Metropolitics

The Postponed Tokyo 2020 Games: From Planning Conflicts to Covid

Raphaël Languillon-Aussel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-09-09T05:00:00Z

One of the many consequences of the Covid‑19 pandemic was the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in summer 2021; however, the health crisis was not the only issue to adversely affect the Games. Here, Raphaël Languillon-Aussel looks behind the scenes of Tokyo 2020 and examines the multiple conflicts and stakes that beset the Games.
On March 24, 2020, the Japanese central government announced its decision to postpone by one year the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games that were

- From the Field / coronavirus, development, Tokyo, Japan, Covid-19, Olympic Games

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

The Tokyo skyline, or the hidden order behind opportunistic construction

Raphaël Languillon-Aussel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-11-13T06:00:00Z

Behind the apparent disorder, Tokyo's current skyline in fact complies with complex rules. While the first towers in Tokyo appeared in the late 1960s, the “verticalization” of the city has in reality taken place over two distinct periods: the 1980s – the era of the construction of the global city – and the 2000s – Tokyo's renaissance. Since the 2000s, the skyline has tended to respect certain spatial codes, specific to the Japanese context, against a backdrop of dynamic tension between the

- Essays / architecture, culture, skyline, towers, development, Tokyo, Japan, space, verticality

The burst bubble and the privatisation of planning in Tokyo

Raphaël Languillon-Aussel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-02-05T05:50:00Z

Since the early 1990s and the collapse of Japan's asset price bubble, developments in Marunouchi – Tokyo's main business district – have revealed a turning point in planning policy with regard to commercial real estate. Instead of letting laissez-faire prevail, the public authorities have actively involved private developers such as Mitsubishi Jisho in order to increase functional diversity and redefine public spaces.
Marunouchi is the most central business district in the Tokyo urban area,

- From the Field / developers, urban planning, urban policy, urban development, privatization, development, business district, Tokyo, Japan