Thanks for reading. Sure, I agree with you that as a prescription for what ails western cities, Japanese development is superior to the over-regulated conditions that prevail there. However, the main reason I wrote this post was because Tokyo is often trotted out as a counterpoint to Western urbanist debates about NIMBYism, etc. If I wer…
Thanks for reading. Sure, I agree with you that as a prescription for what ails western cities, Japanese development is superior to the over-regulated conditions that prevail there. However, the main reason I wrote this post was because Tokyo is often trotted out as a counterpoint to Western urbanist debates about NIMBYism, etc. If I were to suggest what housing-starved cities in North America should do today, it would be close to what Tokyo has done for the past 75 years, but the issue I wanted to point out is that a future of demographic decline presents a different set of problems.
Going forward, the micro-level incentives to redevelop no longer necessarily align with the health of the macro urban system, in the sense that overdevelopment in some areas accelerates the decline of other areas. I also think the reality is more complex than just the workings of free-market dynamics and people "voting with their feet." Redevelopment is incentivized through a number of laws, financial instruments, and cultural and social norms. In a different institutional context, an urban political economy that was more aligned with the demographics of post-growth society should emerge.
Thanks for reading. Sure, I agree with you that as a prescription for what ails western cities, Japanese development is superior to the over-regulated conditions that prevail there. However, the main reason I wrote this post was because Tokyo is often trotted out as a counterpoint to Western urbanist debates about NIMBYism, etc. If I were to suggest what housing-starved cities in North America should do today, it would be close to what Tokyo has done for the past 75 years, but the issue I wanted to point out is that a future of demographic decline presents a different set of problems.
Going forward, the micro-level incentives to redevelop no longer necessarily align with the health of the macro urban system, in the sense that overdevelopment in some areas accelerates the decline of other areas. I also think the reality is more complex than just the workings of free-market dynamics and people "voting with their feet." Redevelopment is incentivized through a number of laws, financial instruments, and cultural and social norms. In a different institutional context, an urban political economy that was more aligned with the demographics of post-growth society should emerge.