“Today’s topics on Cities in Japan 003”
Compact City (Compact City)
Regarding sustainable development, “Compact City” is a concept mainly generated in Europe. Motorization not only brought about the suburbanization of housing, but also increased energy waste and CO2 emissions, which caused the central urban areas to hollow out and create “vulnerable road users” such as elderly people who lack transportation methods. The idea of a “Compact City” is to suppress urban suburbanization / sprawl, reduce the size of urban areas, and make a master plan for the city which enables people to live closer to their workplace, and to commute mainly by public transportation and walking.
Amsterdam (Holland) has several parking lots in nodes surrounding the city, and forbids the cars to enter the central city area. People use the public bicycles to get around. Copenhagen (Denmark) and Portland (USA) are also famous as a “Compact City” attracting attentions with their tram system.
In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are great examples of a “Compact City.” As for Japan, Toyama is said to be a successful case. Curitiba in Brazil is a famous example of a compact city with a bus network intertwined through its fingerlike urban area and its city planning with advanced policy prioritizing pedestrians. Curitiba is also an example of TOD which will be described later.
