Future Asian Space: Projecting the Urban Space of New East Asia

Chapter 10: "Fibercity" -- Designing for Shrinkage

171 Hidetoshi Ohno 1. PRELUDE We proposed “Fibercity/Tokyo 2050” in 2005 at The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference in Tokyo which was later published in 2006 in English and Japanese.1 It is an urban proposal for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in the year 2050. This project is a feasible proposal as well as a theoretically fundamental trial to establish a new paradigm to deal with the planning and designing of cities in the 21st century, which are characterized by shrinkage. Shrinkage is a result of the change of demographic structure and the global environmental crisis. The fibercity takes the shrinking city as an a priori condition, and assumes that there will not be an abundance of funds to invest in the problem. For this reason, we searched for an economically rational solution that, with the smallest intervention, would have the largest effect. At the same time, the plan does not propose a general reformation of the city or its districts through an all-encompassing intervention. In this sense, it is quite different from much of the thinking typical in modern urban planning to date. A fiber can be understood as an organizing grain or thread. In terms of city form, it is a linear space. Each of four urban strategies for the realization of the fibercity, namely Green Finger, Green Partition, Green Web, and Chapter 10 “Fibercity” — Designing for Shrinkage Hidetoshi Ohno 172 Urban Wrinkle, is a strategy for altering the character of the city through careful manipulation of existing linear elements, or fibers.2 This project interested many academics and experts internationally and a request to make proposals for small provincial cities was raised, because small cities are attacked by shrinkage more seriously than a big city like Tokyo. We are working on this issue energetically with my colleagues and are now reinforcing the environmental aspects of city construction and operation.3 2. DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS “Fibercity 2050” is an urban reform project for Japanese cities. It is not a mere future image on the extension of the current state but a vision which a city should follow in 2050. It does not mean a dream which has nothing to do with a real city but it is a feasible plan. We would like to draw a universal image of city in the 21st century. Having already published a vision for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area with the population of 30 million in 2006 (Figure 1), which is the biggest conurbation in the world, we are working on a future plan for one of the provincial cities in Japan with the population of 270,000. In dealing with shrinkage in the city, a common problem for many cities, we are focusing on discrete and linear elements in a city and we call them “fiber.” “FIBERCITY” Figure 1: Fibercity/Tokyo 2050 The turn of the century suggests a new beginning for the city. This involves the information revolution, the globalization of politics and economics , environmental problems, and changes in demographic structure (super-aging and falling birth rates). Similar to the Industrial Revolution, it seems that this collection of issues will have a big influence on architecture and the city. In 2005, the Japanese population peaked and a long-term population decrease began. By 2055, the population will almost certainly decrease to 70% of its current level. Moreover, senior citizens (65 years and above) will then constitute 40% of the entire population (Figure 2).4 From an international viewpoint, shrinking cities are becoming a global reality, and this has become one of the hottest topics in urban design.5 It is believed that even regions maintaining population growth will sooner or later suffer from population decrease. In Asia, birth rates in Korea and Singapore are very low. Even China with its growing economy and population increase will be soon facing serious depopulation because of its one-child policy.6 In the meantime, the environmental crisis is getting to be more and more severe. It has been obvious that global warming is result of humans’ production activities that have made it impossible even to maintain the current temperature. It is an international consensus that we should reduce the emissions of the carbon dioxide by half in comparison to that in 1990, in order to keep the temperature rise within two degrees.7 “Shrinkage” is a common feature among these problems. With the reduction of population, public facilities...