolved to take on new forms consistent with a modern global metropolis. In order to firmly grasp how these spaces function and how their various forms continue to evolve to match the evolving needs of Tokyo’s citizenry, we compiled a typology catalog of public spaces in Japan. This catalog was based on an extensive 16-day survey of Japan’s urban landscape and is informed by our extensive reading, observations, and conversations with locals.

3 Sacchi, Livio. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 2: History. p. 60 4 Lin, Zhongjie. 2010. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan. Chapter 4: Structure and Symbol. p. 174 5 Kenzo Tange the great Metabolist Architect created the Tokyo Bay Plan: Plan of Tokyo for 15 million in habitants in 1961. 6 Tange, Kenzo. Quoted by: Zhongjie Lin. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan. Chapter 4: Structure and Symbol. p. 175 7 Ito, Toyo. 1991. Quoted by: Livio Sacchi. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 6: Contemporary Architecture. p. 141


View from the 52th floor of Mori Tower facing southwest, Roppongi

Shared commercial street in the Kagurazaka neighborhood

Methodology Purpose

This document serves to develop a sense of the role of public space in the Japanese urban realm by: 1) defining several typologies of public space in Japan, and 2) defining the elements that inform the arrangement and design of these spaces.

Pratt and Waseda University Students during a joint planning workshop

As part of a Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment study abroad course, our student group spent 16 days touring Tokyo, Tokyo’s surrounding suburban communities, and Kyoto. During this course we engaged with professors and students, government officials, land developers, and community organizers to better understand the Japanese urban landscape, particularly in the public realm. Our visit was preceded by an extensive review of literature pertaining to Japanese history, culture, architecture, and development. We visited roughly 50 sites that ranged from historic roji communities to large-scale commercial developments to suburban farmlands. The group worked to collect data and information through observation, note taking, photography, and drawing at each site, which enabled a comparative analysis of public spaces that helped to inform the purpose of this document.

Observation Parameters

Tour guides: Machida City Planners and Alexa Fábrega in surrounding Machida Farmland

Due to the large and variant scope of content, the group observed many factors that inform the design and function of public space, which illuminated a broad sense of different categorical patterns. However, the rapid pace of the tours inhibited the group from collecting exact measurements of every site, which was part of our proposed intent. Rather, we adjusted our methodology to observe sites paying special attention to the following parameters. Where necessary we were able to recreate approximate measurements from photographs, Google Earth, and schematic materials collected at each site. • Function – The primary uses of the space, i.e. why do individuals habitually congregate at this location? • Scale – The size of the space, particularly in terms of presence, height, area, and relation to its surroundings. • Dimension – The size of the space, in terms of the planar form, i.e. Is the space long and narrow or wide and vast? Is it circular, triangular, rectangular? etc. • Orientation – The relationship of the space to the cardinal directions: north, south, east, west. PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN | 5

• Sound – The noises that the observer encounters in the space, i.e. children laughing, vehicular traffic, trains, silence, etc. • Access – The different ways the observer enters the space, i.e. from a train station or the street, though a grand gateway or small alleyway, etc. • Paths – The route along which the observer customarily moves throughout the space. • Districts – The larger area of the city to which the space belongs, namely, an area that has a common recognizable character, i.e. a neighborhood, shopping district, etc. • Nodes – Points within the space that are foci of activity or congregation, i.e. the convergence of two paths, particular vista, rest-area, etc.

Diagrammatic representation of Parameters: Tokyo Big Sight

• Landmarks – A point of reference that defines the space and orients the observer, i.e. a large building, statue, tree, etc.

Organizing Information

Upon returning to New York we created a comprehensive reference map of every site and walking tour visited.8 We pored over hundreds of photographs and notes to create a matrix of all the observed public spaces. Through many rounds of circular discussion, we created a broad list of 11 physical categories of public spaces based on the aforementioned parameters. Then we further defined those 11 categories down to seven and selected two case study sites to illustrate how each category of public space fits within Tokyo’s urban landscape. Additionally, we concluded that there are four societal and cultural elements that strongly influence the physical form of public spaces in Japan. These elements in many regards dictate how and why the space is created and used. These elements have been derived from our observations, research and discussion. However, we recognize that there are a myriad of other factors that influence and determine public space in Japan that we either did not observe or did not obtain enough information for a comprehensive report. The following sections of this document include a discussion of the defining elements of public space, broad definitions of seven types of public space in Japan, and two Illustrative case study examples of each defined public space typology. 8 The Google Earth kmz file may be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox. com/s/o90ag53y0u4evwf/TokyoToursandSites_PSPD_Summer2012.kmz


Google Earth Map of Mukojima neighborhood walking tour

Defining Elements of Public Space Sacred Places

Shinto Shrine next to apartment building in Roppongi

Seating around the Shinobazu lilly pond, Ueno Park

Much of Japan’s urban landscape is built around the historic city patterns of the Tokugawa Era. Tokyo developed around the original plat of Edo Castle (completed in 1651), which served as the home of the Tokugawa shogun for nearly two and a half centuries until 1868 and Emperor Meiji until 1912. “The site is still the symbolic heart of Tokyo”9 representing a history of strength and authority of Japanese people. However, this landmark site is off limits to visitors, ostensibly creating a vast hole of inactivity at the center of the city. Ronald Barthes said, “(Tokyo) does possess a center, but the center is empty…this circle, whose low crest, the visible from invisibility, hides the sacred “nothing.”10 Sprinkled throughout the urban fabric, one will encounter Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and relics of an imperial past that produce an almost omnipresent sense of religion and tradition. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of spiraling highways, train stations, and skyscrapers these sites almost appear out of place, as if the modern development and the mentality of the modern city dweller would slowly phase such spaces out altogether. But “the sacred spaces create a qualitative impressiveness that reflects the persistence of religiosity in modern Tokyo, thereby showing that, while society is fluid and ever changing, the Japanese still desire to preserve traditional forms of worship.”11 Thus, as one passes through the streets of Japanese cities, the relationship to traditional Japanese culture is evident. Small Shinto shrines are around every corner, often sandwiched between two modern buildings, like a chic boutique and a 10-story manshon (apartment building). Many public spaces are built around large temples, history museums, or memorials. For example: built around the 1923 Kanto Earthquake memorial temple, the Yokoami-cho Koen Park in the neighborhood of Ryogoku contains, in addition to its concrete temple, a museum, a traditional garden path, and many other elements that are designed for passive reflection or meditation. The design elements of such public spaces reveal the relationship to cultural traditions and have religious undertones. In Ueno Park, for instance, the Shinobazu lilly pond, which encompasses the Bento-do Shrine and is set against the backdrop of 15 story apartment buildings, is surrounded by isolated seating elements that face outward toward the pond creating a space for individual meditation and escape 9 Cybriwsky, Roman. 1997. From Castle Town to Manhattan Town with Suburbs: A Geographical Account of Tokyo’s Changing Landmarks and Symbolic Landscapes. The Japanese City. Ed. P.P. Karan, Kristin Staplton. p. 59. 10 Barthes, Roland. 1982. Empire of Signs. Center City, Empty Center. p. 30 11 Hiene, Steve. 2012. Sacred High City, Sacred Low City: A Tale of Religious Sites in Two Tokyo Neighborhoods. Introduction: Japanese Relgious Context in Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives. p. 15.


from the surrounding city. Sacred tourism is another important element of the Japanese relationship with historical and religious spaces. Thus many sacred places, like the Great Buddha of Kotokuin in Kamakura, or the Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto have become a sort of sacred museum; not truly public spaces as you must pay an entry fee to visit the monuments. However, these spaces draw large numbers of visitors everyday, including school field trips, tourists from other parts of Japan, and foreigners. As part of the sacred tourism industry the surrounding streets of these areas have become lined with gift shops, restaurants, and commercial corridors. Some spaces like the Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo or the Nishi-Honganji Temple in Kyoto are free to enter and equally foster sacred tourism development. Today “the number of Japanese having religious feelings far exceeds the number willing to call themselves believers.”12 However, the Japanese continue to be attached to traditional Japanese culture through the many sacred and historic public spaces that remain scattered through Japanese urban landscapes.

Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa

Disaster Planning and Large-scale Developments

On September 1, 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo at lunchtime. As wooden buildings of tightly knit alleyway neighborhoods collapsed around the cooking hibachi coal stoves, fires began to burn all over the city. There was an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 dead or missing and “tremors or fire destroyed 570,000 dwellings, roughly three-fourths of all those in the city.”13 This event was one of many natural or war time disasters that have routinely devastated and defined Japan’s history and urban landscape. The image of Japanese cities’ complete devesation has been engrained into the Japanese collective memory. It has become almost subconsciously present in everything from the widening of city streets to the arcade video games in Akihabara. Disasters like the Kanto Earthquake and the 1945 U.S. incendiary bombing campaign on Tokyo during World War II14 have forced the virtual reconstruction of the largest city in the world twice in the last 100 years. As a 12 Hiene, Steve. 2012. Sacred High City, Sacred Low City: A Tale of Religious Sites in Two Tokyo Neighborhoods. Introduction: Japanese Relgious Context in Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives. p. 13. 13 Gordon, Andrew. 2009. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa to the Present. Chapter 9: Economy and Society. p. 140. 14 For three years especially in 1944 thru the spring of 1945, U.S. B-29 Bombers dropped thousands of tons of fragmentation and incendiary bombs on Tokyo, roughly 70 air raids. Nearly the entire city was flattened. Source: Sacchi, Livio. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 2: History. p. 56


Map of Great Kanto Fire

Source: Nakai, Norihiro. Lecture Notes : Brief history fo Urban Planning and Development of Tokyo

result two very important city development practices have emerged that have largely shaped public spaces, namely, disaster prevention planning and large-scale developments.

Disaster Planning

Conceptual Diagram of the Shirahige-Higashi Desaster Prevention Aptartment Complex Source: Association of Mukojima Studies

Members of the Mukojima Association explain rojison

Because of its geographic location, Japan is prone to natural disasters like fire, earthquakes, and tsunami. Preventing the devastation that ensues from such events has become the dominant theme in Japanese city planning. For example, after the 1964 Niigata Earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) established the Koto Cross Disaster Prevention Belt Plan, which sought to “build a disaster prevention base by surrounding (parkland) with multipurpose buildings, to increase safety of the entire region by placing these bases at strategic points in the entire Delta region, and linking them.”15 The Shirahige-Higashi Disaster Prevention apartment block complex, completed in 1982 in the neighborhood of Mukojima, was the first capital project of this kind. The project is an enormous firewall made of 18 fireproof high-rise apartment buildings that were intended to protect the parkland and evacuation centers (schools) along the Sumida River, ideally creating a safe zone for residents of the adjacent roji neighborhoods. However, this project proved to be incredibly costly and was too difficult to translate to other urban contexts, i.e. where no river or space for creating a large park existed. The TMG then sought other more practical initiatives in fire prevention, like acquiring property in roji neighborhood to widen streets and create numerous firebreak parks. These parks create space between buildings to prevent fire from spreading and now serve as new public spaces within densely populated alleyway neighborhoods. Typically these spaces match the footprint of the removed building, contain one or two public space amenities i.e. a bench or tree, and are used as community gardens or sites for rojison.16 Firebreak parks are invaluable community assets and local machizukuri (community organizations) like the Mukojima Association support these initiatives by working to educate residents about fire prevention, preserving 15 Sato, Shigeru. Historical Development of Modern City Planning. Koto Disaster Prevention Plan. A hand out received from the Association of Mukojima Studies on walking tour of Mukojima 05/28/12. 16 Rojison are public rainwater reuse pumps located throughout roji neighborhoods. The pumps serve as local community gathering spaces where children play or residents can get water for plants or to extinguish fire. Source: Association of Mukojima Studies . Island of Ideas = Mukojima. Handout received from the on walking tour of Mukojima 05/28/12.


the charming scale and characteristics of their neighborhood, and reporting and archiving progress.

Large-Scale Development

After the destruction of WWII, development exploded across the urban landscape. Japan like other countries was greatly impacted by returning soldiers and the baby boom generation. “Between 1945 and 1955 the population of Japan increased by 18.6 million people.”17 Tokyo was faced with an acute housing crisis as millions of people began flooding into the city centers. The result was many public and private redevelopment endeavors, and a booming economy rooted in a strong work ethic, growing middle class, and “quick and fearless”18 entrepreneurship. As a result Japan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a rate of more than 10 percent between 1950 and 1973. The trend of building larger-than-life developments was well underway, which created completely new dimensions in the public realm. Between the 1950s and 1980s the Japan Housing Corporation (JHC) and various private developers built vast housing block developments and single-family homes throughout the rapidly expanding suburbs of Tokyo, and in some cases within central Tokyo. Rice fields and farmlands were bulldozed to create new suburban utopias like Machida City or Tama New Town, which contain gigantic housing block developments. These developments were largely built to offer housing options to the rapidly expanding middle class. They are well served by train lines and highway systems, and provide lots of open public space, basic service amenities i.e. grocery, laundry, childcare, etc., and a sense of openness not felt in central Tokyo. However, many of these developments have been suffering in recent years as Japan’s population is declining and many residents are moving back to central Tokyo. What remains is the sense of abandonment, underutilized public spaces like parks and plazas, closed commercial corridors and huge plats covered in buildings reminiscent of the 1960s utopian metabolist era. Regardless, the trend to develop enormous housing 17 Gordon, Andrew. 2009. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa to the Present. Chapter 14: Economic and Social Transformations. p. 248. 18 “Japanese private companies expanded quickly and fearlessly. They borrowed massive amounts from banks and took on large debts. Private banks and public institutions [] drew on individual savings to invest in capital businesses…the typical ratio of debt to equity for a Japanese company in the high growth era stood at 75:25…but output and revenues grew so quickly, corporations where able to repay these loans.” Source: Gordon, Andrew. 2009. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa to the Present. Chapter 14: Economic and Social Transformations. p. 246.


