Learning from Tokyo’s mixed-use urban development
New Zealand could gain valuable insights into urban planning by looking beyond the “Anglosphere” to the likes of Tokyo writes Kayden Briskie, who is undertaking a masters degree in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University. With help from a Foundation Research Grant, Kayden recently travelled to Tokyo to gain insights into how Japan's capital navigates the complexities or urban planning, looking at where it has succeeded, and where it has struggled.
Kayden visiting Tokyo Bay, one of the case study areas of his research on mixed-use urban development
One of my frustrations with the housing and urban planning profession in New Zealand is that we tend to look almost exclusively to the Anglosphere for policy inspiration or to test the reasonableness of our ideas. To an extent, this is understandable. In a working environment where timeframes can be tight or uncertain, our shared language and cultural similarities can make it easier and quicker to get to grips with unfamiliar policy ideas. It does, however, mean policy and planning practitioners often overlook a wealth of insights from Asia, with whom we share numerous challenges and can find plentiful examples of ambitious and imaginative policy responses.
It was for this reason that I was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to Japan and learn more about the country’s unique urban planning and development system.
During the two weeks I was in Tokyo, I was lucky enough to meet with several housing and urban planning professionals and academics for a crash course in the city’s urban development and to exchange ideas about the New Zealand urban planning system. I also had the chance to undertake fieldwork and data collection to support my own research on the economic and social trials and tribulations of mixed-use urban environments.
An example of mixed agricultural land-use, medium-density residential, and public housing (Danchi) in Saitama
In light-hearted preparation for my trip, I watched the 1994 Studio Ghibli cult classic Pom Poko. The animated film tells the story of a group of shape-shifting racoons muddling through an organised resistance to the urban development of their homeland on Tokyo’s Tama Hills.
While a children’s film may seem an unlikely source of policy inspiration, the tale holds a simple, but important, message for Western urbanists interested in the comparative study of Japan—and no, it is not that surreal spirit foxes secretly masquerade as Tokyo’s business elite. It is that Japan’s urban development has, like our own, been intertwined with conflict, trade-offs, and distributive consequences that cannot be overlooked when assessing policy outcomes.
Monja Street in Tsukishima, Chūō Ward showcasing a rare mix of Old and New Tokyo
I strived to remain cognisant of this lesson as I walked the streets and suburbs of Tokyo. In comparative urban research, it is hard to avoid being entrapped by the difference of unfamiliar places.
The spectacle of Tokyo often made it difficult to soberly deduce opportunities and conflicts in the same way I might back home. It was only in speaking to local experts that I began unravelling some of the city’s nuances.
One example was the neighbourhoods of Tsukuda and Tsukishima in Tokyo Bay, which today are adorned with luxurious skyscrapers and condominiums, vibrant streetscapes, and fantastical views of central Tokyo across the Sumida River, but whose development is beset with a history of gentrification and local conflict over the scale of such urban change.
Pushing myself to take a critical perspective helped me test some of the assumptions I had about Japanese urban planning and potential lessons for New Zealand. I set out, like many Western planners, interested in Japan’s relatively liberal approach to land-use zoning and its connection to the vibrant, compact, and mixed-use streetscapes of Tokyo.
While I found many examples of this during my visit, I also observed instances where this approach had contributed to commercial overdevelopment and residential displacement, I also saw where it had materialised negatively in more modest suburban neighbourhoods in the form of noxious quasi-industrial and residential land-use mixes.
Kayden presenting to a class of postgraduate planning students at the University of Tokyo
Outside of my fieldwork, one of the most rewarding experiences of my trip was an opportunity I had to present to planning students at the University of Tokyo on the New Zealand housing and urban planning system.
It was enlightening to hear the student’s perceptions and assumptions about New Zealand cities. Though on some aspects, it was hard to be the bearer of bad news! Yes, you probably will need to rent a car if you visit, and no, our cities are not particularly walkable unless it is to the dairy for a Golden Circle Creaming Soda.
Nevertheless, the students raised some excellent ideas about what they perceived as the positives and negatives of New Zealand cities and urban planning and the benefits and shortcomings of their own system. It was a fantastic way of bookending my trip as it helped me formulate some of my own learnings about Japan and correct some of the assumptions I had made during my visit. It also left me feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunity to connect with so many likeminded and passionate people.
The Foundation's Research Programme publishes surveys, reports, and insights briefs relating to all aspects of New Zealand’s relationships with and interests in Asia. We also provide grants to emerging scholars with Asia-related research interests.
The Foundation’s Research Grants support talented postgraduate students and emerging scholars to conduct research into contemporary issues in the Asia region.
