Tokyo Station City: The railway station as urban place

Abstract

Railway stations in Japan and elsewhere are undergoing redevelopment to accommodate new spaces of consumption and leisure. Tokyo Station redevelopment is a representative case illustrating the experiment of integrating new facilities into an existing spatial system. The station's image is being recast as an important urban centre in Tokyo with a particular mix of prestige business, shopping and unique entertainment venues. The walking network is being reconfigured in a larger space with a complex set of new land uses, leading to new spatial configurations and patterns of behaviour. These transformations support a new role for the station. The station redevelopment, along with related investments in the surrounding space represent a distinctly Japanese approach to transit-oriented development. This article examines the urban design strategy underlying these transformations.

The Expansion of Densely Inhabited Districts in a Megacity - Case of Tokyo

“…Most of the lines were established before 1975 therefore it could be inferred that DIDs tended to grow near existing railway lines. These findings concur with literature emphasizing that Japanese railway companies intentionally foster DID growth near stations as part of their business strategy (Calimente, 2012;Zacharias, Zhang, & Nakajima, 2011)). Beginning in the 1920s, private railway companies purchased huge areas of land in the suburbs of Tokyo and developed housing estates and department stores next to stations as a business strategy (Okata & Murayama, 2011).…”

“…Beginning in the 1920s, private railway companies purchased huge areas of land in the suburbs of Tokyo and developed housing estates and department stores next to stations as a business strategy (Okata & Murayama, 2011). This in turn created unprecedented demand for railway services (Zacharias, Zhang, & Nakajima, 2011). Transit-oriented development (TOD) in Japan is a fundamental characteristic of all central city urban development, and is almost exclusively rail-based (Dittmar & Ohland, 2003;Zacharias, Zhang, & Nakajima, 2011).…”

“…This in turn created unprecedented demand for railway services (Zacharias, Zhang, & Nakajima, 2011). Transit-oriented development (TOD) in Japan is a fundamental characteristic of all central city urban development, and is almost exclusively rail-based (Dittmar & Ohland, 2003;Zacharias, Zhang, & Nakajima, 2011). Urban sprawl was limited by Urbanization Promotion Areas (UPA) which were demarcated to create systematic urbanization around train stations.…”

How do East and Southeast Asian Cities Differ from Western Cities? A Systematic Review of the Urban Form Characteristics

“…Therefore, the mixture of land uses in Asian cities does not only refer to horizontal land use mix, but also to vertical mixed land use, which relates to multi-purpose use (e.g., residential-commercial mixed use) in a single building ( Figure 7). In Asia, the vertical mix of use has occurred in many cities such as Hong Kong [38,77,78], Taipei [79,80], Tokyo [41,81], and Seoul [82]. The typical horizontal mixed land use means zoning, which includes different types of residential area, industrial area, commercial area, and green area in the same area at a given scale.…”

The Dynamics of People Movement Systems in Central Areas

“…Following the privatization of the railways in the 1980s, several railway companies began to share the Tokyo station facility, eventually investing in their respective parts of the real estate associated with the station. The collective efforts of the four major stakeholders in the station-East Japan Railway Company, Central Japan Railway Company, Mitsubishi Corporation, Kajima Yaesu Development Company-have supported the development of the Tokyo Station City concept [22]. Tokyo Station is the most advanced case in Japan where the station facilities have been augmented with shopping, offices, convention and educational facilities.…”