The Character of Urban Japan: Overview of Osaka-Kobe’s Cityscapes

Abstract

The Japanese city presents a certain number of peculiarities in the organization of its physical space (weak zoning regulations, fast piecemeal destruction/reconstruction of buildings and blocks, high compacity, incremental reorganization). Compared to countries where urban fabrics are more perennial and easily distinguishable (old centers, modern planned projects, residential areas, etc.), in Japanese metropolitan areas we often observe higher heterogeneity and more complex spatial patterns. Even within such a model, it should be possible to recognize the internal organization of the physical city. The aim of this paper is thus to study the spatial structure of the contemporary Japanese city, generalizing on the case study of Osaka and Kobe. In order to achieve this goal, we will need to identify urban forms at different local scales (building types, urban fabrics) and to analyze them at a wider scale to delineate morphological regions and their structuring of the overall layout of the contemporary Japanese city. Several analytical protocols are used together with field observations and literature. The results, and more particularly the building and urban fabric types and their location within the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area, are interpreted in the light of Japanese history and model of urbanization. A synoptic graphical model of an urban morphological structure based upon Osaka is produced and proposed as an interpretative pattern for the Japanese metropolitan city in general.Urban Sci. 2019, 3, 105 2 of 21 physical city and the morphological regions that can be identified within it. These works on European cities took into consideration street layouts, building styles and arrangements, function locations and centralities [7]. They later allowed the emergence of new approaches and concepts into the classical schools of urban morphology, such as urban fabric and morphological regions [8,9].These approaches, identifying similar areas based on their morphological characteristics, are of paramount importance whenever one seeks to understand the spatial logics of the physical city, its historical genesis and its possible evolution. Functional urban areas are often accompanied with buildings and fabrics possessing common characteristics in term of morphologies, hence the introduction starting the discussion with socio-functional models. However, within dense and large sized urban systems, distinctions between urban fabric types (high and low-rise neighborhoods, geometric and organic ones, etc.) and functional areas (residential, industrial, commercial, etc.) are becoming harder to identify. This phenomenon is not only due to the accumulation over time of different layers of urbanizations. In Japan for example, houses, buildings, or even whole urban blocks can be easily demolished to make way to new urban projects. Such a model, associated with weak land-use zoning regulations, allows a fast-piecemeal reorganization of intra-urban space. This is in sharp contrast with European and American cities where buildings and ...

Classification of residential buildings into spatial patterns of urban growth: A morpho-structural approach

“…Another example is found in Japan where the lifespan for houses is reaching 30 years. As discussed in Perez et al. (2019a) such a model appears to be in line with resilient and organic development theories since allowing a fast-piecemeal reorganization of intra-urban spaces and logics.…”

Are patterns of vacant lots random? Evidence from empirical spatiotemporal analysis in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo

“…In particular, in urban areas located far from railway stations and central business districts, it is implausible to expect market mechanisms to reduce vacant lots without administrative interventions. On the other hand, if the building density is higher than 60 buildings per hectare, such as in residential hyper-compact neighbourhoods (Perez et al., 2019), continuous urban perforation is to be welcomed because vacant lots play an important role in reducing risks such as the spread of fire. Nevertheless, urban areas with a high building density tend to correspond to those where the accumulation of vacant lots is not random but clustered.…”

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