Japan is an important economic power, with the third largest GDP in the world, but it is somewhat surprisingly in 34th place in terms of GDP per capita. In the World Happiness Index, which tracks people’s satisfaction with their own lives, Japan even ranks 47th, far behind Guatemala (43rd) and Kazakhstan (44th). So, what exactly could we improve? 🧠 These were the questions Osamu Okamura asked intensively when he was, as a visiting professor, conducting international urban planning research at the Laboratory of Professor Taku Sakaushi at Tokyo University of Science. He named the workshop connected with the local investigation “Tokyo for everyone?”, with a question mark at the end. It seems like in Tokyo, there is an urgent need for a discussion, inspiration, and education place, where the city administration can meet with citizens, investors, and urban planning experts. Tokyo for Everyone! needs Tokyo Architecture Center.

Tokyo Livability Problems

Tokyo, is a megacity plagued by extreme heat, as a result of the “heat island” phenomenon, where highly built-up areas cause accumulation of heat by solid surfaces during the day and its radiation into the surrounding area at night, without the possibility of significant cooling and relief for its inhabitants. In recent years, high temperatures in the city have been breaking records and especially endangering the frail older people, who are rapidly increasing in Japan’s aging population.

How do we adapt our cities to climate change, rising temperatures, an aging population, and with the prospect of continued economic stagnation and an expected further decline in funding? But then why is the city expanding further and further into the landscape in an unsustainable way, when even now there are no funds or human resources left to maintain the existing extensive transport infrastructure? Moreover, when one comes across many dilapidated brownfields in the city? Why do we continue to build monofunctional residential districts when the daily commuting distances to work are already completely unbearable in terms of time for many city dwellers? Why is public space in our city so difficult to use? If there is one at all? And have you heard that Japan has the second-highest number of cyclist fatalities in the world? So why don’t we have better cycling infrastructure, cycle lanes, and cycle paths in cities, when every fifth city dweller uses a bicycle as a means of transport daily? Did you know that one in ten apartments in Tokyo is empty and unused, up to 15.8% in some of the more peripheral districts? Any idea what could be done with these empty flats if they could be brought back into circulation?

Carbon Footprint and Urban Transportation

Today we talk a lot about how to reduce carbon emissions in our cities to slow the warming of our planet. That is why we look much more carefully at where the hidden reserves of our cities are. The main challenge today is how to use space smarter, more economically, and ecologically. How to manage energy better and how to obtain it exclusively from renewable sources? How to use more sustainable materials and how to recycle or upcycle them and bring them back to life again? Today, too, we often talk about a city of short distances, in which you can comfortably get all your daily needs on foot or by bike within a fifteen-minute distance from your place of residence. Transport consumes up to 30% of energy in the city, and at the same time, active movement is the healthiest for us. Does our city allow it?

Call for Tokyo Architecture Center

It seems like there is an urgent need for an institution, a place, or a platform in the city where representatives of the city administration can meet in a transparent and democratic way with citizens, investors, and urban planning experts. In London, Paris, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Prague, Architectural Centers of different kinds serve this purpose. Osamu Okamura suggests that Tokyo and other Japanese cities also deserve such lively Architectural Centers, as places for mutual discussion, communication, inspiration, education, public involvement, and the search for win-win solutions for the further flourishing and future of the city. Tokyo for Everyone! needs Tokyo Architecture Center!