Japan Studio (Fall 2010) – Background

The Vertical, the Dense; Trajectories for Tokyo in the 21st century

In many ways, Tokyo was the prototype city for the rapid growth, high-density and infrastructure-heavy urbanism that has now spread around the world. With the utter catastrophe of World War II, Tokyo had to be re-built and re-thought and a scale and speed that has only recently been surpassed in places such as China and Dubai. The scale of Japan’s (and America’s) investment in a way of life and the infrastructure to support it is still unrivaled. Now in the 21st century, Tokyo is being re-built and re-thought again. With massive new investments in infrastructure and a new government desperate to dig out of the current economic malaise Tokyo is trying to learn from its rich, varied past and emerge again; re-affirming its position as one of the pre-eminent economic and cultural cities in the world.

September 9, 2010 | Categories: Studio | Tags: 1960-1962, 1990, 21st century, America, Arata Isozaki, China, Cities in the Air, cultural, dense, Dubai, economic, economy, Godzilla, government, high-density, infrastructure, infrastructure heavy, investment, Japan, Michael Sorkin, rapid growth, scale, speed, Tokyo, trajectories, trajectory, urbanism, vertical, world, World War II | Leave a comment