Commercial corridor and attached public plaza in Tama New Town housing complex

Urban Renaissance Agency representative explains the new Tama New Town Development

A view from Tokyo Midtown overlooking the developments’ public park

Looking up at Tokyo Midtown Development

complexes continues. For example, the Urban Renaissance Agency recently imploded 23 existing housing block buildings in Tama New Town to replace them with eight larger housing blocks. While the New Tama New Town Project has nearly sold all of the apartments, the question remains if the economics exist to sustain such large developments, which have transformed the landscapes surrounding major Japanese cities. Further, because of the declining population over the last 20 years the Japanese government has been strongly encouraging and incentivizing large-scale multi-use developments in the central urban cores. Tokyo is “a city of individual landmarks and station hubs linked by a network of subway and train lines…Planned street grids, park systems, waterfront promenades and other urban gestures… are capriciously absent.”19 The TMG has accommodated huge projects like Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown to not only bolster a sluggish economy, but also to create spaces that will increase the livability of the dense urban centers in hopes of drawing more residents back to the city core. Thus such mega-developments include residential and office towers, shopping malls, and large public spaces like parks and plazas. These developments often transform the surrounding transportation hubs into nuclei of intense development; consequently Tokyo is a completely polycentric city. The best example of this sort of development effort is perhaps the Shinjuku Station area. In the 1960s a conscious effort was made to transform the area around Shinjuku station to be “Tokyo’s answer to the Manhattan skyline.”20 Later in 1991 Shinjuku became solidified as the center of Tokyo when the new Tokyo Metropolitan Government building (the new city hall) opened. Now Shinjuku is a multi-layered district surrounding the train station that provides opportunities for mobility, commerce, residence, and various public spaces in between. Large-scale multi-use developments like Tokyo Midtown are, to a certain degree, changing the ways in which Japanese have come to interact with public space by creating an all included leisure experience within the urban core. These sites are designed to cater and encourage consumerism while integrating open spaces, plazas, or museums. 19 Pollock, Naomi R. Tokyo Midtown. Architectural Record; Nov 2007, Vol. 195 Issue 11. p. 123 – 129. 20 Cybriwsky, Roman. 1997. From Castle Town to Manhattan Town with Suburbs: A Geographical Account of Tokyo’s Changing Landmarks and Symbolic Landscapes. The Japanese City. Ed. P.P. Karan, Kristin Staplton. p. 68.


Cultural Elements

In 1991 the architect Toyo Ito said, “The residents of Tokyo can, I believe, be compared to nomads wandering in artificial forests. In housing complexes no one stays at home during the day; even housewives go out. Most of the husbands only come home to sleep.”21 Both traditionally and contemporarily the Japanese domicile (the private space) is very small. “The components are always of the same nature, the same size, module-like.”22 The Japanese spend much of their time outside of their small modular domiciles and in the public realm. Several discussions with local community advocates, defined the notion of public space in Japan as the difference between the small intimacy of the private home and all the daily interactions that take place outside. Accordingly, the Japanese are not generally concerned with articulating what constitutes public space; culturally the distinction has always been clear. Sakiko Sugawa is one of the founding members of the Hanare Design Group and a founder of the Social Kitchen in Kyoto.23 The Social Kitchen is a 3 story, multipurpose space that functions as a café, community space, and office for the Hanare Design Group. Sakiko lived for roughly three years in New York City and clearly empathized with our desire to understand the function and design of public space in Japan. She explained that the notion of public space is not acknowledged in the daily routine of Japanese people. When one articulates the question, what is public space in Japan?, the average Japanese would be reminded of the playground parks created by the government in the 1960s and 1970s. “There is always one tree in the center and the kids playing there do not look happy.”24 She explained that the average Japanese spends so much time out in the public realm that they do not need to emphasize certain spaces as being “public.” “If you were to tell a Japanese ‘we need to build a big park space for you, like Central Park,’ they would ask “why?.” They would say, ‘I have lived my whole life without it, why do I need it now?’”25 For Sakiko, this attitude reflected a cultural issue of complacency, where Japanese are comfortable in their daily routines and will rarely interject into what others are doing. Even in the process of property 21 Ito, Toyo. 1991. Quoted by: Livio Sacchi. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 6: Contemporary Architecture. p. 141 22 Richie, Donald. 1999. Tokyo: A View of the City. Reakition Books. p. 44 23 For more information about Hanare or the Social Kitchen visit: http://hanareproject.net/eng/ 24 Sugawa, Sakiko. June 2, 2012. Discussion at the Social Kitchen about public space. 25 Sugawa, Sakiko. June 2, 2012. Discussion at the Social Kitchen about public space.


Chefs of the Social Kitchen Cafe

Sakiko Sugawa and students in the Social Kitchen community space

Masaki Toraiwa discusses public space in Zankyo Photo: Natalie Vichnevski

Small neighborhood nook public space, Harajuku

acquisition for private development, Sakiko described the attitude as surrendering. “They think, ‘What can we do, they are big developers’.”26 Centered on a physical space, the Social Kitchen represents another trend of community advocacy and an effort to engage Japanese around such issues. “The Social Kitchen is a café and event space that works for social change through open collaboration.”27 Near Shibuya Station in Tokyo our group came across another informal community space. Masaki Toraiwa is an educator and musician who lived the better part of 30 years in London and Los Angeles. Similar to Sakiko, Masaki returned to Japan to co-found the Zankyo Shop, a CD and book store that doubles as a community space for classes, lectures, or to engage with other likeminded people. Masaki reinforced the notion that everything outside of the home is a public space. He described his small-scale neighborhood as being filled with tiny nodes of daily congregation and activity; sometimes even just a street and corner bench are points of routine public discourse. However, Masaki voiced concern about the evolving urban landscape and how it “is destroying opportunities for this social interaction.”28 He sees gigantic commercial complexes as replacing the familiarity of small mom-and-pop-shops with superficiality. “You can’t go to a megamall and randomly have a real discussion about important books or the role of public space, like we are now,” he said. Masaki sees large-scale developments as creating artificial public spaces that do not serve the same purpose as small nook spaces that facilitate discourse between people. Because both Masaki and Sakiko spent considerable time in the United States, their views have been biased by western traditions relating to public space, and they may not represent the core cultural values of Japan. However, both are concerned with preserving and bolstering Japanese cultural identity. And both have chosen to create small spaces for community engagement to do so. 26 “My good friend Sakiko Sugawa, the target of my return visit, is in the process of being evicted. As a matter of fact, she and her two roommates constitute the only household remaining of a small cluster of old homes in the Takano neighborhood of northwest Kyoto. All the homes in front of hers have been torn down, actually up to her exterior walls. The homes behind hers have all been abandoned and are in some stage of gutting. With her house ‘in the way’ the large machinery necessary to demolish them cannot get by. The cluster of a dozen, two and three story homes is being leveled to make room for the construction of a manshion, a new high-rise condo development. As the only renter of the group, Sakko has been the last to be negotiated with, the others, all owners, were bought out of their properties with the hope that Sakko would just leave without resistance.” Source: Vichnevsky, Natalie. June 13, 2012. Blog post: The Really Last Day: June 10th 2012. http://pratttokyosummer2012.weebly.com 27 Vichnevsky, Natalie. June 13, 2012. Blog post: The Really Last Day: June 10th 2012. http://pratttokyosummer2012.weebly.com 28 Toraiwa, Masaki. June 8th, 2012. Discussion at Zankyo Shop with Masaki Toraiwa.


Typologies of Public Space 1. Small playground in the Okubo neighborhood, Tokyo 2. Playground park at Gion Kenninji Temple, Kyoto 3. Pocket plaza next to Kyoto Station 4. Pocket park near Aoyama Kitamachi Danchi apartment complex, Tokyo 5. Pocket park near Shibuya Station, Tokyo 6. Mammoth Park playground in the Mukojima neighborhood, Tokyo

Parks

Parks are open, accessible and programmed areas designed to act as a neighborhood destination and facilitate interaction between users, and provide opportunities for physical activity or contemplation. While generally arranged for recreational uses, parks are typically multifunctional. Parks act as vehicles for human interaction, parks serve disaster management purposes (firebreaks), parks are components of national urban initiatives (playgrounds), and parks are creative use of small underutilized space in urban areas (pocket parks). Elements like greenery, lightning, shade, sunlight, furniture and signage influence the possible success or failure of parks as components of public space. Their broader urban and social contexts also act as factors that influence the accessibility, connectivity and active operation of the space. The configuration and function of parks are intertwined features linked to the history, evolution and design of each specific park. For instance, sets of fire parks in Mukojima protect narrow rojis (alleyways) from fire propagation in dense urban residential areas. Paths and lots were retraced to facilitate this purpose. Paved playgrounds with slides and swings are typical models repeated throughout the country as a planning policy agenda. They are regularly located as centered islands or on three sided lots. Pocket parks are found throughout the city in contained pieces of vacant, underused lots. Though not as amenable for physical activity they provide a shaded, green resting space for the walkers of Tokyo.

