Divided Tokyo: Disparities in Living Conditions in the City Center and the Shrinking Suburbs

ISBN-13: 9789811542046 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 174 str.

Tomoko Kubo

Spis treści

Preface

Chapter 1　Introduction

1.1 Research background

1.2 Globalization, neo-liberal housing policy, and changing cities

1.3 Debates on the Divided city

1.4 Shrinking cities, housing vacancies, and the urban lifecycle

1.5 Social justice and the residential environment of cities

1.6 Housing, family, and social change in the post-growth society

1.7 Research framework and structure of the book

PART I Divided Tokyo

Chapter 2　Divided Tokyo: Housing policy, the ideology of homeownership, 

and the growing contrast between the city center and the suburbs

2.1 Purpose of the study

2.2 Japanese housing and family structures in Modern times

2.3 Post-war national policy in Japan

2.4 Suburbanization and the ideology of homeownership

2.5 City center living since the 1990s

2.6 Neo-liberalism and transit-oriented development in Tokyo

2.7 Discussion and conclusions

PART II Growth of the City Center Condominium Lifestyle

Chapter 3 The rise of the condominium lifestyle in Japanese cities

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Condominiums in cities

3.3 Acceptance of the condominium lifestyle in Japan: The case of a middle-sized city

3.4 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 4　Homeownership by single women in central Tokyo

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Housing pathways of younger people and women

4.3 Condominium purchases by single women in central Tokyo

4.4 Condominium supply strategies responding to new housing needs

4.5 Discussion

4.6 Summary of the Chapter

Chapter 5 New condominium town in the Tokyo Bay area: making “home” an antithesis to rootlessness in suburbia

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Overview of condominium residents in Makuhari Bay Town

5.3 Residential choices of condominium residents in Makuhari Bay Town

5.4 Discussion

5.5 Concluding remarks

PART III Shrinking Suburbs

Chapter 6 Shrinking suburbs in Tokyo

6.1 Introduction 

6.2 Debates on the shrinking city and the Japanese context

6.3 Shrinkage and aging in Japanese cities

6.4 The increase in vacant housing in Japanese cities

6.5 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 7 The generative processes of vacant housing in the shrinking suburbs: 

The case of Ushiku in Tokyo’s 50-60-km Commuter Belt

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Residents’ characteristics

7.3 The increase in vacant housing in Ushiku

7.4 The total reality: the interrelationship between generic and specific factors

7.5 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 8 Policy response and civic engagement to address urban shrinkage

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Policy responses to urban shrinkage and civic engagement

8.3 Civic engagement for the maintenance of the residential environment

8.4 The sustainability of the residential environment in Narita New Town

8.5 Discussion

PART IV Conclusions: Whither the Divided Tokyo?

Chapter 9 Conclusions

9.2 The characteristics of the divided Tokyo

9.3 Possible countermeasures

9.4 What does the future hold for Tokyo and other Japanese cities?

O autorze

Tomoko Kubo is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Tsukuba, Japan. She is an urban geographer working closely with housing studies. She is the former chair of the Urban Geography Commission’s Young Scholar (YS) Committee of the International Geographical Union (IGU) after winning its 2012 YS Paper competition, and a board member of the Research Committee on Housing and the Built Environment (RC43) of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Her research interests include urbanization and the housing market, urban and housing policy, residential choices under socioeconomic changes, single women’s homeownership, shrinking cities and their revitalization, and aging suburbs in Japan.

Blurb

This book explores how and why Tokyo has been divided over time in terms of living conditions. First, recent urban discourses that explain the transformation of Tokyo’s urban structure are examined, along with social changes and the expansion of unequal residential conditions within the metropolitan area. Chapter 1 reviews: 1) discussions on globalization, neo-liberalization, and changes in housing policies; 2) debates on the divided city; 3) debates on the shrinking city and the urban lifecycle; 4) discussion of the urban residential environment from a social justice perspective; and 5) family–housing relationships in the post-growth society. Based on the literature review, the rest of the book is structured as follows. Chapter 2 explains the changes in urban and housing policies, demography, and socio-economic conditions. In Chapters 3 to 5, the background and characteristics of the growth of condominium living in the city center are examined. The next three chapters analyze the reality of shrinking suburbs, using case studies to demonstrate the increase in vacant housing and local responses toward shrinkage. In Chapter 9, possible solutions are proposed for dealing with problems related to urban shrinkage and the expanding gap in terms of the availability of investments to stimulate urban development, the residential environment, and the population age structure in Japanese cities by comparing the author’s findings and the literature review. This book provides deep insights for urban and housing scholars, urban planners, policy decision-makers, and local communities that struggle with aging populations and urban shrinkage.