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Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City Paperback – April 12, 2022

by Jorge Almazán (Author), Joe McReynolds (Author), Naoki Saito (Author),
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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Tokyo is one of the most vibrant and livable cities on the planet, a megacity that somehow remains intimate and adaptive. Compared to Western metropolises like New York or Paris, however, few outsiders understand Tokyo's inner workings. For cities around the globe mired in crisis and seeking new models for the future, Tokyo's success at balancing between massive growth and local communal life poses a challenge: can we design other cities to emulate its best qualities?

Emergent Tokyo answers this question in the affirmative by delving into Tokyo's most distinctive urban spaces, from iconic neon nightlife to tranquil neighborhood backstreets. Tokyo at its best offers a new vision for a human-scale urban ecosystem, where ordinary residents can shape their own environment in ways large and small, and communities take on a life of their own beyond government master planning and corporate profit-seeking. As Tokyoites ourselves, we uncover how five key features of Tokyo's cityscape - yokochō alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings, undertrack infills, flowing ankyo streets, and dense low-rise neighborhoods - enable this 'emergent' urbanism, allowing the city to organize itself from the bottom up.

This book demystifies Tokyo's emergent urbanism for an international audience, explaining its origins, its place in today's Tokyo, and its role in the Tokyo of tomorrow. Visitors to Japan, architects, and urban policy practitioners alike will come away with a fresh understanding of the world's premier megacity - and a practical guide for how to bring Tokyo-style intimacy, adaptability, and spontaneity to other cities around the world.
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  1. Print length
    250 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    ORO Editions
  4. Publication date
    April 12, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5.51 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1951541324
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1951541323
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Here the authors bring us to a new way of understanding Tokyo, reading the metropolis much as we would a European city: a product of historical conditions, which can be highlighted, analyzed and replicated. And so, with the five patterns as guides, “Emergent Tokyo” is a detailed plan to reproduce and mimic the conditions for organic growth: the conditions for an emergent city."  --The Japan Times

"If you read one book about Japan this year, it should be the beautiful, new Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazan and his Studiolab colleagues, including Joe McReynolds.   --Market Urbanism

"...“Emergent Tokyo” is a must-read for city lovers who want to learn more about Tokyo. "  --Discourse 

"For Almazan, the lesson of these "emergent" Tokyo spaces isn't that architects and urban planners elsewhere can simply drop them down in the middle of their cities.  Rather, it is that design professionals should allow healthy cities to develop in the directions toward which they are trending naturally, acting more like midwives than surgeons."  --Architectural Record

"Besides being a clearly articulated manifesto for those trying to preserve Tokyo’s emergent properties, Emergent Tokyo helps distill lessons for other cities."  --Urban Studies  


Review

"Emergent Tokyo is, quite simply, one of the best single-city studies of urban form I’ve ever seen. What makes it so outstanding? The crystalline clarity of its premise and prose; the stunning graphic range and yet coherence of its architectonic studies; and its elegant, razor-sharp printing in a beautiful and compact volume. Emergent Tokyo accomplishes the small miracle of making a city as dazzling, baffling, and complex as Tokyo suddenly seem comprehensible even to those approaching it for the first time. The book’s examination of five distinct urban typologies, free of obscure jargon or ideological cant, manages to closely mesh the intricacies of architectural form with the richness of the urban life it contains. Emergent Tokyo’s student-faculty team at the city’s Keio University, led by Jorge Alamazan, combines its evident affection for Tokyo with the kind of sparkling insights and proposals that can only come from long, careful, and skillful observation. It’s a must-have for any bookshelf on Tokyo, and a model for urban study everywhere else." 

—Doug Suisman FAIA, Suisman Urban Design, Author, Los Angeles Boulevard

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ORO Editions (April 12, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1951541324
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1951541323
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Joe McReynolds

    Joe McReynolds

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  2. Jorge Almazán

    Jorge Almazán

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    Jorge Almazán is an architect based in Tokyo and an associate professor at Keio University. After graduating from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, he obtained his PhD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His professional practice in Japan includes award-winning community spaces as provocative public space interventions.

