Rescaling from Below:Tokyo’s State Regionalization Strategy
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This document summarizes Tokyo's strategy to rescale itself in order to remain competitive on a global scale. It outlines two key plans: 1) A block system local government plan that divides Tokyo into 9 blocks. 2) A Capital Region Megalopolis plan that defines Tokyo's surrounding region as essential to augmenting its functions and ensuring its competitiveness. It argues that Tokyo is crucial to Japan's economy and national survival, and that rescaling Tokyo and investing in its surrounding region through projects financed by the central government is necessary to maintain Tokyo's position as an engine of the Japanese economy and maintain its standing among global cities.
Rescaling from Below:Tokyo’s State Regionalization Strategy
- 1. Rescaling from Below: Tokyo’s State Regionalization Strategy for Comparative Urban Politics Workshop: Rescaling the City at APSA 2006 in Philadelphia Takashi Tsukamoto, Assistant Professor Department of Political Science University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- 2. Block-System Local Government Plan – 1 (9 Blocks)
- 3. TMG’s Capital Region Megalopolis plan Tokyo positions itself in the scale of global competition Tokyo is the economic engine of the nation and the central importance for the national economic survival Tokyo’ warns of dire consequences if Tokyo’s current weakening conditions were left alone
- 4. TMG’s Capital Region Megalopolis plan TMG defines the regional space in which Tokyo’s functions must be augmented This regional expansion should be accepted if we needed to make Tokyo competitive The regional development projects must be financed by the central government as national projects
- 5. Circular Megalopolis Plan Ohmiya Urawa, Saitama New CBD Regional Access Road Network Circular Urban Axis (Core Cities urban Axis) West Core Center Core East Core North Core South Core Hachioji, Tachikawa, Tama-Newtown Water and Greenery Creation Ring Chiba, Makuhari New CBD Water and greenery Framework Yokohama, MM21, Kawasaki Circular Urban Axis (Tokyo Bay Water Front Urban Axis) Tokyo Bay
- 6. Politics of Scale and Rhetoric of Globalization Global Scale vs. National Scale National Scale = the Scale of the Capital Region The Scale of Capital Region = The Scale of Tokyo Key scalar connections Tokyo in the league of world cities Tokyo at the center of Japanese nation state Positioning Tokyo as the engine of Japanese economy and its cutting edge in the global marketplace Proposition Globalization as a threat to the national interest Rationale
- 7. Politics of Scale and Rhetoric of Globalization From below Direction of political discourse Contradiction of national interest with marginalization Reality Nationalism and re-imagining the nation state Ideology Urban competitiveness Order
- 8. Block-System Local Government Plan – 1 (9 Blocks)
Editor's Notes
- #6: Problems: over congestion, pollution, sub-centers, central revitalization and earthquake safety Tokyo need to spread out to improve the competitiveness of the center Regional planning for global competitiveness Colonization of neighboring governments Claimed for the centrality of Tokyo to Japan and importance in the global economy to compete