Tokyo is a city of two faces. Major central planning efforts have made Japan’s capital one of the safest, cleanest and most public-transit oriented cities in the world. Yet its labyrinthian network of streets, restaurants hidden in dark alleyways and entire buildings filled with a medley of shops reveal another side of the city that is more spontaneous and idiosyncratic.
This paradox between centrally planned and chaotic Tokyo is one that Keio University associate professor and architect Jorge Almazan and co-author Joe McReynolds seek to tackle in their new book “Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City.” Inspired by the science of complex systems, they demonstrate how Tokyo was shaped not solely by disorder or grand design but by the intermingling of daily small choices that create spontaneous patterns from the bottom up — and tips for how to consciously harness them.