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Landscapes

1. Shonen Beach, Enoshima 2. Shinobazu Lilly Pond, Ueno Park, Tokyo 3. Sumida River Promenade, Tokyo 4. Machida City Farmland

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Landscapes refers to major regional networks that utilize natural features to promote sustainable urban development based on the processes of natural systems and their intersection with more intensive human activities. In Japan, the Satoyama Initiative is dedicated to this purpose. As a joint effort between the Ministry of Environment of Japan and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), the Satoyama Initiative holds human interaction with the environment at the core of its program. This is particularly relevant in the context of Tokyo, a continually growing metropolitan area that may threaten open natural areas. We were able to witness the application of this initiative in the Onoji Area of Machida City, where agricultural land coexists with residential areas and “a functional resource-circulation is secured through the introduction of compound multilayered land use.”[291] Similarly, the Kamo River in Kyoto is valued both for its public use and sustainable landscapes, and both are able to coexist. The Kamo River is considered the embodiment of the spirit of Kyoto. It hosts a rich ecosystem that changes along its length and supports a great variety of recreational activities2. The design of public space around the river is linked closely to its history. The course of the Kamo River was altered when the Kyoto Palace was built by the end of the 8th century. The north-south flow of the river was moved to the east of the palace when floods became a threat to the ancient capital. Riverbanks were designed as protection and drainage system. Through pathways, esplanades and stepping stones in its shallow stretches, the river’s design facilitates public use and enjoyment. The Kamo River is a meeting point for friends, lovers and families in Kyoto. The changing seasons offer a variety of landscapes, most famously the traditional pink cherry blossoms that spring every year in Japan. Through national initiatives and local efforts to reclaim the connection of the environment and human use, Japanese landscapes accommodate infrastructural, ecological and social uses. 1 http://satoyama-initiative.org/en/ 2 Kyoto University, Beside the Kamo River: A Place to Rest Amid Abundant Natural Beauty. http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp


1. Danchi housing complex, Tsukuba City 2. Aoyama Kitamachi Danchi apartment complex, Tokyo 3. Large Plaza plaza, Machida City danchi apartment complex 4. Each rose represents a sold apartment for the New Tama Newtown housing development that is under construction 5. Model of the New Tama Newtown housing development 6. Commercial plaza space of the original Tama Newtown housing development

Large Scale Housing

Large scale housing (or danchi as they were once called during the 1920’s) were introduced as a strategy to attract scattered Japanese citizens back to the city. Traditionally, Japanese dwellings were based on the modular grid of the tatami and the class system (nobility, military, the farmer and artisan and the merchant). There were three types of structure that dominated the housing stock: machiya (townhouse), nagaya (longhouse), and the yashiki (mansions). The machiya and nagaya were arranged along the streets or in the rear yard with commercial activity (typically a shop) in front and the living area behind. The Great Kanto Earthquake on September 1, 1923 and the following devastation from the Second World War eradicated most of this traditional Edo-period housing stock. Shortly after the war, a great demand for housing and the need for disaster (fire and earthquake)-proof structures emerged and fueled the introduction of modern apartment blocks. Although different in scale and form from the patterns of earlier housing, large scale housing still incorporates certain elements/patterns vital to traditional dwellings. Such elements include mixed uses, open spaces and fluid/adjustable spatial configurations. However, there is no longer a gradient from public (alleyway serving as the path and the open space in between) to semi –public (shop) and lastly the home (private). Instead there is now a vertical and compartmentalized arrangement. There is an open space, usually a park, which acts as the central element unifying the pieces of the development/housing complex; a commercial component, usually in one story units at the base or within the surrounding area of the residential building/complex and the apartments, arranged vertically.

6

5


1

2

3

4

Transit Hubs

1. Shibuya Station, Tokyo 2. Hachiko Plaza, Shibuya Station, Tokyo 3. Train car visitor’s center, Shibuya Station, Tokyo 4. Yokohama Ferry Terminal, Yokohama 5. Train platform Machida City 6. Shimbashi Station, Tokyo 1

2

3

Transit hubs are nodes in mobility networks, which may refer to structures like docks, airports, bus stations, garages, or most commonly in Japan, train stations. Mobility networks, especially rail lines are the most important components of Tokyo’s infrastructure when referring to urban form. As Naomichi Kurata observes, “the history of urban development in Japan cannot be described without referring to the development of the railways system. Namely, it is said that most of the urban centers are not product of the planning effort of local or national governments, but rather the results of commercial activities or business strategies of railway related companies.”3 In addition to lines run by Japan Railways (JR), Japan’s railways are compromised of several competing companies that operate inter-city rail services, including the Shinkansen. On the local level, the Yamanote line is a circular line that connects the center to the outer region/districts, and delineates central Tokyo from its outer wards. Ikebukuro, Shibuya and Shinjuku are some of the principal stops along the Yamanote line. These essential nodal stations are composed of multiple rail lines, but are also intensively developed by the rail companies, who act as real estate companies seeking to extract high rents. Station footprints are often extruded to skyscraper heights. Commercial enterprises are typical for transit hub sites (shopping, restaurants, hotels, or theatres), as well as open space elements, typically plazas – though these spaces often discourage lingering. They are “animated underground labyrinths filled with goods” on multiple levels.4 3 Sacchi, Livio. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 3: The Urban Structure. p. 85 4 Sacchi, Livio. 2004. Tokyo: City and Architecture. Chapter 3: The Urban

4

5

6


Sacred Spaces

Sacred spaces are areas set aside for religious or memorial purposes. Temples and shrines extensively punctuated the urban fabric of the traditional Japanese city, and a large number remained to the present era. Non-religious memorials are interspersed throughout the city as well. They vary widely in size and structure depending on their area, function, and history. In Tokyo, large Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are typically found in traditional commercial neighborhoods and smaller shrines are found more quiet residential areas. Though they vary in size and capacity, these sites owe their longevity to the special place they occupy in Japanese cities. Larger sacred spaces often host large pilgrimages of people both local and tourist, and while they receive more attention they tend to be less peaceful. Typically one main, well-delineated entrance leads into the temple space with secondary entrances around if deemed necessary and typically one main building that stands on top of hill where the main deity resides. Traditionally if a building is to be built behind the temple, the new building cannot overshadow or become visible inside the temple space, however this is not the case for smaller sacred spaces as the denser parts of the city sometimes envelop them. Entryways to these spaces are usually indicated with a tall gate.

6

5

Structure. p. 90


1. Kyu-Yasuda Garden, Tokyo 2. Yokoami Park, Tokyo 3. Small Shinto shrine, Shibuya, Tokyo 4. Nishi-Honganji Temple, Kyoto 5. Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto 6. Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine, Kamakura 1

2

3

4

Monuments

1. Reflection of Kyoto Tower on Kyoto Train Station 2. Tokyo Tower from 58th story of Mori Tower, Tokyo 3. Fuji TV building, Tokyo 4. Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo 5. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tokyo 6. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tokyo 1

2

3

4

Monuments are singular buildings and structures, often very large in scale, that serve as markers in the landscape. Monuments are often built with the explicit purpose of activating a site or area with high visibility in mind. Newer developments like Tokyo Skytree, developed by Tobu Railway, are intended to stimulate new development (and higher property values) in formerly sleepy or undervalued areas. Due to their strong shifts in scale, monuments may be used for orientation in wayfinding, as they are often visible from a long distance and many vantage points. Others, like Fuji TV Headquarters in the new section of Odaiba, serve to define and organize raw space. The majority of these monuments majority are under thirty years old, with Tokyo Tower a notable exception and predecessor. Due to their size, monuments are often of a different scale than surrounding, often more traditional structures, and may be built on re-purposed land like defunct government-owned sites, reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and other properties without a dense build-up of small lots. Many monuments are government-sponsored, and others, while privately developed, are constructed with government endorsement.

