Placemaking, Livability, and Revitalization in Tokyo: Lessons in Sustainable Urban Regeneration

The popular image of Tokyo is a megacity characterized by skyscrapers on one hand and by intricate, dense, and extensive neighborhood districts filled with micro‐entrepreneurs on the other. This article traces recent transformations in the city’s urban fabric that are rooted in post‐war reconstruction processes and in governmental deregulation policies initiated by the 1969 Urban Redevelopment Law, which have shaped its iconic identity. It also addresses the dual dynamics of top–down governmental and corporate‐led revitalization models, exemplified by the 2002 Law on Special Measures for Urban Renaissance, as well as bottom‐up collective efforts, such as the “machizukuri” phenomenon, which have sought to reconfigure and improve Tokyo’s public infrastructure and human environment. The article attempts a critical evaluation of contemporary approaches to sustainable urban regeneration in Japan, drawing on three recent examples of multi‐scale urban space regeneration implemented around Tokyo’s commercial streets and major transit hubs, the Tokyo Toilet Project in Shibuya, the Shimokita Senrogai Project in Setagaya, and the Azabudai Hills in Minato. Based on lessons learned during the decades of the post‐bubble economy, it outlines current trends behind these and other selected projects to illuminate how Tokyo and its commercial areas are adapting to evolving issues associated with urban decline and a super‐aging society in order to provide the services critical to the well‐being of its residents.