Urban Renewal

To continue on the same topic (I’m posting a new entry because old entries tend to get lost in the churn, as do the comments), a couple of articles came to my attention today. First, I was late picking up METROPOLIS this week, but finally got around to it and found a cover story featuring the father of Roppong Hills (and many other development projects, including the Dojunkai apartment renewal), Minoru Mori. His reasoning behind the need for this vertical extension:

“Commuting shouldn’t consume our days. We need high-rise city centers where all facets of life are within easy walking distance.”

Also, today’s TOKYO WALKER features a cover story on “New Tokyo Spots.” The article then goes on to list all of the recent places we’ve been discussing of late, but also talks about new areas I didn’t know about, like Toshimaen, which is a big green space that would include various spa/hot spring facilities. So it seems that Tokyo is not totally ignoring the need for green spaces. Even for the Ando designed Dojunkai apartment space, “the zelkova tree-lined boulevard will remain an integral part.”

I’ll also point to a very interesting link that was suggested by Joao in the comments below, the Bionic Tower.