5

6


Commercial Corridors

Commercial corridors are unique systems of shopping-oriented public spaces typically articulated as areas of linear pedestrian movement (streets and alleys) that fall within a broader context of commercial and residential hubs. Layouts are usually elongated as they follow street lines, indoor arcades or systems of shopping mall pathways, but they also include nooks in the form of shopping squares and commercial plazas. Establishment of commercial corridors is strongly grounded in the history and tradition of trade and commerce of old Edo. Many commercial streets today resemble the historic paths of trade, for example in Ginza, which connect or used to connect major centers of commerce and residence. In the more recent era, large-scale transportation hubs like Shinjuku station serve as amorphous, mega structures with intertwined transportation lines and commercial corridors. Moreover, religious places can also include long extensions of shopping streets. Commercial corridors may fan out and blur into neighboring commercial districts; but overall, specific examples are not difficult to identify due to their unique form as well as special intensity of commercial and pedestrian activity. Today, transportation hubs, public space and commercial corridors are almost interchangeable in the Japan’s urban realm and this is particularly true in Tokyo.

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5


1. Shared commercial street, Shinjuku, Tokyo 2. Small commercial side street, Ginza, Tokyo 3. Takeshite Street, Harajuku, Tokyo 4. Cat Street, Jingumae, Tokyo 5. Commercial street near the Senso-ji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo 6. Commercial corridor, Asakusa, Tokyo 1

2

3

4

New Development

1. Cafe plaza, Shinjuku, Tokyo 2. Plaza in front of Caretta Mall, Shimbashi, Tokyo 3. Dentsu Building, Shimbashi, Tokyo 4. Cafe Plaza, Tokyo Midtown Development, Tokyo 5. Hinokicho Park, Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo 6. Museum Cafe, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo 1

2

New developments are singular areas and sites composed of multiple buildings with different functions and activities. Constructed in the recent past with revitalization and higher land values in mind, new developments often seek to provide amenities considered lacking in more tightly woven traditional neighborhoods. New developments typically host a wide variety of functions such as commercial, business, and residential. Scales may often be large, as commercial spaces become large malls, or low-level commercial shops fill a large footprint. New developments often occupy a large area of land with an outdoor public space along the ground and lower levels, with the connecting car traffic usually isolated to the perimeter of the complex.

3

4

5

6


Kyoto Prefecture Kama River

Kyoto Station

0

5

10 km

Tokyo Prefecture Machida farmland/ housing development


Public Space Typologies Example Sites

Mukojima parks/ commercial corridors Shinjuku Station

Edo Museum

Asakusa

Ryogoku

Roppongi Hills

Ginza Shinonome

Hillside Terrace Cat Street Park

Tokyo Big Sight

Tokyo Bay

0

5

10 km


m uko jima f ire p a rk

parks

PUBLIC SPACE ANALYSIS

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Since the 1980’s, the government has promoted urban development with resident participation. Among their initiatives is the creation of pocket parks that prevent fire propagation, roji gardening (planted pots on the alleys), rojison (rainwater reuse device) and transformation of vacant dwellings to centers of activity.

50 ft 20 m

Asakusa

Mukojima is situated in the fertile land developed inside the natural levee on the east side of the Sumida River. During the Edo Period (1750-1860) the fertile land was quiet, with a rustic atmosphere, unlike the populated residential area it is today. The urban configuration in Mukojima follows a traditional roji (alley) scheme and was mostly constructed after the great Kanto Earthquake (1923). Refugees that lost their homes in the disaster rushed to Mukojima district and rojis formed one after another. -Association of Mukojima Studies

Mukojima

Skytree

Skytree Mukojima, located East of the Sumida River and North of The Skytree being the tallest structure in Japan is a clear landmark for the Tokyo Skytree, is defined by an organic configuration the Mukojima residents. This and other new development to the North of alleys. are read as barriers within the urban fabric.


As part of the initiatives of a proactive community is the design of pocket parks which are inserted in the middle of the urban fabric following different configurations and a variety of sizes and functions for each of them.

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_05_28 Saturday

SITE INFORMATION year built: af ter 1980’s

time: af ternoon

location: Mukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

capacity: 30 - 80 people

weather: Sunny with a strong shower and occasional lighter shower s

author: Machizukuri community organization

condition: open

size: 52-180 sq. mt. 560-1900 sq. f t.

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

thousands

closed

combined

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

This pocket park developed in a corner of one of Mukojima’s rojis and is delineated by a series of small planted pots.. The color of the pavement contrasts with the gray pavement and the greenery around it. The floor treatment changes around the one activity provided for children’s recreation. Similarly there is one sitting area with a water faucet. The scattered replication of this simple model of open space benefits the community in many ways.

In the center of the corner park in Mukojima there is only one activity for kids to play with and one sitting area.

Playground observed in Kyoto and described by a local as a “uniform, decaying, replicable model from the 1970s”. The design of this park was not as appealing as the one observed in Mukojima.

Most of the pocket parks, playgrounds and fire parks provide greenery, seating, and a central focal point.


om otesa n do p l aygroun d

Omotesando, like Ginza, is a high-end shopping and fashion area. According to Julian Worral, Omotesando has become Tokyo’s premier cat-walk for the fashionable and the sophisticated. In the midst of the glamour and buildings designed by Sanaa, MVRDV, Ando, Herzog & de Meuron, among other star architects, and perpendicular to “Tokyo’s most beautiful boulevard” is Cat Street. On Cat Street, this playground provides an inclusive space as an island in the midst of vehicular traffic and “jewelry architecture.”

parks


path

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A street that favors pedestrians by turning into a walkway and an island of recreation. 60 ft 20 m

OBSERVATIONS In between Dior by SANAA and Gyre by MVRDV in Omotesando, one discovers access to narrow and more pedestrian friendly streets. To the right of the MVRDV building is Cat Street, where our case study site is located.

The Dior building, among other structures, function as landmarks that direct the pedestrians away from the exclusivity of Omotesando into narrow side streets.


Hand drawn bird view of the Cat Street island playground.


SITE INFORMATION year built: -

time: af ternoon

location: Omotesando Dori, Tokyo

capacity: 30 people

developer: TMG

condition: open

weather: sunny, par ticularly hot day

size: 2800 m2 = 67888 sq. f t.

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

hundreds

closed

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

thousands

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

combined

Cat Street, a pedestrian street activated by the implementation of an island playground. The users seek shade produced by the limited greenery at the center of the park. More seating elements or a softer pavement that would make sitting on the ground more comfortable could improve this space.

School children playing games in the middle of the park. The pavement changes to protect children that might fall down. The space also provides the possibility of improvised play.

The playground attracts users of all ages. Different infrastructure and protection items prioritize pedestrian use. Small planters with greenery improve the quality of the public realm.


ka m o river, kyoto

The Kamo River is the embodiment of the spirit of Kyoto. It runs through the city of Kyoto from North to South, flowing into the Kyoto Basin, called Kamigamo in the Northern ward of the city. When the Kyoto palace was built at the end of the 8th century, the river’s course was altered to flow east of the palace.

landscapes

It hosts a rich ecosystem that changes along with the stations and holds a great variety of recreational activities. Riverbanks and pathways make it an attractive public space. connected to nature.


