Over the last fifteen years local citizens' movements have spread rapidly throughout Japan. This volume examines the growth and nature of civil society participation in local urban and environmental governance.

During the twentieth century, Japan was transformed from a poor, primarily rural country into one of the world's largest industrial powers and most highly urbanised countries. Interestingly, while Japanese governments and planners borrowed carefully from the planning ideas and methods of many other countries, Japanese urban planning, urban governance and cities developed very differently from those of other developed countries. Japan's distinctive patterns of urbanisation are partly a product of the highly developed urban system, urban traditions and material culture of the pre-modern period, which remained influential until well after the Pacific War. A second key influence has been the dominance of central government in urban affairs, and its consistent prioritisation of economic growth over the public welfare or urban quality of life. André Sorensen examines Japan's urban trajectory from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, paying particular attention to the weak development of Japanese civil society, local governments, and land development and planning regulations.

This book brings together a series of contributions which examine the processes of contemporary city development and urban planning in Japan. A central theme of the book is to consider, from a range of perspectives and situations, the role, policies, methods, and effectiveness of planning in guiding city development in Japan and in addressing present and emerging urban issues. Areas of particular concern include inner city development, the urban periphery, the institutional and regulatory context of planning, and planning for urban and regional economic and technological change. In many instances, the book draws parallels between Japan's urban experience and planning approach with those of Europe and North America. Earlier versions of all but two of the chapters were published in issues of the Town Planning Review, but not only does the book have the value of bringing these contributions together in one volume, but it has also allowed the authors to revise and update their work and incorporate new developments. The editors have contributed a substantial, reflective introductory chapter and have also included a chronology of Japanese planning legislation and an annotated guide to selected English-language literature on Japanese urban and regional planning. While the main aim of the book is to provide a detailed interpretation of current urban planning issues and policies in Japan, the chapters also provide a foundation for understanding how Japanese city planning may evolve in the future.

Until recently, many Japanese believed that they lived in the richest country in the world, and in the early 1990s, they welcomed the end of one-party dominance. However, by the middle of the 1990s, many Japanese are no longer confident in their economy, nor optimistic in their politics. This authoritative study analyses various aspects of Japanese society and economy in order to provide a balanced view between the optimism of the 1980s and the pessimism characteristic of more recent years. The Political Economy of Japanese Society is a revision and translation of a multidisciplinary research project carried out by the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo. Beginning with the late nineteenth century, it examines the historical developments of Japan's contemporary political economy, paying particular attention to the changes that have occurred 'from below'. Social actors who have often been given peripheral treatment, such as opposition parties, the aged, female workers and foreign workers, are brought to the forefront of the analysis, alongside those considered more mainstream, such as the governing party, large corporations and labour unions. The Japanese political economy of the 1980s and 90s has had a strong impact on the global economy, and this book also analyses selective influences on the outside world, in particular on other Asian nations and the USA. Volume 1 analyses the structures of the Japanese political economy which encouraged continuous economic growth in the period from 1955 to 1990, focusing on such phenomena as Japanese political management, the Japanese employment system, and one-party dominance in politics. Volume 2 examines some of the problems inherited from this period of dramatic economic growth.

New Instruments in Spatial Planning addresses the topic of transferring development opportunities between areas in planning practice by a debate between academics, lawyers and planning practitioners at an international planning symposium in Annapolis, MD, USA and the Van Doorne-Habiforum conference on Transferable Development Rights a year later. The idea of transferring development opportunities between areas is more than only the transfer of development rights. It relates more to compensation: not in money, but in a non-financial perspective. A comparative study on non-financial compensation was started, funded by Habiforum and linked to a number of research projects, such as Van Der Veens and Spaans research funded by the Delft Centre for Sustainable Urban Areas and Janssen-Jansens research funded by the Dutch Scientific Organization NWO-STIP. The chapters in this publication are representative of a close cooperation between planners, economists and lawyers from both science and planning practice. The exchange of knowledge within the framework of this book has arisen from divergent paths.

In this superbly illustrated book Xiaofei Chen presents the first analysis in English of a ubiquitous East Asian urban phenomenon: the supergrid and superblock urban structure. The book opens with an introductory essay by Barrie Shelton in which he sets the scene for what is to follow, emphasizing how alien this structure was to Western urban design culture where radial patterns of development were the norm. Then, in her first chapter, Chen explains the make-up of the supergrid and superblock urban structure and its contrasting Chinese and Japanese forms. In the following three chapters she digs deep into the history, cultural origins, and underlying design philosophy of the supergrid and superblock to show how, under different cultural influences, the model has developed into two distinct forms. Two further chapters (5 and 6) provide detailed analysis of two sample superblocks in China (in Xi’an and Nanjing) and two in Japan (in Kyoto and Osaka) to reveal the relative advantages and disadvantages of how the structure is manifest in the two countries. In her conclusion she discusses her findings to show how and why the supergrid and superblock structure is a valuable urban design model which, with regional adjustments, can be used effectively in cities other than those of East Asia.

This work presents cases studies of applications of Geotechnology such as Geography Information Systems, virtual reality and cellular automaton and multi-agent systems in the field of urban planning and design.These are joint research presentations with students and colleagues from Kanazawa University. All these case studies are about application in Japanese or Chinese cities, which are on-field examples reflecting the enormous spread of geo-computation technology. Nevertheless, the concepts have wide applicability to other contexts. The works can be classified into three types of Geotechnological applications at different levels of urban spaces, which are relevant to different kinds of urban planning and development projects. The book is comprised of three parts: Part 1: Geosimulation and land use plan Part 2: Geo Visualization and urban design Part 3: Geography information system and planning support

Japan's ability to develop its own brand of modernity has often been attributed in part to the sophistication of its cities. Concentrating on Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo, the contributors to this volume weave together the links between past and future, memory and vision, symbol and structure, between marginality and power, and between Japan's two great capital cities.