Comments on: The Tokyo “default” model http://www.airoots.org/2008/08/the-tokyo-%e2%80%9cdefault%e2%80%9d-model/ A blog by Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove on adventitious roots, urban forests and villages, natural cities, lost tribes, new nomads and everything in between and under... Tue, 13 Aug 2013 03:30:59 +0200 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Mark http://www.airoots.org/2008/08/the-tokyo-%e2%80%9cdefault%e2%80%9d-model/comment-page-1/#comment-4226 Mark Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:52:04 +0000 http://www.airoots.org/?p=326#comment-4226 I am living in the asagaya/koenji area in suginami burrow of Tokyo. It is one area where there is still some of the old character but it is changing fast. The big thing with codes and zoning to some extent is safety. Houses are so close that when there is a fire the neighbors feel the heat literally and with tatami mats and drunk people falling asleep with cigarettes well .. you can see the problem. emergency vehicles cant get down these narrow streets and have to repel off neighbors balconies just to get to injured people as well. I am living in the asagaya/koenji area in suginami burrow of Tokyo. It is one area where there is still some of the old character but it is changing fast. The big thing with codes and zoning to some extent is safety. Houses are so close that when there is a fire the neighbors feel the heat literally and with tatami mats and drunk people falling asleep with cigarettes well .. you can see the problem. emergency vehicles cant get down these narrow streets and have to repel off neighbors balconies just to get to injured people as well.

]]> By: will http://www.airoots.org/2008/08/the-tokyo-%e2%80%9cdefault%e2%80%9d-model/comment-page-1/#comment-482 will Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:57:40 +0000 http://www.airoots.org/?p=326#comment-482 there isn't so much available in english unfortunately. the best book about planning in japan is by andre sorenson, called "The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and. Planning From Edo to the Twenty-first Century". he takes a slightly darker view of the effect of this situation however as the result is sprawl - sprawl with mixed land use, but still sprawl. there isn’t so much available in english unfortunately. the best book about planning in japan is by andre sorenson, called “The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and. Planning From Edo to the Twenty-first Century”. he takes a slightly darker view of the effect of this situation however as the result is sprawl – sprawl with mixed land use, but still sprawl.

]]> By: Daniel http://www.airoots.org/2008/08/the-tokyo-%e2%80%9cdefault%e2%80%9d-model/comment-page-1/#comment-292 Daniel Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:28:39 +0000 http://www.airoots.org/?p=326#comment-292 Very insightful. So was your comment too, Will, especially the part about the zoning being part of the building code instead of some urban planning laws. I would certainly like to learm more, do you know where I can read more about this. i find it partcularly interesting since i´m from Chile, and like the rest of South America, the urban model here tends to copy the american suburban model. Very insightful. So was your comment too, Will, especially the part about the zoning being part of the building code instead of some urban planning laws. I would certainly like to learm more, do you know where I can read more about this. i find it partcularly interesting since i´m from Chile, and like the rest of South America, the urban model here tends to copy the american suburban model.

]]> By: will http://www.airoots.org/2008/08/the-tokyo-%e2%80%9cdefault%e2%80%9d-model/comment-page-1/#comment-274 will Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:29:03 +0000 http://www.airoots.org/?p=326#comment-274 interesting interpretation. i am in final days of phd at university of tokyo studying the effect of the zoning you describe on suburbia and see much the same thing even in small city suburbs of japan. it is fascinating to me that the same pattern of mixed land use can be found in low density areas where population and economic pressures are not as intense as in tokyo. i think it happens because zoning here is cumulative rather than prescriptive, and because the zoning is in the building code instead of urban planning laws. which means currently the entire nation is governed by the same 12 highly inclusive zones, no matter if it is city centre or urban fringe. at the same time i think too that the lack of crime and the trains and so on really only work because this is japan. in another country and another culture there is no reason it would necessarily work automatically. a lot of cultural control is in play here that makes the city liveable. interesting interpretation.

i am in final days of phd at university of tokyo studying the effect of the zoning you describe on suburbia and see much the same thing even in small city suburbs of japan. it is fascinating to me that the same pattern of mixed land use can be found in low density areas where population and economic pressures are not as intense as in tokyo.

i think it happens because zoning here is cumulative rather than prescriptive, and because the zoning is in the building code instead of urban planning laws. which means currently the entire nation is governed by the same 12 highly inclusive zones, no matter if it is city centre or urban fringe.

at the same time i think too that the lack of crime and the trains and so on really only work because this is japan. in another country and another culture there is no reason it would necessarily work automatically. a lot of cultural control is in play here that makes the city liveable.

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