DIVERSITY AS A PROBLEM / AS A RESOURCE

TOKYO: RE-ESTABLISHING THE GHETTO NARRATIVE IN MODERN DAY TOKYO

Type Urban Design Studio [MSc Architecture and Urban Design]

PoliMi

Year 2019

Team Camilla Allan

This paper analyses two polarised social scenarios in the metropolitan city of Tokyo that have come about through structural, cultural and political policies imposed by the governing bodies. These are the elderly and the foreign population.

The analysis is executed through the Western cultural lens, as at the time of research I had not yet visited Tokyo. Through literary and scientific analysis, this paper illustrates the socioeconomic contexts of the two demographic groups, analysing their respective spatial manifestation resulting from factors perpetuating segregation in Tokyo’s urban fabric. This paper suggests how these demographically polarised groups have indirectly had an effect on one another’s socio-political circumstances as a result of the government’s economic and social policies.