Musashi-Koyama Palm Shopping Street, 2024

I am excited that an article I co-wrote with Jessica Ilunga and Jorge Almazan of Keio University has just been published in Cities. We took a closer look at three redevelopment areas in Tokyo: Musashi-Koyama, Tsukishima and Shimokitazawa.

Using a mixed historical data and mapping approach, we take the study of Tokyo’s neoliberal transformation to the local level, and assess the changing urban landscape through the prism of commercial amenities.

We find that there is significant variability between the three areas we study: Tsukishima has experienced a tabula rasa compared to Musashi-Koyama’s more adaptive redevelopment, while Shimokitazawa was able to retain a significant part of its original character.

The developments differ also because of their unique history and place in the wider city. Our timeframe captures a relatively long period from 1980-2023. Using census data, we juxtapose our study areas with their respective ward and the 23-ward area as a whole and find interesting differences. The maps provide the morphological layer of our analysis. They are better at capturing change at a very small scale.

I am happy that my historical work has found application in a contemporary debate. I have hinted at this debate, i.e., the neoliberal transformation of the city, in my past articles but could obviously not develop a full blown argument.

When I contacted Jorge a while ago (we were in touch over his excellent Emergent Tokyo two years ago, which I reviewed), he suggested we form a team led by one of his PhD students, Jessica Illunga, and publish something together.

Jessica’s work had previously already looked at the three study areas in terms of civic participation in decision making processes surrounding the redevelopment projects.

While I am not familiar with Tsukishima (bar a walking trip there many years ago), I like most gaijin have frequently been to Shimokitazawa’s karaoke and shisha bars as well as plenty of hip shops and food joints.

But it is the work we did on Musashi-Koyama that was closest to my heart given that we have lived in the area for two years, with the little house we inhabited also being the first abode for our newborn daughter in 2018.

We left Ebara 3-chome for nearby Megurohoncho 4-chome, equidistant to Musashi-Koyama but in Meguro. Since leaving Japan we have come back to the area twice. As luck has it, we can still stay in the same narrow house when we visit. This has allowed us to witness the transformation of the station area first hand.

To now add something to the academic literature drawing on this fascinating neighborhood is a privilege I thank Jessica and Jorge for. I was very impressed by Jessica’s work throughout the process, and the fact that we landed this paper in one of the best urban studies journals is primarily her achievement.