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Peter Samuel
5.0 out of 5 stars Tokyo grew organically
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
Fascinating book. Major theme is that Tokyo's built environment has devrloped organically as a result of market-based decisions with minimal central planning. There have been efforts at planning but most have failed. These themes are filled out with good narrative writing and excellent drawings, maps and other illustrations.
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William Leonard
5.0 out of 5 stars Objective, engaging and thought-provoking.
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book challenged my western view of Tokyo as a jungle of urban chaos. It offered a practical, systematic and objective view of what the city actually is and how it works. It explained aspects of Tokyo's history and discussed its potential future without any sense of nostalgia or alarmism. Neither was it expressly anti-corporate, despite examining the potential threats to community life in Tokyo presented by commercial redevelopment. And it was engaging, with many pages of photos and diagrams. I feel like Emergent Tokyo dismantled some of my preconceptions of the city and replaced them with practical knowledge of how it came to be, how it operates and where it might be heading, as well as what the world can learn from it.
4 people found this helpful
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J. H. McKay
5.0 out of 5 stars Really a nice level of analysis
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2023
For an arm chair urban planner with interest in Japan, this book did a great job of explaining how the differences you perceive when in Japan came to be.
2 people found this helpful
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PGolin
5.0 out of 5 stars Changed my understanding of Tokyo and urban planning
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2023
I visit Tokyo regularly and am so grateful to have found this book. I look forward to visiting some of the case-study locations during my next visit. Even beyond Tokyo, this book is great for anyone who ever wondered, "how did this neighborhood develop the way it has?" The writing is tight and clear, and the illustration are fantastic and plentiful! Though focused on Tokyo, the whole point is to make a case that the lessons learned can be universalized to make other cities more livable. Since Tokyo is the best city in the world (IMO), it's a great place to start.
4 people found this helpful
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Katrina Furth
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful & informative
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2022
This book is a treat - but deceptively deep. The physical book is interesting - glossy paper, tourist photos, and illustrations that draw you in like a Where's Waldo page. If the pages were a little bigger, it would be perfect. (Why are there no margins?) At first, I thought it would be a breezy stroll through Tokyo's backstreets.

Instead, each chapter has a careful, deep treatment of the origins, physical layout, and commercial patterns in five different types of city block common in Tokyo. It's not difficult to read, although there is a lot of flipping back and forth between text and pictures, but it's engrossing.

Almazan, McReynolds, and co clearly have a command of their field. They're proficient at street-level observation and one chapter near the end zooms out to provide a concise, sweeping intellectual history of "Tokyology".

Enjoy!
7 people found this helpful
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Carey S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for anyone who loves Tokyo!
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2022
I've traveled to Tokyo several times and love the city, and honestly learned more interesting perspectives from this book than I have through any tour or personal experiences there. The visuals are fantastic and engaging, and it's thoroughly researched by authors who are not only experts but creative storytellers too. Highly recommend!
4 people found this helpful
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J. Connors
1.0 out of 5 stars Very Small Print
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2023
Verified Purchase
I can't evaluate the quality of this book's content, as the type size on my copy was so small that, for the first time in my long-time reading experience, the book (in paperback, at least) proved impossible to read. Of lesser importance, but an annoyance, it took some five weeks for delivery.
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Top reviews from other countries

Steven Forth
5.0 out of 5 stars Patterns that sustain vibrant local cultures
Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book gives hope. It look into six Tokyo urban design patterns, how they evolved, the experience they foster and how they are threatened by corporate development.

The five patterns studied in depth are ...

Yokocho Alleys - those alleys near many stations dense with shops, restaurants and bars, think Midnight Diner)
Zakkyo Buildings - those buildings with the elevator entrance on the street that house all sorts of diverse businesses, sort of virtual alleys, I had not really appreciated the genius of these buildings until I read this book
Undertrack infills - where some of the best ramen, and yakitori are found, not to mention sneakers and electronics, why do some of these work and others become dank and boring (this book answers that question)
Ankyo streets made when watercourses were covered over, in Tokyo they meander and are often de facto pedestrian streets
Dense low-rise neighbourhoods, where most of the people in Tokyo live, and which provide strong local communities

The book is a wonderful mashup of data science, historical research and context making, and field experience. The illustrations of the different patterns are careful, intimate, accurate and incredibly helpful.

The best urban design book I have read in 2023 and one I am buying multiple copies of to offer as gifts. I would like to buy one for the mayor and planning department of the City of Vancouver where I now live (I lived in Tokyo for many years and visit often).
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Adam E-M
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great book. Helpful. Beautiful images. Love this publisher. Care in writing and really Interesting
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Amazon カスタマー
5.0 out of 5 stars An eye opening book about Tokyo and some of its most iconic neighborhoods
Reviewed in Japan on July 16, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a carefully researched book about the types of neighborhoods that have withstood and resisted big city planners and developers. I've been fascinated by Tokyo's idiosyncrasies ever since moving here six years ago. This book is a treasure trove of information about how these neighborhoods have evolved over decades. With this new knowledge I will enjoy exploring Tokyo even more.
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Brent T.
5.0 out of 5 stars Very cool book
Reviewed in Canada on February 11, 2024
Verified Purchase
One of the coolest I’ve read in years. Highly recommended.
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Olga
5.0 out of 5 stars great book!! very recommanded
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
great book!! very recommanded
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