Designing the 2018 Urbanism places exhibition and public planning history

This paper clarifies the intention behind the design of the exhibition ‘Urbanism Places Exhibition 2018’ (UPE2018), and analyzes evaluations of exhibition visitors. It aims to develop a methodology for planning history exhibitions. UPE2018 was an exhibition that focused on plazas in the context of planning heritage. The 55 HIROBA of the Shinjuku Mitsui Building was selected as a venue so that people could experience a high-quality plaza, which is an example of planning heritage in itself. In addition, the organizer prepared content about the history of public spaces in both Japan and the Shinjuku area, as well as on contemporary methods of creating public spaces, and the exhibition featured talks about public spaces. The exhibition method was based on the following principles: 1) an exhibition should be woven into the everyday use of space and 2) the exhibition itself creates a plaza. The evaluations revealed that non-experts especially tended to appreciate the talk-type program. Planners tended to see the planning history exhibition as a source of knowledge that could be useful in urban planning, while non-experts reported the exhibition increased their awareness of surrounding urban spaces.