200 ft 100 m

The Kamo river is a popular destination among Kyoto residents.


path

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Pathways, riverbanks and bridges activate the water feature that hosts several recreational activities. In response to flood threats, riverbanks were designed and reinforced the drainage systems. The landscape therefore accomplishes infrastructural and social uses.

The North-South flow of the river was moved to the East of the Imperial Palace.


SITE INFORMATION year built: 8th Centur y AD

time: af ternoon

location: Kyoto

capacity: several thousands

weather: 67F / 25C sunny.

author: -

condition: open

size: 31 km 20 miles

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

millions

closed

combined

+60,000 sq. mt

thousands

Open, accessible and programmed open space that captivates the local residents as a natural landscape. It is a meeting destination that enhances social activity and contact with nature.

Stepping stones allow crossings from one side to the other

Restaurants host open-air dining areas during warmer months.

Surface facilitates access for bikes and strollers, promoting an inclusive use of the space.


m a chid a cit y fa r m la n d

Machida City is located in the Tama Plateau, reaching the base of Miura Peninsula, which forms a wide natural environment. The total are of Machida City is 7,162 ha. Mountains and forests cover 14.5% and agricultural land covers 12% of the total area. The Onoji Area of Machida City is a large agricultural portion of land that coexists with Machida City residential area. The area is defined by a land use regulation that draws a cut-off control zone for farmlands.

landscapes

The Satoyama initiative promotes a functional resource-circulation is secured through the introduction of compound multi-layered land use.


300 ft 100 m


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The Onoji Area covers two categories of the five perspectives of the Satoyama Inititaitve: (1) Securing a functional resource-circulation system through the introduction of compound, multi-layered land use and (2) Development of local industries and local revitalization using traditional culture and technologies.

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_06_04 Monday

SITE INFORMATION year built: NA

time: af ternoon

location: Onoji, Machida City, Tokyo

capacity: several thousands

weather: around 25C/77F

author: Tokyo Metropolitan Government

condition: open

size: 2 hectares 5 acres

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

thousands

closed

combined

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

The Satoyama Initiative aims to conserve sustainable human-influenced natural environments (Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes; SEPL) through broader global recognition of their value. The Onoji area of Machida City is subject to such regulation framework.

Previously, this region was abandoned agricultural land. The farmland was developed as a strategy to reestablish active land use.

Rice fields in the low and flat area of the Machida farmland.

Sumi: charcoal bamboo structure storage

Bamboo is shaped to allow sunlight through


sh i n on ome canal c our t

large scale housing


1

Shinonome Canal Court is a multi-family housing complex located on Tokyo Bay. It is part of a “local master plan for the future” proposed by the Urban Development Corporation CODAN. The site, a former Mitsubishi steel factory is now comprised of six blocks around a central space, arranged in a rectangular block of 16.4 hectares. Each block was assigned to a specific architect/architectural team: Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop (block 1), Toyo Ito & Associates (block 2), Kengo Kuma & Associates (block 3), Yama Architects and Partners (block 4), ADH Architects and Workstation (block 5) and team of Makoto Motokura, Keisuke, Yamamoto and Keiji Hori ( block 6).

path

access point

100

OBSERVATIONS The overall concept is flexible housing to accommodate and adjust to current lifestyles. It’s a deviation from the metabolist Kisho Kurokawa’s capsule concept - “housing for the Homomovens: people in motion.” The S- shaped street is the central urban design and structural element that unifies six individual blocks. 32 | PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN

Promotional diagram and an area map

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landmark

barrier

site

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_05_29 Tuesday

SITE INFORMATION year built: 2003 - 2005

time: af ternoon - evening

location: Tokyo Bay

weather: overcast/rainy

development: condition: Urban Development open and closed Corporation CODAN.

size: 16.4 hectare (40.5 acres)

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

open space/recreational use

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

+60,000 sq. mt

capacity: tens of thousands tens

residential

15,00030,000 sq. mt

open

hundreds

closed

thousands

millions

combined

commercial

The S- shaped street is comprised of two levels and contains pocket spaces, upper and lower level terraces, playgrounds, a kindergarten, and shopping facilities. As an entity, it represents the new concept of using a framed public space surrounded by a residential component, cultural, retail and other facilities to create a new district.

a

b

c

Combination of use: commercial, open space and residential (a, b, c)


m a chid a cit y

Machida City was developed in the 1960’s as a bedroom town for those working in Tokyo due to its transportation network’s close connection to Tokyo’s center loop. Currently, it has the largest residential component, the third largest commercial center and the highest concentration in ages 30-34 and 60 years and over. The area is mainly residential, with a secondary environmental preservation function.

large scale housing


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200 ft

1

100

OBSERVATIONS The two main developments in Machida are the Kiso-Yamazaki Housing Estate, developed according to the Master Plan and following the National Plan of 1966, which has the largest residential component and which due to its age is out of sync current trends and growth controls, and, the Yakushidai Estate, which is an example of district planning developed by a public and private sector with roadways and parks. The infrastructure was first established in 1980 and the housing stock was gradually built upon it.


Kiso-Yamazaki Housing : Commercial spaces at the perimeter of the housing complex.


SITE INFORMATION year built: 1960

time: morning - af ternoon

location: Kanagawa Prefecture

capacity: tens of thousands

weather: sunny

Development: Based on Master Plan

condition: open and closed

residential

size: 71.63 Km

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

hundreds

closed

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

thousands

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

combined

commercial

Section of a Point House

Point Houses, centrally located in the development are 5 –storey buildings, 2 families per floor and opened in 3 areas.

Yakushidai Estate: The houses are 2-stories, setback on the south side to allow for more sunlight, and no sidewalks are present.


kyoto st a t ion

The former capital of Japan is now a gateway to the past and future. The station was constructed to commemorate the 1,200th anniversary of the city’s founding. It is an example of an overlay of futurism on traditional form. The first station, a simpler building was built by Emperor Meiji in 1877.

transit hub


1

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100

OBSERVATIONS The concept is based on the grid pattern typical of Heiankyo, incorporated in the designs of gates (a universal symbol for a gateway). The matrix repeats the concept of the gateway and the floating layers. According to Hara, a passenger within the space meets the sky and becomes captivated, therefore not fully aware of the size of the building or the scope of all the other activities. Comprised of 17 floors, 171 steps, an amphitheater, a Skyway- Terrace, shopping, five squares and a promenade, Kyoto Station is the best example of an “animated labyrinth (underground and vertically) filled with goods.” There are two sides to Kyoto Station: Karasuma and Hachijo. The busier Karasuma side (bus terminal, hotels, shops and Kyoto 36 | PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN

Tower) to the north faces downtown and is named after the main street leading downtown. The calmer Hachijo side to the south provides access to a few more hotels, Toji Temple but most importantly built to accommodate the Shinkansen. The main hall (un- obstructed) is underneath the matrix (east to west) and contains the pedestrian traffic horizontally and vertically.

