Shifts in Tokyo's World City Status and the Urban Planning Response

Asato Saito and Andy Thornley
Additional contact information
Asato Saito: Planning Studies Programme, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2 2AE, UK. A.Saito@lse.ac.uk
Andy Thornley: Planning Studies Programme, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2 2AE, UK. A.Thorneley@lse.ac.uk

Urban Studies, 2003, vol. 40, issue 4, 665-685

Abstract: The position of a city in any hierarchy of world importance is not a static phenomenon. This paper takes the example of Tokyo and explores its interaction with the dramatic economic and political events in Japan over the past 20 years. Although Tokyo is widely regarded as one of the top three 'world cities', the argument is supported that it retained many national characteristics, partly based on its location in a 'developmental state'. As national fortunes have changed, so has Tokyo's relationship with its global environment. The paper focuses on strategic urban policy and the way that this reflects Tokyo's world role, as perceived by national and city governments. Three phases in approach are identified since the 1980s. Twenty years ago Japan was experiencing economic boom and this was reflected in dramatic development projects in Tokyo. The concept of 'world city' was used at this time to legitimise such development. The 1990s were viewed in Japan as 'the lost decade' with great uncertainty over policy direction as the boom collapsed and urban policy in Tokyo entered a phase of inertia. It is argued that the city is now entering a third phase in which a new competitive attitude is emerging regarding the role of Tokyo and this is leading to changes in strategic urban policy. However, this new approach is still embedded in old structures and conceptions and hence there are tensions in developing future policy.

Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098032000065245 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:40:y:2003:i:4:p:665-685

DOI: 10.1080/0042098032000065245

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().