Knowledge economy challenges for the post-developmental state: Tsukuba Science City as an in-between place

Abstract

This paper examines the planning history and current planning challenges facing Tsukuba Science City. Drawing on original empirical material, it suggests that Tsukuba can be seen as an in-between place in three respects. Tsukuba began life as an instance of the international garden-campus-suburb orthodoxy surrounding science spaces, and now falls somewhere inbetween an independent city and a suburb of greater Tokyo. Tsukuba's predicament in this regard is intimately related to the broader policy challenges facing Japan as it transitions from a developmental to a post-developmental state. Chief among these challenges is effectively inserting a science city like Tsukuba into an increasingly globalized 'New Argonaut' market for skilled labour. I make use of Appadurai (1996)'s notion of 'scapes' to interpret Tsukuba as an in-between place but also to highlight the practical challenges of it securing a central position within the global science landscape of modernity.

Temporal Continuities of Grasslands and Forests as Patches of Natural Land in Urban Landscapes: A Case Study of the Tsukuba Science City

“…The city's northern part is mountainous, formed by magma deep underground and great movement of oceanic plates, while the southern part is a Pleistocene plateau plain. Tsukuba Science City was planned and developed by the national government to alleviate the Tokyo metropolitan area's concentrated population and so began life as an instance of the international garden-campus-suburb orthodoxy surrounding science spaces [23,28]. Public and private research institutes as well as the University of Tsukuba (formerly the Tokyo University of Education) were moved from Tokyo to Tsukuba.…”

“…Immediately after urbanization, remnants of agricultural landscape as a modified natural environment would be present in the city's green areas. In urban green spaces, however, the agricultural landscape changes gradually to dense, rich greenery due to decades of excessive management, or, conversely, abandonment of management [18,19,22,23]. Therefore, continuously grasping changes from rural to urban and changes over decades after urbanization is necessary.…”

“…This study's objective is to determine areas in urban nature that are less fragmented, barely affected by urban development, and have a long history of their management's current status. In the Tsukuba Science City, previous research has clarified changes in green spaces and management issues for about 30 years after development [22][23][24]. In this study, we identified and investigated natural patches in urban landscapes, clarified actual management practices in the identified patches, and traced changes in land ownership and land cover during the past 130 years.…”

Science Spaces as ‘Ethnoscapes’: Identity, Perception and the Production of Locality

“…In Tsukuba, the initial ambition of the developmental-state era, to create a comprehensive and integrated 'science city' adjunct to greater Tokyo, has given way [35]. Indeed, against the background of economic slowdown and urban renaissance, the Japanese central government has abandoned aspirations for balanced national development, seeking to strengthen its international competitiveness by refocusing planning attention on a greater Tokyo, and on its inner suburban centres in particular.…”

Edge City Denied? The Rise and Fall of Tokyo’s Outer Suburban “Business Core Cities”

“… 5. This problem of “inbetweenity” faced by outer suburban cities is of wider significance. See Miao (2018) on the case of Tsukuba Science City’s increasingly becoming a suburb of Tokyo, albeit a growing one. …”