“Today’s topics on Cities in Japan 004”
TOD (Transit Oriented Development)
TOD is a concept proposed by urban planner Peter Calthorpe which prefers New Urbanism. TOD aims to make a region/city not dependent on automobiles, but on public transportation. The commercial facilities are built in the vicinity of the city center station, and the residential areas are built around the suburban stations. The promotion of park and ride is also included.
The TOD concept is now drawing attention in China and Southeast Asian countries that are facing problems with traffic. On the other hand, Japan’s urban development has been dependent to railways. This goes back 100 years ago, when private railway companies started the development of the railway along with housing, and department stores in the city center’s terminal stations. Since then, TOD has been established as a development model. Although the trams started to disappear after the motorization in the 60’s, factors such as the social climate voicing the avoidance of traffic congestion, the high parking fees, and the company movement to supply the expenses for public transportation caused the degree of dependence on public transportation to become about 86%, which was much higher than that of big cities in other countries.
On the other hand, in the regional cities in the 90’s, the number of large shopping centers along the suburban roadside began to increase. This caused an obvious recession in the city centers that lacked roads and parking lots. The so-called “shutter street (street with many closed-down shops)” began to stand out. The aging of population and the above mentioned situation, will lead to the decline in the living convenience of the “vulnerable road users” who do not have the transportation tools. In addition, the lack in the utilization of the downtown area will worsen the efficiency of the public investments.
While the “active seniors” intend to live in an apartment close to the city center or station, in the suburbs where cars are indispensable, traffic accidents involving the elderly are frequently occurring. Under such circumstances, research on the automatic operation and security systems by AI / IoT are highly anticipated to create a society in the suburbs and the depopulated areas where the elderly people can safely live.
As we are approaching the year 2020, the measures to cope with the “inbound” visitors are an important issue in Tokyo. However we are already in an era in which foreign travelers can freely use public transportation with the help of smartphones and navigation applications. Furthermore, the expansion of Free Wi-Fi services, the generalization of the taxi dispatch applications and the payment with digital currencies will surely accelerate (China is one step ahead in these measures). The concept of ‘mobility’, one of the important preconditions for urban planning, is about to change drastically. However, regarding the underlying public transport infrastructure, Japan/Tokyo has the first-class standards.
Regarding the city center’s office building supply market, whether the property is directly connected to the subway station or not is a major factor that influences its competitiveness in the market. Therefore, in many cases new buildings in large-scale developments are connected to the subway stations. Although Toranomon Hills completed in 2014 is not connected with the subway at this moment, it is scheduled to connect with Toranomon’s New Station on the Hibiya Line in 2020, and Toranomon Hills Station Tower (provisional name) is scheduled to be completed in the year 2022.
