Half of Tokyo was flattened during World War II. It was then rebuilt in haste to accommodate people’s need for shelter and livelihood. There were big master plans for Tokyo, but because of budgetary and time constraints the central government instead focused on infrastructure, leaving residential and commercial development to local actors.

This pattern of development has basically been maintained even till today and explains why Tokyo has both; one of the best infrastructures in the world and a housing stock of great variety. Typical low rent flats in Tokyo, such as mine, get very cold in the winter and very hot in the Summer

The residential urbanism of Tokyo is characterized by low rise buildings and high density. “In spite of some deliberate planning attempts to widen major streets and introduce reinforce concrete buildings the majority of neighborhoods were characterized by flimsy wooden constructions, and slum-type housing dominated many areas until the 1960s” (Carola Hein 2003).

While the architecture has incrementally been upgraded, the urban typology is still very much informal and slummy-looking, with extremely narrow and labyrinthine streets, self-made looking houses, often with parts added-on, made of material such as metal sheets and wood. Moreover most neighborhoods are very much mixed-use. Walking through the countless residential streets of Tokyo always leads to fascinating findings. Below are some shots of a recent walk in the historical streets of Yanaka.

What I find fascinating is that we can clearly see the past of Tokyo as a slum. How much of a good thing it was that these slummy areas were not master planned and “redeveloped” but rather left to develop on their own and retrofitted with modern infrastructure. Tokyo is a model of development for developing cities which are so often ashamed of their slums and dream of vertical modernity. Slum is vernacular architecture. This is history and culture. Don’t destroy it, develop it!

What a beautiful shack, even the electric pole is bent.

Step inside and it is a wonderful mess.

This is NOT Brazil. This Tokyo!

Metal sheets, the characteristic material of slums around the world…

Informal add-on to the house. Incrementally developing.

What about building a deck on the roof?

And if you need wood or a ladder you can get it from the neighbor

Below a sento, traditional Japanese public bath.

Below, my favorite wood house. Is it traditional architecture or a slum-type house? And what’s the difference anyways?

For more on the Tokyo model of urban development, from slum to future city, you can take a look at a memo Rahul and I prepared for the “Slum Rehabilitation Authority” (SRA) in Mumbai. This is the government agency in charge of the “Dharavi Redevelopment Project”.

Memo: The Tokyo Model of Urban Development