Metropolitics

Mitigating urban decline through the compact city? Reflections on 15 years of urban recentralization policies in Japan

Sophie Buhnik — 2017-12-07T05:00:00Z

To cope with a rapidly spreading and now pervasive phenomenon of urban decline, Japanese authorities have actively promoted “compact city” strategies. However, 15 years after the launch of the Urban Renaissance Special Measure Law, designed to rejuvenate the downtown areas of Japan's largest cities, the neoliberal-oriented rationale that underpinned many compact city projects is now met with mixed opinions in Japan, especially in light of its contrasting effects on seniors' access to urban

- From the Field / aging, periurban, downtown, city centre, Japan, shrinking cities, urban decline, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, periphery, compact city

Urban Shrinkage in France: An Invisible Issue?

Rémi Dormois & Sylvie Fol & translated by Oliver Waine — 2017-09-13T05:00:00Z

Although the phenomenon of urban shrinkage affects a significant number of French towns and cities, it is an issue that has so far been the subject of no real debate or dedicated policy at national level. A series of interviews with some of the actors involved in urban policy in France sheds light on the reasons for this long-standing “oversight” – and also reveals signs that “low-pressure housing markets” and devitalized town centres may finally be making it on to the political agenda.
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- Essays / France, housing, housing policy, urban policy, urban renewal, deindustrialization, social housing, downtown, city centre, shrinking cities, urban decline, housing markets, urban shrinkage, devitalization, devitalization of town centres

The Happy Few and the Unhappy Many: Endangered Artists in Global Cities

Boris Grésillon & translated by John Barrett — 2017-06-15T07:00:00Z

While participating or having participated in reshaping urban spaces, artists seem to be increasingly driven away from city centers due to steep rents and are forced move farther and farther from the heart of metropolises. Will the global contemporary city, like the mythical figure Cronus devouring his own children, exclude its artists? Boris Grésillon examines the dynamics at work in four metropolitan centers: New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris.
The global city (Sassen 1991) is predominantly

- Essays / gentrification, Paris, London, New York, art, downtown, city centre, Tokyo, rental, right to the city, artist, arts, rent, global cities

Vancouverism: hybridisation and spread of an urban model

Nicolas Douay & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-06-12T04:50:00Z

The transformation that downtown Vancouver has undergone – which has since become a reference, known as “Vancouverism” – has involved building residential towers and creating public spaces that pay visual attention to their surroundings. Nicolas Douay looks into the origins of these transformations and the ways in which this new urban model has been disseminated.
---- Series: The Renewed Relevance of Urban-Planning Models? In a context of metropolisation, cities create images, values and

- From the Field / architecture, urban planning, real estate, Canada, downtown, city centre, dissemination of urban references, model, Vancouver, Hong Kong

Pedestrians, cars and the city

Cédric Feriel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-05-29T10:01:37Z

Pedestrianisation and the ability to get around the city on foot are key considerations in contemporary projects for public spaces – and yet the very first pedestrian zones date back to the 1960s, not just in Europe but also in the United States. Cédric Feriel re-examines this important legacy in the light of current thinking on the subject.
Since the early 2000s, pedestrians have regained their place at the heart of debates on urban development in Europe and the United States (Urbanisme

- From the Field / Europe, public space, United States, cars, downtown, city centre, pedestrian