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Urban Renaissance as Intensification: Building Regulation and the Rescaling of Place Governance in Tokyo’s High-rise Manshon Boom

Author

Listed:
  • André Sorensen

    (Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 455 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2G8, Canada, sorensen@utsc.utoronto.ca)

  • Junichiro Okata

    (Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, okata@up.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp)

  • Sayaka Fujii

    (Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaragi, Japan, fujii@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp)

Abstract

During the past decade, Tokyo has seen a massive building boom, despite a prolonged economic slump since 1990. Since the 1980s, central government has enacted a steady stream of building code changes that allow much larger buildings. This paper argues that the recent wave of private investment in high-rise intensification has been instigated by these changes to building regulations, so that the form of urban restructuring and the distribution of winners and losers in the process are shaped by the central state, a reverse of the previous trend of decentralisation of planning powers. This restructuring of central/ local government relations can be understood as a creative rescaling of governance power that disrupted established democratic institutional frameworks of decision-making and conflict resolution. This study highlights both the centrality of land assets in Japan’s developmental capitalism and the continuing importance of the distinctive institutional legacies of the developmental state in structuring Japanese urban governance.

Suggested Citation

  • André Sorensen & Junichiro Okata & Sayaka Fujii, 2010. "Urban Renaissance as Intensification: Building Regulation and the Rescaling of Place Governance in Tokyo’s High-rise Manshon Boom," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(3), pages 556-583, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:3:p:556-583
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098009349775
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. David Ley & Sin Yih Teo, 2014. "Gentrification in Hong Kong? Epistemology vs. Ontology," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1286-1303, July.
    3. Peter Newman & Andy Thornley, 2011. "Planning for World Cities: Shifting Agendas and Differing Politics," Chapters, in: Ben Derudder & Michael Hoyler & Peter J. Taylor & Frank Witlox (ed.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, chapter 29, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Kohei Kawai & Masatomo Suzuki & Chihiro Shimizu, 2019. "Shrinkage in Tokyo’s Central Business District: Large-Scale Redevelopment in the Spatially Shrinking Office Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.

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