Japanese Urban Environment

Japan has led the world in urban innovation, design and planning, successfully combining high population with functionality, cleanliness and low levels of crime. This text sets out to explain the reasons for this success, showing how both natural and human-made factors influence urban life. Interdisciplinary, comprehensive and up-to-date, this book shows how the physical cityscape of climate, buildings and infrastructure interacts with social and cultural factors to produce a unique environment. Divided into four parts, the volume addresses: the social, cultural and physical determinants of the Japanese urban environment, showing how cultural values have influenced the historical evolution of cities; the climate, energy use and leisure provision in the city from an environmental perspective; the infrastructure of the Japanese city and its growth since the Second World War, illustrating how technical hardware , such as the subway systems, operates effectively because of the social, economic and cultural software ; and the future of urban design in Japan, indicating the impact of national and local planning, the uses of advanced technology and methods for urban redevelopment. With contributions by a wide range of Japanese specialists, this work addresses the full complexity of the urban environment. The authors show how a dynamic synthesis of traditional Eastern socio-cultural influences with Western building and engineering techniques led to the modern Japanese city.