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_06_03 Sunday

SITE INFORMATION year built: 19 97


location: Shimogyo Shichijo District, Kyoto

capacity: thousands

weather: sunny

Architect: Hiroshi Hara


size: 3.8 hectare (9.4 acres)

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

transportation

open space/recreational use

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

thousands

closed

combined

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

Mixed-use: commercial, spaces and other uses

Happy terrace on the roof of Kyoto Station

Commercial and open space intertwining

Roof top plaza, Kyoto Station

Open space near the Theatre


sh i n j uku st ati on

transit hub


1

Shinjuku Station opened in 1885 as a stop on Japan Railway’s Akabane-Shinagawa line (now part of the Yamanote Line). The transformation from a stop to a multifunctional labyrinth structure began by adding into the station intercity-rail, commuter rail and metro lines (Chūō Line (1889), Keiō Line (1915) and Odakyū Line (1923) and the subway service (1959)) that gradually increased the connection between Tokyo and the suburbs, the flow of traffic (and commuters) and the structure (mass/physical environment). However, the most significant addition is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) Office Building completed in 1991. It inaugurated Shinjuku station into one of the world’s busiest stations.

path

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100

OBSERVATIONS Shinjuku Station is an important piece of Tokyo’s massive and imposing infrastructure. It is divided into three districts. West of the station is the skyscraper district which includes Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) Office Building or Tokyo City Hall and prominent hotels such as the Keio Plaza, Hilton, Hyatt Regency and Park Hyatt (featured in Lost in Translation). Kabukicho is an area filled with commercial activity located on the northeast side of the station. At the southeast end of the station is the Shinjuku Gyoen, Japan’s largest park and other plazas. Shinjuku station is a multifunctional labyrinth structure that has no one distinct path and occupies multiple levels. The path one enters or follow is based on which rail 38 | PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN

or metro line a person needs. For example, JR East lines consist of seven (7) ground level island platforms (14 tracks) on a north-south axis, connected by two overhead and two underground concourses. On the other hand, the Odakyu line is parallel to the JR platforms on the west side and has 10 platforms built on two levels beneath the Odakyu department store; 3 express service tracks (6 platforms) on the ground level and 2 tracks (4 platforms) on the level below. Once inside the station, a person is constantly floating through the space (s) with no notion or concept of levels in relationship to the street level outside the station.




location: Shinjuku-ku ward

capacity: thousands to millions

weather: sunny

Development: Based on Master Plan


The interior of Shinjuku Station’s metro lines

size:

One of many underground tunnels leading to Shinjuku Station

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

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30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

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millions

Another underground tunnel leading to Shinjuku Station


r yogo ku cem eter y

sacred places


Smaller sacred places are some of the lesser known preserved areas in Tokyo, and are often marked by a disparity in scale between the traditional construction and new, dense buildings. Entering from the north, upon seeing a Chikara (Power of the Sumo) stone, to the left resides Ryogoku cemetery, nearly hidden from sight from the street. Besides final resting places, this area is also the resting place of many past pets and animals and sadly also are tiny statues which represent children who left this world too soon.

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 

Ryogoku cemetery is located in the middle of Ryogoku Chrome 2, with residential residing along the edges 1

50

 

Chikara Stone


Tall Residential Homes next to Cemetery

Tomb/Statue resembling an animal

VISIT INFORMATION

SITE INFORMATION

date: 2012_05_26 Saturday

year built:

time: af ternoon

location: R yogoku, Sumida, Tokyo

capacity: 30 people

weather: sunny

architect:

condition: open

size: 2800 m2 = 67888 sq. f t.

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

hundreds

thousands

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millions

The surrounding residential towers overshadows and hides the peaceful and preserved cemetery

Pet Tombs

Array of Gravestones

Offering

Children’s Grave


sen s o-ji temple

Senso-ji is the oldest temple in Tokyo. The juxtaposition of the organic lots of the temple with the modern grid of the surrounding neighborhood speaks to the site’s age. And unlike the streets outside of the temple, which are highly dense and support tall buildings squeezed against each other, the temple square and the street leading to it is made of low traditional shopping markets with enough space spread out that the constant crowds of visitors, not the built environment, created a dense space.

sacred places


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



 

Gat leading to Senso-ji



 



1

100

OBSERVATIONS One of taller structures in the space is the pagoda tower toward the left as one enters the main courtyard. Although over time it was outdone by a view of Tokyo Sky Tree further off to the East.

Senso-ji Temple


Road leading to commercial corridor

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_06_1 Friday

SITE INFORMATION year built: 628, rebuilt postwar

time: af ternoon

location: Asakusa, Taito, Tokyo

capacity: Thousands

architect:

condition: open

weather: light rain

size: 2800 m2 = 67888 sq. f t.

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

tens

open

hundreds

closed

15,00030,000 sq. mt

30,00060,000 sq. mt.

thousand

+60,000 sq. mt

millions

combined

Although our visit there was not during the busiest time of the year, nor was there good weather to see the space at its fullest, we still saw the little things that show how people use the space. For example, people taking shelter under the temple during the rain. There are people that visit this area simply as pilgrimage or tourist visit, and then sometimes there are couples that come here for their dates.

Shopping street just outside Senso-ji

Protection from rain

Senso-ji’s pagoda

View of Sky Tree


edo-tokyo museum

monuments


Built with public funds in 1993, the Edo-Tokyo Museum is a large scale construction near the Sumida River in Ryoguku, Sumida Ward. The building is intended to resemble a traditional raised warehouse, and the museum hosts artifacts and reconstructions of Tokyo’s history. The museum sits atop a multistory platform that supports administrative functions, the gift shops, and several other programmatic elements. This presents a multilevel facade to the street, with the museum proper perched several stories above street level. The platform is punctured in several directions to give street level access as well. One assumes that the government chose the site partly to tap into and strengthen the substantial tourist activity in the area due to its Sumo traditions. path

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Edo-Tokyo Museum sits near several other recognizable landmarks, including the Kokugikan (National Sumo Stadium), the Sumida River, and several former daimyo estate gardens. It is located close to several train stations. 1

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OBSERVATIONS The museum is a popular destination for locals and tourists, and there were a healthy number of patrons during our visit. From the outside, however, the site had little activity. While the site is well connected and highly visible from afar, it has little connection to the surrounding neighborhood, sitting instead on a separated site bounded by rail and water. This may be why the plaza does not appear to be used as a community amenity. 44 | PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN

Sketch of Edo-Tokyo Museum showing relative scales of the surrounding built environment. Newer developments tend to be of a larger scale



time: af ternoon

location: R yogoku, Sumida Ward, Tokyo

capacity: hundreds

weather: overcast

author: Kiyonori Kikutake


size: 30,000 m² = 7.5 acres

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The museum is most recognizable for its distinctive form, reportedly inspired by traditional warehouse construction. The building is visible from many vantage points, and overshadows the Sumo Stadium for recognizability from a distance.

The museum’s plaza sits several stories above street level, and offers views of Ryogoku and the sumo stadium while sheltered by the raised building’s mass. While the plaza is accessible from several directions, there is little in the way of public amenities to draw visitors to the plaza alone.

The site is dramatic in scale


tok yo big sight

Officially named the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, Tokyo Big Sight was constructed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1994 in Odaiba, on Tokyo Bay. The convention center consists of a complex of buildings capped off by the conference tower, a massive building consisting of four inverted pyramids raised off ground level. The tower itself sits on a raised platform, stepping down to a western complex of buildings and a “galleria” to the east. Big Sight is typical of Odaiba in its scale and orientation. It sits with its back to the bay, oriented along two main axes.

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The conference center is accessible by a fantastic modal range, including several buses, automobile, multiple rail lines, and water taxi, with direct connections to major airports. The site is connected by multilayer walkways and terminals. While highly connected via these bridges and paths, Tokyo Big Sight is separated by a highway from the surrounding urban fabric

OBSERVATIONS Big Sight is laid out in a traditional grand modernist style, with a grand boulevard that highlights the monumental architecture of the conference tower. While the visit occurred on a rainy day, presumably with no major conferences underway, the generous plaza space and green space appeared to be little used. This may be due to the remoteness of the site, out into Tokyo Bay. 46 | PUBLIC SPACE IN JAPAN

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Big Sight’s pedestrian plaza

Sketch of the conference tower’s wide variety of connections.


