Skyrocketing real estate markets throughout Asia's megacities put enormous pressure on the urban heritage. It is said that no historical residential neighborhood are left in the center of Shanghai. In Mumbai dreams of modernity are filled with high-rise buildings, and vernacular architecture is disregarded as an expression of backwardness. Likewise in Tokyo, which was destroyed twice during the last century by the Great Kanto Earthquake and then by US bombings, historical preservation is, understandably, not seen as a priority. Preservation however, as the case of Shimokitazawa illustrates, is not only about architecture but also about culture.
Last June about 130 local residents, artists, architects, activists, and students from Japan and the rest of the world came together and produced a multimedia testimony to the spirit of Shimokitazawa and proposed an alternative vision for the future of one of Tokyo's most culturally vibrant neighborhood. This event broke new ground in the field of participatory community design and attracted attention from observers in Japan and abroad.
Photo: Save the Shimokitazawa -www.stsk.net-
The neighborhood of Shimokitazawa represents Japanese counter-culture more than any other place in Tokyo. Indeed, this is probably one of the first places that young architects, designers, artists, djs, or activists visiting Tokyo are taken to by their Japanese counterparts. The narrow and crowded streets of Shimokitazawa have a perfume of freedom and anti-conformism. In Shimokitazawa styled-up youth have not only alternative looks, but also alternative lifestyles. Indeed Shimokitazawa is one of the rare places in Tokyo where counter-culture meets politics.
Shimokitazawa was preserved from destruction and redevelopment throughout the war and up to our days. As a result the town developed incrementally along its narrow streets retaining a village feel that contributes to its popularity. Characterized by low rise buildings, pedestrian space, bustling ground-level market activity, and tight community networks, Shimokitazawa represents an alternative urban model: the informal, unplanned city that consolidated through time.
This model is however challenged by a master plan of the Municipality of Setagaya, to which Shimokitazawa belongs. The master plan of the Municipality is reminiscent of the generic type urbanism predominating in other parts of Tokyo and fast spreading in globalizing cities around the world. The plan, which is backed by powerful the real-estate lobby, completely ignores the present value of Shimokitazawa for Tokyo and its foreign visitors.
Photo: Urban Typhoon
As a result many grassroots initiatives were undertaken to call the attention of the public and develop alternatives. The Urban Typhoon workshop was one of them. It was directly connected to two of the major community groups active in the neighborhood, Save the Shimokitazawa and Shimokitazawa Forum. The Urban Typhoon workshop set a precedent at a time when public involvement is being recognized as an essential part of urban planning across the globe, from the streets of emerging megacities to the desks of international organizations, passing by urban planning textbooks. The workshop was an experiment in participatory design bringing together world-class practitioners, students and local people.
The Urban Typhoon team is now trying to compiling outcome of the workshop as a book, CD-ROM, and keep linking up with activists and creative groups around the world working on the same issues to share experience and ideas.
http://www.urbantyphoon.com
http://www.stsk.net
Text by Matias Sendoa Echanove -http://www.urbanology.org-
More info:
http://www.urbantyphoon.com/UrbanTyphoonREPORT.pdf
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2405
http://www.ikjeld.com/japannews/00000356.php
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fq20060623a3.html
http://www.kyotojournal.org/10,000things/060.html
http://kraxglobal.blogspot.com/2006/12/save-shimokitazawa-tokyo-japon.html
Recent Comments