Tokyo Roji: The Diversity and Versatility of Alleys in a City in Transition

ISBN-13: 9781138949102 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 196 str.

Heide Imai

Opis

This book presents urban narratives of the roji, the Japanese urban alleyway, which was once part of people's personal spatial sphere and everyday life but has increasingly been transformed by diverse and competing interests. Marginalised through the emergence of new forms of housing and public spaces, re-appropriated by different fields, and re-invented by the contemporary urban design discourse, the social meaning attached to the roji is being re-interpreted by individuals, subcultures and new social movements to fit hybrid and multiple concepts of living and life styles. Exploring the potential of these changes, the book will introduce and discuss specific examples of urban practices which take place within the dynamic urban landscape of contemporary Tokyo to portray the life cycle of an urban form being rediscovered, commodified and lost as physical space.

O autorze

Heide Imai is Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies (GIS) at Hosei University and Research Associate at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. Licensed as an architect, her research, teaching and practice focus is urban resistance, resilience and the future of vernacular landscapes in global cities.