SITE INFORMATION year built: 19 94

time: af ternoon

location: Odaiba, Minato Ward, Tokyo

capacity: tens of thousands

weather: overcast/rainy

author: Tokyo Metropolitan Government


size: 60,735 m² = 15 acres

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Tokyo Big Sight is most recognizable by its center tower, which rises as four inverted pyramids 58 meters tall and embraces modern design and materials. While the conference center is a larger complex of buildings, the tower marks the center of a T-shaped axis, defining the space and acting as a hub for the web of walkways and transportation lines emanating out from its center.

Pedestrian walkway from station

Surrounded by buildings of a similar scale, Big Sight’s plazas tend to offer little seating

Pedestrian scale interacts with a much larger infrastructural scale


g i nz a

Ginza is a commercial corridor comprised of gridded streets and sidewalks that serve as public spaces. This area was a model during the restoration movement in late Meiji era (late 1800’s till early 1900’s); buildings were built with brick and major roads were meant to connect with Shimbashi Station and other important districts. The traces of old trade routes are still visible in the current street layout. Rich in street commercial activity, Ginza is a popular destination. During the weekend, the streets are blocked off to traffic and open to pedestrians. This district is characterized by multiple story commercial buildings, and a hierarchy of streets. The proportion of streets and sidewalks to the buildings is friendly to human scale.

commercial corridors


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Block figureground showing street hierarchy of Ginza, major access points and pathways. Depicted landmarks are examples or renowned stores like Dior which Ginza is famous for. 1

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OBSERVATIONS Ginza’s grid street layout creates an easy access for vehicle traffic to the district. Additionally, public transportation access include Ginza metro line in the central part of the district and JR train lines from the west.

Intersection of Harumi Dori and Sotobo Dori as important access point on the west side of Ginza



SITE INFORMATION year built: Meiji period till present

time: af ternoon

location: Onoji, Machida City, Tokyo

weather: 67F / 25C cloudy

author: condition: Tokyo Metropolitan open Government, various architects (Tokyo International Forum: Rafael Viñoly)

size: 320,000m² = 79 acres

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capacity: A few thousands tens

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Pedestrian activity in Ginza during the weekend when major streets are closed to traffic. Pedestrian activity defining Ginza’s commercial corridorsin is enabled by the wide sidewalks, convenient access points and a volume of commercial businesses..

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Building figure ground showing building density and street hierarchy

Chuo Dori, example of one of the main streets of Ginza with double lanes and wide sidewalks.

Example of narrower and usually one-lane and one-way streets of Ginza serving as access for delivery trucks and walking corridors for pedestrians. Sidewalks are often missing.

The narrowest streets in Ginza are often thin passageways between the buildings and accessible only to pedestrians.


m uko jima h a ton omachi dori

commercial corridors

Mukojima is a large commercial district tucked into the Sumida River delta. Due to its relatively easy access from the city center, about 7 kilometers, historically Mokojima became a residential-rural settlement with highly developed commercial streets including a Geisha district, fruit and vegetable shops and social venues. Today, there are still remnants of old Mukojima like the Hatonomachi Dori commercial strip or the composition of the streetscape: two story wooden frame houses and narrow streets. The dense clustering of older building structures along the corridors dramatically contrasts with the newer large-scale developments at the edges of the district.


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Dense composition, irregularity of lots and building footprints as well as narrow streets are characteristic of Mukojima commercial corridors.. 1

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OBSERVATIONS Many elements of Mukojima have evolved to accommodate its changing needs. The new redevelopment movement for Mukojima in response to both deterioration of structures as well as encroachment of large scale developments (Tokyo Sky Tree, various large housing projects) seeks to promote existing housing, its renovation and accommodation of various uses like cultural venues, businesses and community centers. New large-scale housing contrasts with the low elevated building structures along the corridors.


A member of the Mukojima Association explaining the problem of new large-scale developments acting as edges and barriers of old Mukojima commercial district..


SITE INFORMATION year built: Meiji period till present

time: af ternoon

location: Sumida Ward, Tokyo

weather: 61F / 22C cloudy, rainy

author: condition: Tokyo Metropolitan open Government, various architects

size: 180,000m² = 4 4.5 acres

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Hatonomachi Dori, one of the main commercial streets (corridors) in Mukojima rich in variety of shops and other small businesses.

Hatonomachi Dori street activity

One of many small business owners in Machida.

Small pocket parks like this one at the entrance to Hatonomachi Dori contribute to public space typologies in Mukojima commercial district.


ropp on g i hills

Roppongi Hills mixed complex consisting of a main commercial tower, a theater, a school, clinics, art space, a TV station and residential towers a short walk away toward the south. The main commercial activity takes place at the foot of Mori Tower, with some residences higher up. The open space at ground level contains a pagoda garden with a rather round circular stepped court which is sometimes used for events like wine tasting.

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Compared to its surroundings, Roppongi Hills consists of structures with the largest footprints, tallest buildings, biggest open space, and most dense construction in the area 1

View of Tokyo from Mori Tower Roof top


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VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_06_07 Thur sday


time: af ternoon

location: Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo

capacity: thousands

architect: Kohn Perdensen Fox

condition: Combined

weather: Sunny

size: 109,000 m 2 land, 724,000 m 2 total

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Dining area near roof of Mori Tower

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Art display in Open Space

Open space near ground level

Mori Tower

Along the second and third floors of the Mori tower, there are large balcony walkways, large enough that they seem to form their own open space thus was difficult to tell it was actually not ground level. This in a way is an example of how densely yet efficiently space is used.

Pond at street level


h i l l s id e terrac e c omplex, d a i kanya ma t-si te

Just a little walk away from the hustle and bustle of Shibuya, within the more quiet residential area of Sarugakucho sits the mixed used complex of Hillside Terrace. The Daikanyama T-Site faces out to the street with its tessellated T-shaped façade. Within the T-Site complex is a large welcoming space with greenery naturally spread out along the paths. Inside you can find a book store, diner, camera store and much more.

Updated aerial unavailable

new development PUBLIC SPACE ANALYSIS

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Contrasting with its surrounding areas, the openness of the space and its greenery lies an idea of creating a naturally peaceful environment just as buildings used to bend to the conditions of their natural surroundings. 1

Peaceful garden patches


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Outdoor Cafe

VISIT INFORMATION date: 2012_06_08 Friday

SITE INFORMATION year built: size: 1992 (Hillside), 12,000 m 2 (T-site) 2011 (T-site) 24,000 m 2 (Hillside)

time: af ternoon

location: Sarugakucho, Shibuya, Tokyo

capacity: few thousand

architect: Maki and Associates (Hillside), Klein Dyham (Tsite)

condition: Open

weather: sunny

01,0001,000 15,000 sq. mt sq. mt.

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The buildings themselves, though filled with function and activity do not try to draw attention, as most of the buildings are only as tall as the surrounding residences. Around the block are multiple access points to this space, there is almost no barrier.

There is a lot of outdoor seating for people to come and relax outside and just across the street is Maki’s Hillside Terrance Complex, which, though not as active, contains buildings used as offices, retail, commercial and residential. T-site Module

Sun about to set on T-site

Outdoor Seating


Public Space in Japan: A Catalog of Typologies and Brief Discussion of the Role of Public Space

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